Computer Science & Engineering Department

Departmental Facilities and Individual Faculty Research Laboratories

Brain Networks Laboratory Director: Dr. Yoonsuck Choe Studying the geometry and connectivity of the brain's architecture is a natural way to explore neural computation, but there are no quantitative, 3D reconstructions of mammalian brain architectures for any species. Ongoing projects in the Brain Networks Laboratory will fill this void and reconstruct an entire mouse cortical network, allowing for global analysis and simulation studies of an actual cortical network. The lab's enabling technology is a unique Brain Tissue Scanner (BTS) of our own invention that achieves the data acquisition rates necessary to make possible for the first time scanning and imaging an entire mammalian brain. The data processed is produced by the BTS to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of the scanned tissue. The central goal is to map and understand the connectivity and geometry of cortical networks - critical to understanding natural computation. Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) Director: Dr. Robin Murphy CRASAR serves as crisis response and research organization that strives to direct new technology development in robotics and unmanned systems for humanitarian purposes worldwide. It was originally established under the auspices of NIUSR (National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue), and participated in the WTC response, deploying robots on Towers 1 and 2, Building 4, and other areas from the early morning of 9/12/2001 through 10/2/2001. Since then, we have participated in numerous incidents and exercises as well as hosted workshops and training exercises (see below). CRASAR has the largest number of deployments of rescue robots of any type: land, sea, or air. CRASAR serves existing rescue organizations by providing robot-assisted search and rescue teams on order, training search and rescue personnel on relevant robot systems, evaluating emerging robot technologies, and fostering research into search and rescue specific robot systems. Center for the Study of Digital Libraries Director: Dr. Richard Furuta The Center's program of research provides a leadership role in the on-line development and application of world-wide access to digital library services. Development of this technology provides valuable fundamental research and supports the broader goal of research and education through improved means for collaboration and distance learning. The Center is not limited to one discipline; rather the development of digital libraries may be viewed as a fundamental contribution to research in all disciplines.

The Center provides expertise and experience to help transfer collections of all types -- from books and journals to biological specimens and museum pieces -- into useful digital libraries. Center staff includes experts in key new technologies required for digital libraries: electronic document modeling and publication, hyperbase systems, process-based and spatial hypermedia systems, collaborative systems, and computer-human interaction. Distributed AI Robotics Lab Director: Dr. Dylan Shell In the Distributed AI Robotics Lab we study coordination, cooperation, and adaptation among multiple agents. We focus on group-level modeling of large-scale systems, interference reduction, task-allocation, in physical robots and sensor-actuator networks. To date our work has focused on implicitly coordinated systems in minimalist and biologically-inspired algorithms, along with generalization and application of traditional operations research and optimization techniques for deliberate coordination. We are considering applications from distributed, adaptive sampling, clustering & sorting, and network communication. Distributed Computing Group Director: Dr. Jennifer Welch The Distributed Computing Group members perform research on models, algorithms, lower bounds, and impossibility results for problems that arise in distributed computing. Current topic areas include models of partially synchronous distributed systems; mobile ad hoc networks, particularly vehicular ones; and consistency conditions for concurrently-accessible shared data objects. Electronic Design Automation Lab Director: Dr. D. M. H. Walker The EDA Lab develops software tools for design, manufacturing, assembly and test of semiconductor integrated circuits. The current research thrusts focus on test and diagnosis of integrated circuits. Current research projects include defect-based test, quiescent current testing, delay fault testing, realistic fault modeling and defect diagnosis. The nature of this research requires close cooperation with industry in order to fabricate and measure designs, and provide manufacturing data. Embedded Systems & Codesign Group Director: Dr. Rabi N. Mahapatra As the world of engineering advances, the complexity demands of both hardware and software grow at a phenomenal rate. The trade-offs between hardware and software within a system are at the forefront of this complexity and demand attention unto themselves. Hardware software codesign is the study of how to make these tradeoffs and meet the constraints of a system. The group's research includes Codesign Framework, Power-Aware Scheduling, Real-Time Embedded Systems, Systems-on-Chip and Re-configurable Architectures.

Geometry and Graphics Group Director: Dr. John Keyser The Geometry and Graphics Group performs research dealing with geometric calculations and computer graphics algorithms. Particular areas of emphasis in geometry are in highly robust and precise geometric computations, particularly with application to geometric modeling. This includes work on exact computation with algebraic systems. Within the broader computer graphics category, research emphasizes physically-based modeling and simulation. High Performance Computing Laboratory Director: Dr. E.J. Kim The faculty and students in this Lab conduct research in the general area of Computer Architecture and Parallel and Distributed Systems. The primary focus of our lab is on providing architectural support for efficient networking in high performance systems. As rapid advances in technology, the communication between computing components has become a bottleneck in providing high performance. Along with high and predictable performance, optimization of energy consumption, management of temperature and enhancing security are critical issues in designing efficient networks. We investigate innovative ideas by exploiting the new features of modern architecture, operating systems and circuit technology to design high performance, energy-efficient, and secure systems. Information Innovation Lab Director: Dr. Anxiao (Andrew) Jiang Our lab pursues research on the theory and applications of distributed information systems. We currently focus on Coding for non-volatile memories, and Coding for natural redundancy. Interface Ecology Laboratory Director: Dr. Andruid Kerne Interface ecology is an emerging metadisciplinary approach, in which the creation of rich interactive experiences spans an n-dimensional conceptual space. The interface ecology lab develops interactive ecosystems that support and instantiate human creative processes. The recombinant media research area develops multimodal visualization mechanisms for presenting collections as combinations of existing media elements. The work focuses on the generation of emergent experiences by using machine-learning techniques to model users interests and interactivity as means to allow participants to express themselves and effect the generative models. CollageMachine is an ongoing instance of this research, in the field of web browsing and visual hypertext. New initiatives recombine video. The work is moving into the space of multimodal gesture as a means of integrating human computer interaction with physical activities, using computer vision-based video tracking, and physiological sensors. The body state representations research area integrates psychology, machine leaning, visualization, and physical practices to derive new forms of interactivity and communication based on expressive physiological data.

Internet Research Lab Director: Dr. Dmitri Loguinov Internet Research Lab (IRL) at Texas A&M University conducts research in several areas of networking with a focus on Internet-related technologies and protocols. The research areas include congestion control, peer-to-peer networks, Internet measurements, web crawling, performance analysis, and stochastic modeling. Laboratory for Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (LENNS) Director: Dr. Radu Stoleru The Laboratory for Embedded Networked Sensor Systems at Texas A&M University performs research in several areas of sensor network protocols, architectures and applications. We currently focus on: distributed coordination algorithms such as localization, time synchronization, clustering, and topology control; QoS in sensor networks; failure resilience and fault isolation; energy management; data storage and management; sensor network programming abstractions. Laboratory for Software Research The Laboratory for Software Research (LSR) has as its mission the development of methodologies, techniques and automated tools to assist in the development of complex software systems. The specific thrusts in the LSR are object oriented development techniques, user interface development and evaluation systems and a life cycle artifact manager. This research supports the development of students for Texas industries and knowledge to be incorporated into our teaching program in software engineering. NetBot Laboratory Director: Dr. Dezhen Song Our lab focuses research on three thrusts including networked telerobotics, vision-based robot navigation, and sensor/robot networks. We develop and apply techniques drawn from modern probability models, optimization theory, computational geometry, and control theory to problems in the domain of robotics and automation. Our research has found many applications including natural environment observation, distance learning, surveillance of public space, building construction monitoring/archiving, vehicle navigation, space exploration, and manufacturing. We approach research problems from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. We build mathematical models, develop algorithms, and validate them through both simulations and physical experiments. Parasol Laboratory Directors: Drs. Nancy Amato and Lawrence Rauchwerger The Parasol Laboratory is a focal point for research related to next-generation high-performance computing systems and for the development of algorithms and applications that exploit these systems to solve computationally intensive applications. Due to its application-centric focus, the

