COMPUTER GRAPHICS EXPERT TO ADDRESS
INFORMATION VISUALIZATION DEC. 7 AT WCU

CULLOWHEE – Renowned computer graphics expert Gary Bertoline, director of the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization at Purdue University, will discuss the topic of information visualization Tuesday, Dec. 7, at Western Carolina University.

In a program titled “Information Visualization: Bridging Disciplines in an Academic Environment,” Bertoline will provide an interdisciplinary look at emerging techniques being developed to help overcome inefficient use of information available through today's high-speed computing platforms because the slower rate of human comprehension is unable to keep pace.

“We are being deluged with information, and scientists need better tools to help them make sense of it,” said Bertoline in launching the Envision Center at Purdue this past April. “Through three-dimensional visualization of data, researchers will be able to better understand very large amounts of data by seeing it, feeling it and observing it in ways that make sense intuitively and logically. It's a novel way of blending of computer science, engineering, perception technology and art that we believe will provide a boost to science and society.”

The program at Western is set for 10:30 a.m. Dec. 7 in the theater of A.K. Hinds University. Sponsored by the university's Center for Regional Development and the department of engineering and technology, it is open to the public free of charge.

Bertoline's visit to campus is “an opportunity of significant value,” said Duane Dunlap, head of the department of engineering and technology.

“There is a wealth of leadership and productive outcomes that computer visualization of data can have on stimulating new business creation and extending the impact that the university has on the growth of Western North Carolina,” Dunlap said.

Bertoline's presentation at Western comes as the university is working to establish a new broadband initiative designed to meet the growing communication and commerce demands beginning to appear as high-speed Internet access comes to Western North Carolina.

For more information, call Phil Sanger, director of Western's Center for Integrated Technologies, at (828) 227-2435.