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Research Funding

 

SCIENCE Lab projects

  • "Visual Analysis Systems for Personalized Health” NSERC Engage.  Develop general visual analytics support for reasoning about health actions and probable outcomes. Research includes user understanding, cognitive task analysis, rapid prototyping, and interface evaluation using Pair Analysis and joint activity analysis methods.

  • “Visual Analytics for Interactive Exploration and Monitoring of Consumer Health Data at Molecular You Corporation” ($30K) Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS). Prototype Personalized Medicine bioinformatic and health monitoring program for disease prevention, detection, and treatment that combines "omics" data with behavioural, and environmental data for  health care professionals, customers and caregivers

Collaborative projects

  • "We feel fine": Big Data Observations of Citizen Sentiment about State Institutions and Social Inclusion.  (Ongoing, funded by contracts from the World Bank HQ in Washington DC)  ~ $40K to date paid to SIAT grad student consultants for Twitter analysis in Brazil. These funds are part of a larger WB project that is led by  WB researchers and includes researchers from U. Maryland and Syracuse U.

  • US Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence in Command, Control, and Interoperability "VACCINE: Visual Analytics for Command, Control, and Interoperability". $30M/6yrs, multiple universities. Fisher is a funded PI and member of the Leadership Board. Our work focuses on cognitive and social science-based approaches to development and evaluation of analytics systems and processes. Funds are disbursed to partner research based on participation in targeted research projects.

Recent

  • Boeing Support for Visual Analytics in Canada.  $1.33M/5 yrs cash, equivalent in-kind contribution of software, data, and consulting, Shared between 3 equal co-investigators at SFU and UBC. These funds are eligible for MITACS internships.

  • Visual Analytics for Emergency Management. NSERC Strategic, 2010-2013, $457k/3yrs., PI Brian Fisher. In this project, we will determine how VA methods can enhance performance of emergency management information systems and what changes in infrastructure will be required to implement VA-enabled emergency management and response systems. Together with our co-investigators at SFU and U. Manitoba, we will transition our DHS funded technology development and field research project findings to fit Canadian objectives and policies. We will do this in collaboration with our contacts in the Federal Government. Our understanding of Canadian users and emergency management practices will be supported by work with the City of Richmond and the Justice Institute of BC.

  • Interactive and Visual Analysis Tools for Activity Monitoring Data (2011-2014, SFU). Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Strategic Grant, $408,750 exclusive of overhead. Develop analytic tools for exploring, visualizing, and examining spatio-temporal sensor data in mobile and collaborative settings. I was a co-investigator with Pourang Irani at U. Manitoba.
     

  • Data Analytics for Behavioural Analysis. (2014-2015) Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) and AppNovation Technologies $60K/1yr to develop a computationally sophisticated analysis and visualization of economic choices made by individuals. I am the sole investigator on this grant.

  • From Visualization to Visual Analytics. (2015, SFU) Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) and the Boeing Company. $80,000/1yr exclusive of overhead. Empirical studies of analytic practices using Pair Analysis Protocols. Application to aircraft safety and public health data. I was the sole investigator.

  • Visual analytics for quantification of greenhouse gas credits. (2014-2015, UBC) NSERC Engage program, $25K/4 months. Work with Cap-Op Energy Inc. I was the sole investigator.

  • Translational Research In Visual Analysis  (2013, SFU) Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) and the Boeing Company. $80,000/1yr exclusive of overhead. Empirical studies of analytic practices using Pair Analysis Protocols. Application to aircraft safety and public health data. I was the sole investigator

  • Program to Evaluate and Improve Visual Analytic Processes. Boeing/MITACS. $146,600 1 year, Brian Fisher PI. Research in cognitive science of individual and collaborative analytics for aerospace applications.

  • Deriving and Applying Cognitive Principles for Human/Computer Approaches to Complex Analytical Problems DHS International Program to UNCC/SFU. Total budget, $300K/1yr, Fisher PI subgrant $94K.Extending our human cognitive model to make it predictive and practical. Develop and implement evaluation strategies and, as a result, come up with a set of design principles for visual analytic methods. The model and design principles are applied to issues arising in applications in financial analytics using data from the Bank of America, coastal natural hazards and disasters analysis, and violence and terrorism analysis with the DHS

  • Multiple projects Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems Networks of Centres of Excellence. MITACS internship grants fund students for work with industry on areas related to lab research.

  • HIV-Exposed but Uninfected (HEU) Infants: Explorations of the Causes of Enhanced Morbidity and Mortality. Peter Walls Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) Grant, 2010-2013, $499/3yrs., PI: Dr. David Speert. This project identifies the immunological explanation for the impaired defense against infection of HEU babies, who manifest a higher morbidity and mortality when compared to infants whose mothers are HIV negative. The SCIENCE Lab collaborates in this project in the analysis of data. We handle exploratory analysis using newly-developed tools and techniques in visual analytics (VA). We investigate here, both the particular kinds of tools that are most appropriate for each stage of analysis: exploratory and statistical, and the particular sub-problems that appear most susceptible to de-accelerate each stage of analysis

  • Information systems for skilled cognition & communication NSERC Discovery Research Grant, $96k/5 yrs. Research in perceptual and enactive cognition that will inform the design of highly interactive computer software to support human communication, understanding and decision making.

  • Visual Analytics for Safety & Security NSERC Strategic, 2007-2009, $459k/3yrs. Project to advance the underlying cognitive science of visual analytics to build user models and design and testing methods that address individual and collaborative perception, cognition, and action in ways that are precise, diagnostic, user-centred and geared towards expert users. Applications focus on safety and security.