Parasol Lab creates a uniquely favorable environment for collaboration between systems and application developers. Parasol systems projects include: the study and development of novel architecture and compiler techniques for the optimization of parallel and distributed systems, the design and implementation of compiler driven software productivity improvement tools, software verification, and performance modeling and prediction. Parasol applications projects include: the development of optimized algorithms for applications from domains such as computer-aided design (CAD), computational biology, computational geophysics, computational neuroscience, computational physics, robotics, and virtual reality. This interdisciplinary college-wide lab provides an array of systems to support research related to parallel and distributed computing, including a Hewlett-Packard 16 processor V-class multiprocessor. Perception, Sensing, and Instrumentation Lab (formerly PRISM lab) Director: Dr. Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna Research in the Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Sensor Machines Lab lies at the interface between signal processing, machine learning, neural computation, robotics and sensor systems. Our interest is in understanding how sensory systems (man-made or biological) perceive, interact with, learn from and adapt to their environments under a number of modalities, including chemical, acoustic, visual, and physiological.

In the process, we draw motivation from multiple disciplines, from neurobiology to perceptual psychology. Our current research projects include speech processing methods for foreign accent conversion, wearable physiological sensors for stress monitoring, active sensing with tunable chemical sensors, and face perception and face super resolution. Real-Time Distributed System Director: Dr. Jyh Charn (Steve) Liu This group is interested in solving the underlying principles of complex systems in order to convert them into real solutions to real world problems. With the rapid evolution and acceptance of computing and communication technologies in our society, this group strives for long-term impact with short-term relevance and success in its research and in its educational process. Its aim is to provide lab members with a balanced view of information technology by focusing on the entire process of design, analysis and implementation. Real-Time Systems Group Director: Dr. Riccardo Bettati This group focuses on research and development of real-time computing and communication technology for mission critical information systems, including multimedia, command and control, transportation, process control, etc. Secure Communication and Computer Systems Laboratory (SUCCESS) Director: Dr. Guofei Gu Our lab focuses on cutting-edge research in computer and network security. We are developing new generations of algorithms, techniques, and systems to solve real-world security problems

and aim to make profound real-world impacts. We balance theory and practice, and often bridge system and networking techniques with other areas such as machine learning, statistics, information theory, and applied cryptography. Our current research projects include (but not limited to): malware detection/defense/analysis, intrusion detection/prevention, web and social networking security. Sketch Recognition Lab Director: Dr. Tracy Anne Hammond The mission of the Sketch Recognition Lab includes:

• Activity Recognition Algorithms o Indentify and understand a person’s behavior and actions o Infer and predict a person’s intentions and future choices

• Wearable Technologies and Sensors o enhance a person's senses o communicate environmental and personal information to the wearer o help people be more cognizant of their environment enable people to make better

choices.

Multi-User TAMU Facilities: SuperComputing Facilities: BRAZOS HPC CLUSTER Brazos, a major computing cluster at Texas A&M University, is designed to meet the high-throughput computing needs of A&M's computational scientists and engineers. Though capable of executing modest MPI applications, Brazos is optimized for handling large numbers of single-node computations. This form of computing is referred to as high-throughput or capacity computing.

The computing power of Brazos comes from 309 computing nodes, with processors ranging from quad core Intel Xeon (Harpertown) and AMD Opteron (Shanghai), to 8-core AMD Opteron (Bulldozer) with 16GB to 128GB per node. Total peak performance is about 31.3 TFlops with a total of 10.1TB of RAM.

Access to Brazos is via a login nodes load balanced using round-robin DNS. User home directories are supported by a 5TB NFS file system. Data storage is supported using the Fraunhofer Filesystem on a 241TB storage array running on 7 storage nodes. Operating software for Brazos includes the Linux operating system, GNU and Intel compilers, SLURM batch scheduler, several MPI and linear algebra packages, and numerous applications. The compute nodes and servers of Brazos are connected internally via a modular switch, with Gigabit Ethernet connections to each compute node and 10GbE connections to the login node and the data fileservers. The login nodes are connected to the Science DMZ network with 10GbE. The networking fabric for a large portion of the Brazos cluster is DDR Infiniband

Eos IBM (iDataPlex) Linux Cluster Eos is a 3168-core IBM (iDataPlex) Linux cluster comprised of two different types of nodes: 324 are equiped with Nehalem and 48 with Westmere processors, both Intel products. Both implement 64-bit architectures and operate at 2.8GHz. The Nehalem is the quad-core X5550 processor, while the Westmere is the 6-core X5660. The Nehalem-based nodes are 2-socket 8-core SMP systems. Those equipped with Westmeres are 2-socket 12-core SMP's. Eos currently has 372 (324+48) nodes, all interconnected by a high-speed 4X Quad-Data Rate (QDR) Infiniband (IB) fabric. An IB link in the fabric supports full-duplex communication with bandwidth of 4GB/s in each direction. The interconnecting switch in this communication infrastructure is the Voltaire Grid Director 4700.

The 324 Nehalem nodes have the following roles: 314 are strictly compute nodes and accessible only by batch jobs; 5 are login nodes for cluster access and interactive processing; 4 are dedicated to I/O; and 1 is reserved for cluster services. All 48 Westmere nodes are for computation only and accessible in batch mode. However, four of them are equipped with graphics processors (GPUs).

Each node is a 64-bit shared-memory multi-processor system. The total memory per compute or I/O node is 24GB; four interactive/login nodes have 48GB each, the 5th one has 128GB. All cluster nodes run a 64-bit version of the RedHat or CentOS variants of the Linux operating system.

Bulk and global disc storage is provided by a 500TB DataDirect Networks (DDN) raid array, the S2A9900. All compute and login nodes access this storage via the 4 I/O nodes that are directly attached to the S2A9900.

Each node is equipped with a 146 giga-byte SAS disk drive. It's space is used mostly by the Operating System. Through the /tmp directory, a very limited amount of space can be used by user processes. TAMU HIGH PERFORMANCE RESEARCH COMPUTING This resource for research and discovery has four available clusters for faculty research:

(1) Ada is a 17,340-core IBM/Lenovo commodity cluster with nodes based mostly on Intel's 64-bit 10-core IvyBridge processors. In addition to the 852 compute nodes, there are 8 login nodes, each with 256 GB of memory and GPUs or Phi coprocessors per node.

