Shayna Skolnik
Data Visualization in Virtual Reality

Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Building 3 Auditorium - 11:00 AM
(Coffee and cookies at 10:30 AM)

Virtual reality has the potential to allow humans to push experiential boundaries in myriad ways. Companies like Sony, Samsung, Google, and Facebook are heavily investing in virtual reality (VR) for gaming, entertainment, and social media and 2016 marks an important year as many VR headsets are now commercially available. As VR becomes an ubiquitous part of human interaction, one question for the science, engineering, and research community is how VR can be adapted for practical use in these fields. A potential answer is found in the use of VR for data visualization. Of particular interest is the ability to support interdisciplinary studies and the interpretation of big data sets. This talk will explore the compelling argument for data visualization in virtual reality, including the results of the recent partnership between Navteca and the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) that resulted in the presentation of climate data in virtual reality at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in December, 2015. Feedback from the scientific community at AGU was overwhelmingly positive, but is VR a game-changer or a gimmick when it comes to data visualization? Live demos of VR data visualization of GEOS-5 model output data will follow the formal presentation.

Shayna Skolnik, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Navteca, has over 18 years of professional experience in a variety of settings that have uniquely prepared her for the challenges of founding and operating a technology company. Shayna is adept at forming strategic partnerships and relationships in the private and public sector and bridging the gap between highly technical staff and the business needs of the client. Shayna was selected as a Small Business Administration (SBA) Emerging Leader for 2015. Shayna is a steering committee member for the CyberWorks workforce training initiative in Maryland, the Programa Jovenes STEM workforce initiative with Spain, and founded and leads the Science and Technology committee for the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Navteca is a WOSB/EDWOSB supporting missions inside and outside of NASA.
IS&T Colloquium Committee Host: Keith Keller

Sign language interpreter upon request: 301-286-7040