Learning Technology Center Hosts Grand Opening of COE Education Visualization Lab - February 8, 2011

The College of Education (COE) community, staff of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), and many others interested in visualization on campus gathered Friday, February 3 to celebrate the Learning Technology Center’s grand opening of the COE Education Visualization Laboratory (EdVisLab). The event culminated more than a year of planning the lab and designing its equipment and software systems.

The lab is a joint project with TACC, which provided technical assistance and will help run the lab. The new facility will allow COE researchers to use visualization techniques to better analyze large data sets. The lab features a 15-monitor high resolution tiled display, a 3-D visualization system and a workstation with specialized visualization software.

COE Dean Manuel Justiz spoke first during the opening, praising LTC Director Paul Resta for all his efforts over the years to make the LTC a top-notch, nationally recognized learning technology facility. Dr. Resta then spoke, thanking the Dean for the lab’s funding and thanking all the LTC and TACC staff for the long hours spent creating the lab. Finally, Jay Boisseau, TACC Director, described how the process of adapting TACC visualization programming for use in the EdVisLab led to the development of an improved version of the software.

Those thanked for their contributions included Ken Tothero, LTC Coordinator, who managed the project; Kelly Gaither, TACC Director of Visualization, who provided a day-long workshop on visualization techniques and programming for COE faculty; Ryan Baldwin, LTC Coordinator, who developed security standards for the lab’s computer systems; Greg Johnson, TACC Research Associate, and Brandt Westing, TACC Research Engineer, who adapted the visualization software for use in the lab; and Chris Yallalee and James Keys, LTC staff, who helped construct the tiled display.

COE researchers wishing to use the EdVisLab should first contact Ken Tothero to get oriented to the lab’s systems and use of the visualization software. Eventually, regular users will be able to reserve time in the lab through the LTC online reservation system. Assistants from TACC who are familiar with the visualization systems and programming will staff the lab for about 20 hours each week.

—Laurie Caldwell, LTC Communications Coordinator

Related Sites:

• Education Visualization Lab Celebrates Grand Opening
• LTC Workshops Prepare College for New Technologies
• LTC Creates Education Visualization Lab to Help COE Researchers Analyze Large Datasets