(2) Crick is a 368-core IBM Power7+ BigData cluster with nodes based on IBM's 64-bit 16-core Power7+ processors. Included in the 23 nodes are 1 BigSQL node with 256GB of memory per node and 14TB (raw) of storage and 22 data nodes with 14TB (raw) storage for GPFS-FPO and local caching. Crick is primarily used for big data analytics. In addition to these nodes are 2 login nodes with 128GB of memory per node,

(3) Curie is an 768-core IBM Power7+ cluster with nodes based on IBM's 64-bit 16-core Power7+ processors. In addition to the 48 nodes are 2 login nodes with 256GB of memory per node. Curie's file system and batch scheduler are shared with Ada cluster.

(4) LoneStar5 is the latest cluster hosted by the Texas Advanced computing Center. Jointly funded by the University of Texas System, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University, it provides additional resources to TAMU researchers. LoneStar5 has: 252 Cray XC40 compute nodes, each with two 12-core Intel® Xeon® processing cores for a total of 30,048 compute cores; 2 large memory compute nodes, each with 1TB memory; 8 large memory compute nodes, each with 512GB memory; 16 Nodes with NVIDIA K-

40 GPUs; 5 Petabyte DataDirect Networks storage system; and Cray-developed Aries interconnect.

The HPRC group provides its users with access to several specially configured "HPRC Lab" Linux workstations at two separate locations on the TAMU campus, and can assist with: debugging, code optimization and parallelization, batch processing, and collaborative advanced program support.

Ada: IBM/Lenovo HPC Cluster Ada is an Intel x86-64 Linux cluster with 852 compute nodes (17,340 total cores) and 8 login nodes. Most (792) of the compute nodes are IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 dual socket servers based on the Intel Xeon 2.5GHz E5-2670 v2 10-core processor, commonly known as the Ivy Bridge. These are housed in 11 19-inch racks. The other nodes are configured with distinct hardware so as to enable special functional capabilities: GPGPU processing; very fast data transfers to external hosts; login access; etc. The interconnecting fabric is FDR-10 Infiniband based on the Mellanox SX6536 (core) and SX6036 (leaf) switches. High performance mass storage of 4 petabyte (raw) capacity is made available to all of the nodes by IBM's GSS26 data storage appliance.

There are 852 compute nodes which comprises nodes for pure computation as well as nodes that have dual roles, such those that are equipped with accelerators. A very special category of compute nodes are the 15 nodes with extra large memories of 1TB or 2TB. The ada.tamu.edu hostname can be used to access the Ada cluster. This translates to login into one of the 8 login nodes, ada[1-8].tamu.edu. To access a specific login node use its corresponding host name (e.g., ada6.tamu.edu). Memory is 256GB DDR3 1866 MHz per node, and each is equipped with 4 10K rpm SAS drives. All 8 have 1 GigE external connectivity and direct access to all global parallel (GPFS-based) file systems. The table below provides other important details. There are two nodes that are exclusively dedicated to the fast transfer of massive amounts of data. One node is a 20-core 128 GB memory node based on the Intel Ivy Bridge 10-core processor. The second node is an 8-core 128 GB memory node based on the Intel Ivy Bridge 4-core processor. These nodes are configured to have up to 40GigE capability to the Internet. Both nodes are configured to Ada's IB fabric and have access to all of the parallel (GPFS-based) file systems.

Two categories of mass storage are available and connected to Ada. The first is high performance and based on the IBM GSS26 storage appliance, while the second is slower, tiered and based and three different media: flash, disk, and tape.

Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) designs and operates some of the world's most powerful computing resources. The center's mission is to enable discoveries that advance science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies. Through this center TAMU faculty have access to multiple supercomputers, including: Stampede - has 6,400 Dell C8220 compute nodes are housed in 160 racks; each node has two

Intel E5 8-core (Sandy Bridge) processors and an Intel Xeon Phi 61-core (Knights Corner) coprocessor. Stampede is a multi-use, cyberinfrastructure resource offering large memory, large data transfer, and graphic processor unit (GPU) capabilities for data-intensive, accelerated or visualization computing. To this end, there are also 16 large-memory nodes with 1 terabyte (TB) memory, as well as 128 compute nodes with NVIDIA Kepler K20

GPUs. All components are integrated with an InfiniBand FDR network of Mellanox switches to deliver extreme scalability and high-speed networking.

Lonestar • 1252 Cray XC40 compute nodes, each with two 12-core Intel® Xeon® processing cores for

a total of 30,048 compute cores • 2 large memory compute nodes, each with 1TB memory • 8 large memory compute nodes, each with 512GB memory • 16 Nodes with NVIDIA K-40 GPUs • 5 Petabyte DataDirect Networks storage system • Cray-developed Aries interconnect

Wrangler: System Features • Geographically replicated, high performance data storage (10PB each site) • Large scale flash storage tier for analytics with bandwidth of 1TB/s and 250M IOPS (6x

faster than Stampede) • More than 3,000 embedded processor cores for data analysis • Flexible support for a wide range of data workflows, including those using Hadoop and

databases. • Integration with Globus Online services for rapid and reliable data transfer and sharing. • A fully scalable design that can grow with the amount of users and as data applications grow.

Wrangler Subsystems: • A 10PB storage system • A set of 120 Intel Haswell-based servers for data access and embedded analytics • A high-speed global object store made from NAND Flash

Other Multi-User Facilities: Immersive Visualization Center The Immersive Visualization Center, located in room 260 of the Halbouty Geosciences Building, provides the latest in advanced visualization capabilities to researchers at Texas A&M University. Based on a semi-rigid, rear projected, curved screen, the IVC facilitates the imaging of very large datasets from a diverse set of disciplines. Geophysics, life and physical sciences, engineering, and architecture are all able to gain a better understanding of their research by taming the complexity of their data through visualization. This particular configuration is the first such installation in the world. The screen was constructed by SEOS and is driven by a custom-built SuperMicro workstation from R Associates running Linux. The IVC is housed in space provided by the Department of Geology and Geophysics and is operated by the Institute for Scientific Computation. Equipment

• SEOS rear projected curved screen: 25' x 8' semi-rigid curved screen (12' radius). 3 stereo DLP projectors.

• SuperMicro workstation • Two Intel Xeon X5560 quad core processors, 2.8GHz • 48GB DDR3-1333 RAM

• Dual nVidia Quadro 5800 video cards, each with 4GB RAM • 5TB SATA storage • openSuSE Linux version 11.2

Software • RV Video Player - RV allows the creation and playback of regular and stereoscopic

movies. Users can bring in an image sequence, quicktime movie, avi, etc; and we will be able to convert it into a flat or stereoscopic sequence, as applicable. Sound can be synced with video.

• Paraview - Paraview is a general purpose visualization application. It is easy to use and runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, so you can create your visualization on your Windows machine in your office and easily transfer your files to our Linux system.

• VTK - The Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is an open source software system for 3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization. It supports a wide variety of visualization algorithms. VTK consists of a C++ class library, and several interpreted interface layers to Tcl/Tk, Java, and Python.

• VisIT - VisIT, like ParaView, uses VTK as its base. functionality is similar, but VisIT tends to be useful for larger data.

• SCIRun - SCIRun is a Problem Solving Environment for modeling, simulation and visualization of scientific problems.

