[Asis-l] HCIL Spring Seminar Series Information

[Kollet, Sharmon]

The Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) at the University of Maryland,
College Park is hosting a Spring Seminar Series.  There will be *FREE* talks
throughout the season given by invited guests.  You do not need to pre-register
for the talks.   Please see our Seminar Series web site for more details,
including talk abstracts:

http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/about/events/HCIL-Spring%20Seminar%20Series%202004.sh
tml

Eric P. Hoffman, Director and Professor at the Research Center for Genetic
Medicine, Children's National Medical Center at George Washington University
will be our first guest speaker.  His talk, "Bio-informatics and visualizations
in human time series and large cross-sectional studies," will take place on
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 at 2:00pm in 3118 Computer Science Instructional
Center (CSIC) on the University of Maryland Campus.  If you need directions,
please see the web site.

Abstract:

Biological data remain a problem with enormous dimensionality for those
concerned with data analysis, interpretation, and visualizations.  Human
biological data have considerably greater dimensionality than experimental
organisms, due to the difficulty in controlling environment and other
experimental variables, as well as confounding noise from genetic heterogeneity
(e.g. ethnic background, sex), age, and other factors.  Despite the considerable
noise in studies of human subjects, the genomic resources have become quite
mature, with newly available microarrays able to query all genes at 22-fold
redundancy, and even each exon of each gene.
We present two studies of human samples, where the sources of noise are studied
and quantitated, and useful information uncovered by filtering, statistical
analyses, and visualizations of microarray data.  The first is a study of 115
human muscle biopsies, from 12 different diagnostic groups.  The large number of
groups is used to filter both confounding noise, and unimportant changes, to
arrive at significant cause/effect pathway information in specific groups.  The
second study involves metabolic syndrome, a prelude to type II diabetes.  Recent
studies have suggested that 40% of individuals born in 2000 will be diagnosed
with type II diabetes, and will lose 22 quality years of life from the disorder.
Using volunteers with features of metabolic syndrome, we use time series data
with multiple muscle biopsies per individual, to derive clear pathway data
relevant to development of type II diabetes.  In this second example, the
longitudinal design allows each individual to serve as their own control, hence
canceling out most confounding variables.

Collaborators:  William Kraus, Duke University.  Ben Shneiderman, UMD.  Yue
Wang, Virginia Tech.  Jason Xuan, Catholic University. Co-Authors (post-docs):
Marina Bakay, Zuyi Wang, Dustin Hittel, Gisela Melcon

Dr. Hoffman received his Ph.D. in Biology/Genetics from Johns Hopkins University
(1986).  He was a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard
Medical School, and was an Assistant Professor at Harvard (1990) before moving
to the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a professor of molecular genetics,
biochemistry, human genetics, neurology, and pediatrics until 1999.  He is
currently supported in part by an endowed chair from A James Clark and family,
and serves as Director of the Research Center of Genetic Medicine at Children's
National Medical Center.

Other talks/films that will be part of the HCIL Spring Seminar Series include:


* Hosted by Ben Shneiderman, Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director
of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland, College
Park with Directors/Producers John Fuegi and Jo Francis
This film is being presented by the Department of Computer Science and the
Human-Computer Interaction Lab.
"To Dream Tomorrow: The Story of Ada Byron Lovelace"
February 23, 4:00pm, 1115 Computer Science Instructional Center (CSIC)

* David Cavallo, Research Scientist and Principle Investigator, Future of
Learning Group, MIT Media Laboratory
Talk Title TBD
March 9, 2:00pm, 3118 Computer Science Instructional Center (CSIC)

* Gary Marchionini, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
School of Information and Library Science
"Agile Views for Digital Video"
April 27, 2:00pm, 3118 Computer Science Instructional Center (CSIC)

Lastly, a friendly reminder....

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!

**The 21st Annual HCIL Symposium and Open House will take place on June 3-4,
2004**
Schedule and registration information will be available in the coming weeks!






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Questions about HCIL or this list, contact hcil-info at cs.umd.edu.