Research Mentors work with Research Collaborators and REU Participants and provide guidance on the visualization process for visualizing data and establish milestones for each project. Milestones are revisited and reassessed throughout the summer program to ensure the visualization needs of projects are being met.
Vetria L. Byrd is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology (CGT) in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. She holds a PhD in Computer Science, Master’s Degrees in Biomedical Engineering (Medical Imaging) and Computer Science (Bioinformatics), and a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Sciences from The University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Byrd is the founder and organizer of the biennial Broadening Participation in Visualization (BPViz) Workshop co-funded by CRA-W/CDC and the National Science Foundation (Award No. 1419415). The workshop is designed to broaden participation of women and members of underrepresented groups in the field of visualization.
Dr. Byrd is the principal investigator for the highly competitive NSF REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Collaborative Data Visualization Applications (Award No. 1359223). The site invites undergraduates from U.S. Universities to participate in a paid 8-week summer research program in visualization. The program is designed to give undergraduates a well-rounded research experience in visualization. Students who complete the program have an appreciation and understanding of the visualization process and how visualization as a tool can be used to gain insight into relationships that exist within data. Students refine their presentation and technical writing skills, learn new visualization applications, and the invaluable skill of working in a collaborative research environment. Former VisREU Site participants have matriculated to graduate school, and given presentations at professional conferences.
Esteban García Bravo explores computational arts as a researcher, a practitioner and as an educator. He earned his MFA from Purdue University in 2008, and a Ph.D. in Technology, also from Purdue, in 2013. His research has been featured in the annual meetings of international organizations such as SIGGRAPH and ISEA, as well as in the publication Leonardo Journal of Art, Sciences and Technology. His artwork has been displayed internationally in media art festivals, exhibits and artist-in-residence programs.
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Colin M. Gray is an Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology and a Faculty Fellow in the Educational Research and Development Incubator. He holds a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington, a MEd in Educational Technology from University of South Carolina, and a MA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art & Design. He has worked as an art director, contract designer, and trainer, and his continued involvement in design work informs his research on design activity and how it is learned. His research focuses on the role of student experience in informing a critical design pedagogy, and the ways in which the pedagogy and underlying studio environment inform the development of design thinking, particularly in relation to critique and professional identity formation. His work crosses multiple disciplines, including engineering education, instructional design and technology, design theory and education, and human-computer interaction.
Tim McGraw is an Assistant Professor of Computer Graphics Technology. His areas of interest are biologically-inspired graphics, medical image processing and visualization. Specific projects include diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI) denoising and visualization, and mesh processing. He was awarded 4 patents related to DT-MRI visualization projects performed with Siemens Corporate Research. He has previous industry experience as a Mechanical Engineer and as a game developer (Electronic Arts, Schell Games, Rainbow Studios). He received his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science and Engineering from the University of Florida.
Kim Moss is an assistant professor in the Department of Art & Visual Culture and is the Coordinator for The Biological/Pre-medical Illustration Program at Iowa State University. She teaches interdisciplinary courses at the intersection of art, design, and science and is the lead for a scientific visualization initiative on campus. She has a terminal degree in medical illustration and an extensive background in biomedical communication, instructional design, and scientific visualization. Her research areas include scientific visualization, interactive learning tools and museum displays, visual story-telling, data visualization, biomedical-related public art, instructional design, game-based learning, synchronous online collaboration, and more.Moss has an extensive background in biomedical illustration within the higher education publishing industry. She has been integral in orchestrating collaboration among multiple talent groups from conception through development, design, and delivery stages for a range of subject matter and educational presentation types. Her work appears in numerous textbooks and learning objects.
More mentors to be added . . .