• Vis5d+ - Vis5D is a system for interactive visualization of large 5-D gridded data sets such as those produced by numerical weather models.

• VMD - VMD is a molecular visualization program for displaying, animating, and analyzing large biomolecular systems using 3-D graphics and built-in scripting. It supports Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. It can be downloaded here. User's Guide Tutorial - from UIUC

• Coot - Coot is for macromolecular model building, model completion and validation, particularly suitable for protein modelling using X-ray data.

• Chimera - UCSF Chimera is an extensible program for interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data, including density maps, supramolecular assemblies, sequence alignments, docking results, trajectories, and conformational ensembles.

Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society (TIGSS) Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society (TIGSS) has established number of shared resources to support genomics research.

Molecular Genomics Lab which houses various instruments and lab equipment is located in VMR Addition 266. Training and experimental support is available. Please visit the TAMU Core Facilities page for available services.

A High Performance Computing Cluster (TIGSS HPCC) has been established in 2012 specifically tailored for Bioinformatics / Computational Biology research. sequence assembly, alignment and analysis and many more. A total of 296 compute cores (592 with HT enabled) with a forty-core high performance/high memory “fat” node plus sixteen blades with sixteen

cores each are available on the TIGSS-HPC Cluster. The fat node (edius) has a total of 1 TB of memory and the standard compute nodes have 64 GB each for a total of 2 TB compute memory. The cluster has 70 TB useable high-performance/high-availability network attached storage (NAS). A local WIKI is available describing the general usage guidelines and various software that is available globally on the cluster.

We also provide Bioinformatics consultation and computational analyses of high-throughput data, not limited to Next-generation sequencing data. We follow best practices as specified in many peer reviewed journals and protocol articles. We document every step of the analyses so that you will be able to replicate the analyses if you choose to do so. Services:

• Initial Bioinformatics Consultation / Discussions of Project Design • Small assistance / Custom analysis steps / Preliminary analyses ( less than 2 hours) • Comprehensive data analyses (Internal) • Comprehensive data analyses (External Academic / Federal) • Comprehensive data analyses (External Commercial)

Software and Equipment: • epMotion 5075 (Eppendorf) • Bio-Plex 200 (Bio-Rad) • Open Source Software • High Performance Computing • Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (QIAGEN) • QX200 AutoDG Droplet Digital PCR System (Bio-Rad) • iScan (Illumina) • MiSeq (Illumina) • NextSeq 500 (Illumina) • C1 Single-Cell System (Fluidigm) • Biomark HD (Fluidigm) • CLC Genomics Workbench

TTVN (formerly known as the Trans-Texas Videoconference Network)) TTVN is the wide area data and interactive communications network that serves the A&M System, numerous affiliated colleges and universities, K-12 school districts and state agencies throughout Texas. TTVN provides enterprise-class commodity Internet, Internet2, National LambdaRail, and Texas Intranet data services, in addition to videoconferencing and web conferencing services. The TTVN network is part of the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN).

Facilities from other TAMU Departments used by Computer Science and Engineering Faculty

Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies The Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies (The Academy) was established by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in March 1996, to

recognize, help develop and coordinate the various telecommunications and information technology efforts and expertise at Texas A&M University. First led by Dr. Richard E. Ewing and reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Academy fostered collaboration for academic programs and technology research, development, and deployment. Today, under the direction of Dr. Guy Almes, The Academy continues to fulfill its mission by pursuing interdisciplinary research and partnership opportunities that promote the aggressive use of cyberinfrastructure. Since its inception, The Academy has sponsored more than 80 faculty-led, campus-based grants totaling over $450,000 for the creation or conversion of instructional materials for electronic delivery under its innovative Electronic Learning Incentives Programs (ELIP). These short-term grants provide salary supplements, student support, equipment and supplies to facilitate and encourage electronic learning projects. Researchers at The Academy have secured extensive external funding, equipment donations and donated line charges for numerous collaborative University projects now underway, including digital libraries, Next Generation 9-1-1 research, international collaborative graduate education and research, infrastructure supporting the real-time prediction of extreme atmospheric events, and advancements in Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technologies

Next Generation 9-1-1 - The advent of Internet-based communications has produced a significant challenge in providing location and telephone number information for emergency calls. Previous technologies had the advantage of being able to report a fixed location for the calling devices. While Internet-based communications offer the advantage of availability wherever there is an Internet connection, this makes the routing of emergency calls and the caller’s location difficult with current technology. Next Generation 9-1-1 will develop, deploy, and demonstrate solutions for Internet-based emergency services using emerging open standards, common off-the shelf technology (COTS), and a unique partnership of researchers, university network practitioners, operators of public safety answering points, and state governments. The Academy’s wealth of expertise enriches and furthers Texas A&M’s presence in this partnership.

Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems (CANVASS) Director: Dr. John Valasek The Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems is a joint venture of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering (COE). CANVASS is a 17-laboratory center with investigators from member COE departments (AERO, CSCE, CVEN, ECEN, MEEN, BAEN, ETID) administered through the Department of Aerospace Engineering. CANVASS connects the relevant research talents from these labs to create multidisciplinary teams that develop innovative, synergistic strategies for the design, analysis, control, validation and verification of complex autonomous vehicle and sensor systems operating in challenging environments. Director: John Valasek CANVASS comprises the following. • Riverside Range: Outdoor facilities at the Texas A&M University's Riverside Campus in

Bryan, Texas • Unmanned Flight Laboratory • Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory • Helicopter Unmanned Systems Laboratory

• Land, Air and Space Robotics Laboratory • AggieSat Laboratory • Disaster City

CANVASS allows an orderly progression from indoor on-campus labs to initial TRL7 testing and a gateway to other larger, full-scale test ranges. CANVASS research activities develop innovative, synergistic strategies for the design, analysis, control, validation and verification of complex autonomous vehicle and sensor systems operating in challenging environments. Center for Bioinformatics and Genome Systems Engineering Director: Dr. Aniruddha Datta The mission of the CBGSE is to develop new methodology and analytical tools for basic and applied research to benefit consumers and expand agricultural sustainability, profitability, and environmental stewardship with a main emphasis related to strengthening the economy, sustaining and restoring healthy ecosystems, conserving natural resources, ensuring prosperity, and enriching the quality of life for the present and future generations of Texans. Bioinformatics Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field mainly involving molecular biology and genetics, computer science, mathematics, and statistics. Computational Biology Computational biology, focused on the development and application of analytic and theoretical methods of data processing, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques, toward the study of biological systems, is rooted in life sciences as well as computer and information sciences and technologies, drawing from specific disciplines such as mathematics, physics, computer science and engineering, biology, and behavioral science. Systems Biology In Systems biology is the coordinated study of biological systems by investigating the components of cellular networks and their interactions by applying experimental high-throughput and whole-genome techniques, and integrating computational methods with experimental efforts. The roles of signal processing and the closely related theories of communication, control and information will play constitutive functions as medicine evolves Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems Director: Dr. Gerard L. Coté The center’s capabilities include conducting innovative research and development of biomedical technologies and algorithms for remote health and fitness monitoring, including mobile devices and wearables; performing comprehensive validation aimed at ensuring robustness, functionality and unobtrusive form factors for medical and fitness products; and developing next-generation health care delivery and medical information systems that can be used for optimal decision making and transforming clinical practice. Design & Software Simulation The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems (CRHTS) partners with industry leaders to provide a wide range of design and modeling services. These range from device-level activities for semiconductor, consumer-device and medical-device markets to data analytics and large-scale systems modeling for hospitals, outpatient services and population health.

