Tuesday, 5/22/2007
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Level: Case Study

Semantic technologies may be viewed as the “silver bullet” in creating the next generation Cyberinfrastructure for scientific research and collaboration. We have developed a semantic data framework that can be and is being used to power a range of virtualized access to data. For example, a Virtual Observatory provides online query, retrieval, and analysis services to a variety of heterogeneous scientific data resources. We are using semantic technologies to improve access and interoperability, thereby supporting new options for collaboration and access for scientific research. We have deployed our work in the areas of solar-terrestrial physics and we now have two sizable communities using our services and are expanding into terrestrial settings such as integrating data between volcanic events and climate impacts. We will report on technologies applied, advantages perceived, and user feedback to date. This work is NSF and NASA sponsored and is a joint effort between the National Center for Atmospheric Research and McGuinness Associates.

Dr. Deborah McGuinness is the Acting Director and Senior Research Scientist of the Knowledge Systems - Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (KSL) at Stanford University and CEO of McGuinness Associates Consulting. Deborah's research focuses on the Semantic Web, Explanation and Trust, Ontologies and Ontology Evolution Environments, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, and Semantic Integration of Information. Deborah's consulting focuses on helping companies utilize artificial intelligence research and semantic technologies in applications such as semantically-enabled scientific data integration, smart search, ontology management, and online commerce.

Dr. Peter Fox is Chief Computational Scientist at the High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research. Fox is a research scientist specializing in the fields of solar-terrestrial physics, computational and computer science, information technology, and grid-enabled, distributed data frameworks. He utilizes state-of-the-art modeling techniques, internet-based technologies, including the semantic-web, and applies them to large-scale distributed scientific data systems. Fox is currently PI for the Virtual Solar-Terrestrial Observatory, the Semantically-Enabled Scientific Data Integration, and the CEDAR database projects.