Abstract:

In this talk, we will describe the grand opportunity we believe now exists to couple what data-intensive computing does best with what humans do best.  Our long-term objective is to shift and improve the future of simulation-based engineering with big data, and our current projects investigate this possibility through specific applications to virtual prototyping of medical devices.  Our approach is to couple the valuable and intense amounts of medical imaging, physical simulation, and other life sciences data that are generated today with new computational tools that not only support automated data analysis but also powerfully leverage our own human capabilities to see, touch, explore, and analyze.  By adopting a human-centric approach to big data science, including significant new research in the areas of data visualization and human-computer interfaces, we aim to not only accelerate basic research and discovery but also make the results of big data science accessible to doctors, medical device engineers, and countless other creative thinkers who do not necessarily have a core background in computational methods.  Our current work includes applications to two types of medical devices: cardiac leads and mechanical biopsy devices.  We will present recent results from the three key interdisciplinary perspectives on our team: (1) adapting and extending high-performance computing techniques to model and simulate medical devices, (2) developing new interactive, visual design environments for working more effectively with the massive datasets produced via simuliation, and (3) applying new data-intensive workflows to real medical device modeling and simulation problems in both academia and industry.

Bios:

Daniel Keefe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota.  His research centers on scientific data visualization and interactive computer graphics.  Keefe’s recent awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER award; the University of Minnesota Guillermo E. Borja Award for research and scholarly accomplishments; the University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship; and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award.  He has received multiple best paper and best panel awards at top international conferences, such as IEEE VIS and ACM Interactive 3D Graphics. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Forest Service (USDA), the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, and industry sponsors.  In addition to his work in computer science, Keefe is also an accomplished artist and has published and exhibited work in top international venues for digital art.  Before joining the University of Minnesota, Keefe did post-doctoral work at Brown University jointly with the departments of Computer Science and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and with the Rhode Island School of Design.  He received the Ph.D. in 2007 from Brown University’s Department of Computer Science and the B.S. in Computer Engineering summa cum laude from Tufts University in 1999.

Arthur G. Erdman, P.E., is the Richard C. Jordan Professor and a Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, specializing in mechanical design, bioengineering and product design. In July 2007 he was selected as the Director of the Medical Devices Center at the U of M. Dr. Erdman has published over 370 technical papers, 3 books, holds over 45 patents, and shares with his former students 9 Best Paper Awards at international conferences. Dr. Erdman currently has a number of ongoing projects of which many are related to biomedical engineering and medical device design.  He led the effort to create LINCAGES, a mechanism software design package that has been used worldwide. Dr. Erdman has had research collaborations with faculty in Ophthalmology, Neuroscience, Epidemiology, Orthopedics, Surgery, Dentistry, Otolaryngology and Sport Biomechanics. He has consulted at over 50 companies in mechanical and product design, including Xerox, 3M, Andersen Windows, Proctor and Gamble, HP, Rollerblade, Sulzer Medica and Yamaha. He has received a number of awards including ASME Machine Design Award and the ASME Outstanding Design Educator Award. Erdman is a Fellow of ASME and a Founding Fellow of AIMBE. He has been the Chair of fourteen Design of Medical Devices Conferences, which are held next to the University of Minnesota each April. In April 2013 he received the Academy of Medical Device Innovators Award from the University of Minnesota and The Institute for Engineering for Medicine. Dr. Erdman was selected as a “Titan of Technology” in the Technology Advocate category October 2014 by the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal.

Hakizumwami Birali Runesha is the Assistant Vice President for Research Computing and founding Director of the Research Computing Center (RCC) at the University of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Old Dominion University and has more than 20 years of experience in high performance computing and scientific software development. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, he was the Director of Scientific Computing and Applications at the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, Research Associate at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology developing and Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Kinshasa. His research interests are in parallel computing, sparse numerical libraries, finite element analysis and design optimization in engineering. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics.

Webinar Host: IMAG