CRHTS modeling skills include machine learning, signal processing, image processing, neural networks, Monte Carlo simulation, human-machine interface simulation, sketch recognition, electronic simulation, human-factors analysis, systems simulation, stochastic scheduling, and global optimization.

CRHTS works closely with semiconductor and device companies to model, analyze and design new photonics components and subsystems. CRHTS uses a variety of modeling tools, including custom software models of photon propagation through tissue using Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, CRHTS modeling software is capable of analyzing optical hardware coupled to tissue designs to improve low-power capabilities and signal quality by assisting in wavelength selection, physical dimensions and source and detector placement for various component and device designs.

CRHTS works with hospital systems and data aggregators on “Big Data” applications. These applications involve integration of wearable sensors, medical devices, electronic health records,and environmental data for assessing compliance, predicting risk and initiating interventions for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma. CRHTS also works with hospitals, medical clinics and public health organizations in systems design and improvement activities associated with new, technologically-driven measures and methods of service delivery such as e-consults, telehealth, and asynchronous scheduling and communications. These activities focus on service design and impact assessment through simulation modeling and optimization. Prototyping The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems (CRHTS) has a range of facilities for prototyping electronic, optical and mechanical systems and works with industry partners from across the globe on original equipment manufacture (OEM) prototypes. CRHTS works with clinical, public health and behavioral psychology experts toward non-obtrusive designs for patients and end users that involve wearable sensors and mobile platform medical devices for fitness, preventative care for patients with a predisposition for disease, and predictive analysis of chronically ill conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. CRHTS can prototype phantom tissues and test and measurement systems that have the ability to mimic human tissue anatomy and physiology, including providing accurate optical properties of skin tone and blood. The test systems described in the Test and Measurement section can simulate various motion artifact, pressures and temperatures. Together, these phantoms and systems can improve design cycle time and minimize the number and scope of animal and human studies.

CRHTS mechanical facilities range from excimer laser cutting with feature sizes down to a few microns, CO2 laser cutting for hundreds of microns, 3-D printers, and a full machine shop including a milling machine for larger-scale prototyping. The electrical facilities include a full suite of National Instruments (NI) ELVIS boards for early prototyping, printed circuit board prototyping capabilities, RF coil fabrication, and reflow soldering system. The optical capabilities include a range of configurable systems from fluorescent sensing and imaging to polarized light systems to optical coherence tomographic imaging and mobile platform-based sensing and imaging systems such as photoplethysmography (PPG) and microscopy on a phone. Test and Measurement The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems (CRHTS) provides a range of test and measurement capabilities for research, validation and verification of materials, optoelectronics and mechanical systems. CRHTS researchers can conduct validation test reports and develop

custom test validation and verification systems for new materials and devices for a wide range of medical device, patient and fitness-monitoring applications. In vitro Monitoring and Wearable Technology Test CRHTS partners with industry to validate final commercial designs for medical and wearable devices such as smart phones and fitness bands. The center’s unique in vitro test system uses a combination of pumps and fluid control to simulate the heart and vascular system; tissue and blood phantoms to mimic important optical properties of tissue including varying skin tone; and advanced automation and motion control to simulate various physical activities such as running, jumping and waving. This in vitro test-and-measurement system enables clients to accurately compare devices using repeatable validation test protocols that reduce cost and time compared to the use of animal or human subject tests. In addition, a highly repeatable in vitro test protocol allows developers of new algorithms, sensors and mechanical designs to iterate on corner case conditions in order to improve performance without using highly variable animal or human subject trials. Biomaterials Test CRHTS researchers work with leading companies to develop and test biomaterials in a wide range of applications, including anti-fouling coatings and self-cleaning membranes for glucose monitoring devices. Biomechanical Tests CRHTS has a full suite of mechanical testing systems including stress and strain measurement systems, shear stress measurement systems, fluidic monitoring, and full body biomechanical imaging systems. Imaging Systems Design Validation CRHTS works with leading imaging companies to test and validate new designs for ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging coils, phased array systems and optical imaging modalities. In vivo Preclinical and Clinical Monitoring CRHTS researchers test and validate devices that include a variety of vital sign and physiological measurements such as pulse rate, oximetery, SpO2, step activity (accelerometer and altimeter), heart rate variability, ECG, blood pressure and more. Preclinical and Clinical Studies The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems (CRHTS) has a range of capabilities for both animal and human subject studies, including large-animal studies under good laboratory practice (GLP) conditions.

CRHTS personnel includes veterinary physicians whose expertise spans virtually every animal species and disease. These researchers include interventional radiologists, surgeons and pathologists from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the Comparative Medicine Program, and Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies.

Center-related facilities, which can accommodate small and large animals under GLP and non-GLP conditions, include surgical suites, imaging facilities, clinical pathology, pre-op, recovery and intensive care as well as animal housing and exceptional animal care. Programs are accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) through its affiliation with other AAALAC-accredited Texas A&M programs.

CRHTS personnel also includes life scientists and clinicians from kinesiology, medicine and public health who can work with human subjects and patients, from infants to the elderly. Their expertise spans most disease states as well as disease prevention, enabling CRHTS the capability to work with human subjects in well-controlled environments such as in the Exercise and Sport

Nutrition Lab and the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity. CRHTS capabilities include the capacity to work with subjects or patients in the field, including the workplace to assess occupational health and other populations such as K-12 school children, elder care facility patients and other communities. Systems Engineering The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems (CRHTS) has a strong emphasis in systems engineering. This focuses on designing the remote health system to function under realistic environmental, regulatory and market conditions to successfully serve the needs of all stakeholders and to be reliable and productive throughout the complete life cycle. Researchers involved with systems engineering deal with issues related to scaling for population health such as usability, manufacturability, quality, cost, reliability, maintenance and risk management. CRHTS personnel includes engineers, computer scientists and psychologists with expertise in engineering design, advanced manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, human factors and behavioral science, cognitive science and engineering, operations research, simulation modeling and organizational theory. The center’s system design emphasis supports the triple aim of improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of health care. Counseling and Assessment Clinic Director: Dr. William Rae The Counseling and Assessment Clinic (CAC) is a not-for-profit psychological services and training facility operated under the administration of EPSY. A team of advanced doctoral and master’s level students in the fields of Counseling Psychology, School Psychology, and School Counseling provide psychological services. All work is under faculty supervision. At the Counseling and Assessment Clinic, we provide a professional environment where the client's needs are our first priority. Close supervision is provided through the utilization of videotaping, audiotaping, live supervision or other means acceptable to the client. Cyberphysical Systems Lab Contact: Dr. P.R. Kumar. In particular it focuses on the concept of ‘local temporal autonomy’ and demonstrates how the vehicles deal with communication, localization or other failures, and how it recovers from them. DNA Sequencing/Genotyping Core Facilities Main Instruments

o ABI 3130xl Capillary DNA Sequencer o ABI 7900HT real-time PCR Machine o BioRad CFX384 Real-time PCR Machine o Spex SamplePrep GenoGrinder o ThermoScientific NanoDrop Spectrophotometer o Beckman DU640 Spectrophotometer o PerkinElmer Victor X3 Plate Reader o Seven PCR Machines o Alpha Innotech Alpha Imager Mini Photodocumentation system

o BioRad ChemiDoc XRS+ and GelDoc XR+ o Savant Speed Vac o Beckman Ultra Centrifuge XL-80 o Beckman Ultra Centrifuge TLX o Three Beckman J2-HC Centrifuges o Branson Sonifier o Kodak M35 Developer o UV Crosslinker o Flow Cytometer

Educational Research and Evaluation Laboratory (63) Coordinators: Dr. Ernest Goetz and Dr. Robert Hall The Educational Research and Evaluation Laboratory (EREL) supports student and faculty research, development and evaluation activities. Consultation and services include problem identification, conceptualization and refinement; research and evaluation planning; research design; instrument development; data collection, coding, and analysis; and interpretation, reporting and dissemination of results. Embedded Signal Processing Laboratory (http://jafari.tamu.edu) Contact: Dr. Roozbeh Jafari The Embedded Signal Processing lab formed to investigate how embedded processing and sensing systems employing advanced signal processing techniques can improve medical care and enhance lives. Injuries, wounds, diseases, and learning disabilities deny people the freedom and opportunities they crave. By partnering with world class medical research teams, we have access to data and expertise which allows us to help return some of these freedoms. We are developing platforms to monitor the progression of disease, provide feedback to aid in rehabilitation, and even identify actions and postures which can lead to injury.

We explore theoretical properties of our problems and platforms. These problems include power optimization techniques, developing compact models to represent our problems, new techniques for classification in resource constrained environments, and signal processing methodologies for reducing data and identifying key signals. Our ultimate objective is to bridge the gap between theory and implementation.

This research requires an inherently multi-disciplinary approach, exploiting ideas from fields as diverse as pattern recognition, signal processing, and embedded system design. In most cases, we build our systems from scratch which involves hardware and software design. We use the systems to collect data. The design techniques mostly are derived from case study on data, and by exploiting specific properties of the signal processing. We are involved in cutting-edge research focusing primarily on design and development of wearable computers. Our team collaborates with health-science researchers as well as many other top research programs in the US. Emerging Technologies and Economic Development Interdisciplinary Building Texas A&M University's Emerging Technologies building opened its doors to students, faculty and researchers in Fall 2011. This state-of-the-art building was designed to help bring together

the brightest minds across disciplines, colleges and institutions to educate students, conduct landmark research and to develop new and innovative technologies to improve health, homeland security and economic development. This facility added 212,000 gross square feet of much-needed classroom, laboratory, student study area and administrative space. The Emerging Technologies building is home to the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and also houses interdisciplinary research labs in the Texas A&M University College of Engineering and the College of Architecture, the College of Geosciences and the College of Science. Occupants also include two major multidisciplinary research groups, the Computational Science and Visualization and the new Institute for Coastal and Deepwater Offshore Systems. Building Features

• 212,000 gross square feet • A three-story atrium designed for events, gatherings and display of the innovative

research taking place inside the building • Nine classrooms and two large lecture halls equipped with the infrastructure to support

state-of-the-art learning • Two large student computing labs with 24-hour access • Wet bench labs with fume hoods that will support biomaterials, biomechanics and

biomedical optics • Dry bench labs that will provide space for equipment-based research • Submersible underwater research lab for work in underwater vehicles • Large-scale visualization room for the computational science and visualization program • Offices for graduate students, faculty and support staff • Open teaming and meeting areas

Genomics and Bioinformatics Facility Texas A&M AgriLife Research This facility is housed approximately 5 miles south of the Texas A&M University campus. The facility is a subsidiary of the TAMU Institute of Plant Genomics and Biotechnology and is headed by Dr. Charles Johnson. The facility recently added an Illumina HiSeq 2000 and a new computer system and is upgrading to the HiSeq 2500 platform prior to the proposed funding period. These systems supplant their previous Illumina GAIIx systems and complements their Roche 454 sequencing system. The AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Service Facility brings together a team of genomic, bioinformatic, molecular and computational scientists to address the needs of the Texas A&M Univerisity system. The Facility has several computer clusters and access to the Texas A&M Supercomputer as needed. The Facility is experienced at preparing sequencing libraries for Next Gen Sequencing from RNA or DNA samples, and provides this service in addition to the sequencing at a competitive cost. They also have expert bioinformaticians that can provide bioinformatic analysis of sequence datasets at a reasonable hourly fee.

Housed in the Genomics and Bioinformatics Facility is an Illumina HiSeq 4000, PacBio Sequal and MiSeq systems. This facility is a short driving distance south of the main Texas A&M campus.

Image Analysis Laboratory Established in 1987 to serve microscopy and imaging needs of the investigators in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), the laboratory has expanded to serve the Texas A&M University System and currently serves as an Advanced Imaging Facility Core for the interdisciplinary NIEHS-supported Center for Translational Environmental Health Research (CTEHR). The center, a collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston, is one of only 21 Centers of Excellence in the country and will focus on better understanding the effects of the environment on human health. The core supports the goal of the Center to “improve human environmental health by integrating advances in basic, biomedical and engineering research across translational boundaries from the laboratory to the clinic and to the community and back.” The laboratory also provides core support to the Center for Organ and Cell Biotechnology, a collaboration between the Texas Heart Institute (THI) and CVM with objectives to develop, test, and commercialize disruptive cell& organ biotechnologies and molecular tools and to build the medicines of tomorrow. Equipment: Zeiss ELYRA S.1 (SR-SIM) Superresolution Microscope

• Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 Microscope fully motorized • Laser Lines: 405nm, 488nm, 561 and 643 nm • Incubator for temperature and CO2 control • 3 and 5 grid rotations • Zen software • Workstation for Super resolution with 3D Visart, FRET, FRAP and Physiology modules • Objectives: Plan-Apo 10X/0.45, Plan-Apo 63X/1.4oil, Plan-Apo 100X/1.4oil

Zeiss LSM 780 NLO Multiphoton Microscope • 34 Ch spectral GaAsP detection multiphon microscope • Laser lines at 458, 477, 488, 514, 543 and 633 nm • Coherent Chameleon Ultra Ti:Saphire (720-950nm) pulsed laser • Definite focus, Incubation (Temperature & CO2) and motorized stage • Zen software FRET, FRAP, Physiology and 3D VisArt modules • ISS two channel FCS and Fast FLIM • Objectives: Plan-Apo 10X/0.45, Plan-Apo 20X/0.8, Plan-Apo 40X/1.4oil, C-Apo

40x/1.2water, Plan-Apo 63X/1.4oil Zeiss TIRF3

• Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 Microscope fully motorized • Two cameras: High resolution AxioCam MRm and Roper S/W PVCAM • Laser Lines: 405nm, 488nm, 514 nm, 561 nm • Incubator for temperature and CO2 control • AxioVision 4 Software

Zeiss 510 META Confocal Microscope • Zeiss Axiovert 200 MOT microscope • Laser lines at 458, 477, 488, 514, 543 and 633 nm • Z-stack collection, spectral emission profiling and separation • Multi-time, Physiology, FRET, FRAP software • Two confocal channels, one spectral detection channel (META), two channels non-

descanned detection, and one transmitted light channel

• Objectives: Plan-Neofluar 10x/0.3 NA, Plan-Apochromat 20x / 0.8 NA,Plan-Neofluar 40x / 0.85 NA, , Plan-Neofluar 40x / 1.30 NA Oil, Plan Apochromat 63x / 1.4 NA Oil, C-Apochromat 40x / 1.2 NA Water

Zeiss Stallion Digital Imaging Workstation • Xenon fluorescent light source, 300 W with rapid switching (<2 msec) between

excitation wavelengths

• Synchronization hardware (TTL-based) • Shutter for transmitted light (25 mm) • Incubator with CO2 and temperature Control • 2 x CoolSnap HQ Camera with external ventilation • Stallion software • Ratio/FRET Software Module • Antivibration table

Zeiss Digital Imaging Workstation • Zeiss Axioplan Microscope with motorized z-stage and system components for

brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, DIC and fluorescence • Zeiss Axiocam HRc color camera with up to 13 megapixel resolution (4140 x 3096) in

each color channel FEI Transmission Electron Microscope

• High resolution TEM with top entry stage • High-Voltage range: 40 to 100kV in steps of 10kV • Intensity zoom: allows for constant screen brightness at different magnifications • Intensity limit: prevents electron beam intensity overload on sample • Magnification: 25 - 200000 x • Automatic saving of full exposure sequence • Integrated Dual Pentium PC with Windows operating system

Veritas Microsdissection System • UV Laser Cutting and LCM :

o UV Laser Cutting ideal for non-soft tissues and capturing large numbers of cells o LCM (IR Laser) ideal for a single cell or a small number of cells

• Stage, optical movement, cameras, filters, and objectives are completely computer and software controlled

• Microdissection process is documented and archivable • Unlimited slide processing in batch mode. • High-sensitivity, variable integration time, color CCD video camera • Inverted microscope with 4x, 10x, 20x, and 40x objectives

BioTek Synergy 4 Microplate Reader • Multi-detection microplate reader with hybrid technology • Read Method: End-point, Kinetic, spectral scanning, well-area scanning • Luminescence wavelength range: 300 - 700nm • Fluorescence wavelength selection: :250 - 800nm • Absorbance: 200 to 999 nm, tunable in 1 nm increments • Temperature control up to 50° C • Uses Gen5 software with Windows Vista and Office 2007

Capabilities: Fluorescence imaging of a range of samples • Different modalities for different specimens - widefield, deconvolution, laser scanning

confocal, multiphoton, TIRF, super resolution • Filters/excitation for numerous fluorophores • Laser lines available: 405, 458, 477, 488, 514, 543, 561, 594, 633, 647 and 720-950 nm

(pulsed IR) Transmitted light imaging • DIC, phase contrast, brightfield, darkfield, polarized light • Color imaging for IHC, special stains for histology, etc.

Live-cell imaging • Temperature, humidity and CO2 regulation on widefield fluorescence, TIRF, confocal,

multipohton and super resolution microscopes • High-sensitivity EM-CCD camera (quantum efficiency up to 92%) on widefield and

TIRF systems • Time lapse

FRAP, FLIP, Photoactivation/conversion • Measure protein dynamics in living cells • Point and line scanning confocal, convenient for defined regions with slower processes • Point activation/bleaching

FRET, FLIM • Sensitized emission and acceptor photobleaching • Possible on confocal and widefield systems • Ratiometric CFP/YFP FRET reporter imaging • Lifetime measurements on frequency domain FLIM system

Image processing, analysis, quantification • Measurement of intensity, size, number, etc. • Object tracking • 3D measurement • Deconvolution • Pattern recognition • Statistical analysis using SAS, Minitab, Prism • Additional algorithms may be developed using Labview and/or Matlab

Transmission electron microscopy • Fixation, tissue processing and resin embedding • Ultra-microtomy and post-staining of sections • Immunogold labeling • Negative stain preparations • Image interpretation and analysis

Institute for Applied Math and Computational Science Director: Dr. Raymond Carroll, Statistics Department Computing Infrastructure IAMCS aims to develop and maintain a robust cyberinfrastructure to enable research and applications of IAMCS.

IAMCS’s cyberinfrastructure needs • High-performance computers able to execute large tightly-coupled computations, to enable

progress in all three Research Core areas • High-throughput computers able to execute large numbers of independent computations,

enabled to do advanced data analysis and render advanced visualizations • High-speed access to large, well-managed data stores • Modern federated authentication and authorization middle ware to support secure sharing

of the key scientific codes and data sets that often form the basis for collaborations • Well-crafted visualization studios to enable the outputs of advanced visualizations to

benefit researchers • Interoperable cyberinfrastructure required for enabling effective collaboration among

IAMCS in selected sites and for high-speed data networking among them • Collaboration support technologies including distributed data sharing and effective

teleconferencing facilities, crucial to encouraging the desired interactions among IAMCS. Architecture and Features The IAMCS cyberinfrastructure includes a set of closely related infrastructure components embracing the IAMCS focus areas. These components include:

• A high-throughput computing facility exhibiting strong cost-effectiveness in processing large numbers of independent computations

• A massive online storage facility able to serve data at high speed to both computing facilities and to the visualization facility, and capable of supporting the secure high-speed sharing of scientific codes and data-sets among the IAMCS.

• An advanced visualization facility based on Texas A&M’s Immersive Visualization Center and enhanced with appropriate visualization software from our partners at the University of Utah and other visualization leaders. Visualization technical support will aim to make aggressive use of visualization possible for IAMCS researchers in all three core areas

• High-speed connections to the international research network. • Highly skilled operations and advanced user support staffs capable of bridging any gap

between computational science codes and our hardware computing infrastructure. • Strong, federated, identified, authorization and authentication support needed to enable

high-speed, flexible, and secure sharing of scientific codes and data sets. This effort will build on Texas A&M’s early experience with Shibboleth

• Curriculum support to ensure effective infrastructure use.

Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture Director: Dr. Laura Mandell The IDHMC will focus on these four goals: • Identifying and developing our research strengths. We wish to become the primary

international center for digital research with humanistic data through the 19th century, with special emphasis on the early modern period and the 19th century. We pursue this goal through ARC, our signature project.

• Targeted project development. In addition to ARC, we cultivate digital projects that are likely to attract external funding, and that extend or complement our existing research tools and data sets. When researchers approach us with projects that do not fit these criteria, we direct them to other resources on campus or in the digital humanities community. We will

work with other units on campus to expand TAMU’s capacity to develop and sustain a thriving digital humanities research community.

• Education and outreach. We expose TAMU to cutting edge research in the field of digital humanities by making our research visible to TAMU faculty, staff, and students, and by enriching the intellectual life of TAMU community through workshops, speakers and events that are open to all. We also share our work with the broader academic community through our publicity, conference presentations, and publications.

• Training and professional development. We facilitate technology training and professional development for TAMU faculty, staff, and students through our sponsorship of DHSI, and through the opportunities we provide for undergraduate and graduate student interns and research assistants. All members of project teams are encouraged to share the results of their work at IDHMC through presentations, papers, and workshops.

Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (IT)2 is an interdisciplinary research center of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a statewide engineering research and development agency of The Texas A&M University System. It's our mission to focus research and development in telecommunications and information technology research and development in the A&M System. We are bringing together the best minds in fields that affect telecommunications and information technology. We want to use the energy of new ideas and new technology to turn the promise of telecommunications and information technology into reality. Internet 2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) Director: Walt Magnussen The Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) was established by the System Board of Regents in 2004. Operating under a Memorandum of Understanding with Internet2, ITEC’s focus is Real Time Communications (RTC). ITEC began by working on emergency communications projects, but has since evolved into one of the premier emergency communications academic research centers in the world. Lonestar Education and Research Network The Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN) is a collaborative non-profit organization that uses its 3,000 mile high-speed optical network to support its members’ research, education, healthcare and public service missions. LEARN’s 38 members include 30 public institutions of higher education, 5 private institutions of higher education and the Texas Association of Community Colleges who represents 50 community and junior colleges in Texas. The K-12 community is represented by the Texas Education Telecommunications Network (TETN) who enables network services to over 400 independent school districts. Additionally, in support of our public service mission, the National Weather Service is a member of LEARN.

LEARN enhances the research and economic competitiveness of Texas by providing a state-of-the-art, cost-effective network that is connected to national and international research and education networks, communities and services throughout the world. By owning and operating its own network, LEARN has the ability to quickly respond to emerging needs and opportunities.

Additionally, LEARN enables our members to save money by leveraging shared resources and developing a community that fosters collaboration between their colleagues in Texas and beyond.

The benefits of LEARN include: • Provides students, faculty and researchers with high-speed access to global research and

education networks. • Provides a statewide resource to support Texas students’ lifelong learning needs. • Provides cost-effective access to network capacity and services by aggregating demand

and leveraging scarce resources through economies of scale. • Provides an interconnected community that fosters collaboration and innovation to enable

Texans to seize a world of opportunities that exist today and to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

• Provides a critical interconnected infrastructure to support our healthcare, disaster preparedness and recovery and homeland defense needs.

Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory The Molecular Cytogenetics and Genomics Laboratory at Texas A&M University serves three primary roles: (1) Conduct diverse research initiatives in cytogenetics, genomics, and functional genetics focusing on diseases, important phenotypes of domestic animals and conservation genetics of endangered species. (2) Educate and train undergraduate and graduate students, visiting scientists, and veterinarians. (3) Perform a wide range of cytogenetic, molecular, and DNA-based testing for clinical and research facilities, private companies, veterinarians, breeders, and animal owners. For chromosome analysis we use both traditional and state-of-the-art techniques, and carry out tests for all domestic animals and a broad range of wild species. Analyses are done either for a fee or on a collaborative basis. Type of Analyses Included in Service:

• Karyotyping (with routine staining or G-banding of chromosomes) • Molecular cytogenetic analysis using Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH)

National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing Cell Culture Lab This 600 square foot suite houses equipment and supplies to support aseptic handling of cell culture operations associated with cell line selection, maintenance, and scale-up activities (see this lab's equipment listed in the yellow side bar). Some of the processes performed in this lab include cell freeze/thaw, cryopreservation, cell banking, cell expansion and seed train propagation. Equipment List

• Labconco Class II, Type A2 biosafety cabinets • New Brunswick Galaxy® 170S CO2 incubators • Cell Culture Company Multi6™ and Primer™ perfusion bioreactors • Nova Biomedical BioProfile® 400 chemistry analyzer • Thermo Fisher CryoExtra™ 20 LN₂ storage vessel • Thermo Fisher Neon® transfection system • Eppendorf 5810R centrifuges • Bio-Rad TC20™ automated cell counters

• Olympus IX53 inverted fluorescence microscope with camera • Carl Zeiss Primovert inverted microscopes • Leica DM750 upright microscopes

Nautical Archaeology Program The Nautical Archaeology Program is a part of the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University. The program was established in 1976. Students and faculty conduct underwater archaeological research in conjunction with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in various regions of the world, delving into time periods from prehistory to the recent past, and working with a plethora of societies and cultures. Students attending the program work in the classroom as well as in the field, and are encouraged to pursue individual projects that will help direct nautical archaeology's future.

Ship Reconstruction Laboratory Director: Dr. Luis Filipe Vieira de Castro The Ship Reconstruction Laboratory was created by J. Richard Steffy in 1976 and today is one of the laboratories of the Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation of the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University. Its mission is to acquire and disseminate knowledge about shipbuilding through time. As a classroom its main objective is to provide an effective learning environment. As research laboratory its objective is to facilitate investigation, seek public and private research funds, and recruit and retain quality students for its projects. As an outreach institution it aims at providing information, education, and guidance about the discipline of nautical archaeology and the importance of the world's submerged cultural heritage, perhaps more than ever threatened by treasure hunting.

Public Policy Research Institute Established by the Texas State Legislature in 1983 at Texas A&M University, the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) serves as a leading interdisciplinary government and social policy research organization. Since inception, PPRI has secured external research contracts totaling $140 million for providing scientific research and evaluative services to more than 90 public and private sponsors engaged in formulating public policy.

Social problems related to the areas of government, education, public health, substance abuse, workforce and employment, aging, and child and family well-being provide the substantive focus of PPRI’s work. Through the application of sophisticated research methods, PPRI successfully designs scientific projects that predict and evaluate the effectiveness of local, state, regional, national, and international programs and initiatives. Database Management - PPRI develops and maintains secure databases for both archiving data and allowing for custom, automated reporting. These include data collected and housed for international, national, state, local, and private entities. Databases developed and maintained by PPRI can be made available to policy and academic researchers for secondary analysis. PPRI is especially skilled in creating secure, accessible databases for state and local data in public health, criminal justice, state elections, and municipal governments. Researchers at PPRI are able to establish, manage, and statistically analyze large archival and longitudinal databases with the

latest statistical analysis techniques in order to answer complex policy-relevant research questions. Instructional Services - In addition to research services, the Public Policy Research Institute provides the following instructional services to policymakers and to faculty and students of Texas A&M University:

• Consultation on research design, data collection, computer programming, and statistical analysis.

• Maintenance of public records and public opinion data archives for secondary analysis. • Assistance preparing proposals for research grants and contracts in the policy sciences. • Methodological and data processing training of graduate students and undergraduate

students preparing for careers in policy analysis. • Direct involvement of graduate and undergraduate students in research projects,

providing valuable “hands-on” experience. Policy Analysis - The PPRI staff specializes in applying cutting-edge quantitative and qualitative methodologies in conducting policy analyses. By weaving results from surveys, focus groups, case studies and statistical analyses, PPRI provides policy-makers with reports designed to inform the decision making process. Over time, PPRI has conducted policy analyses of virtually every size from small needs assessments to cost-benefit analyses utilizing statewide databases (8 million+ records). The ability to blend methodologies allows PPRI to better describe the policy landscape and provide policy recommendations based upon more complete information. Program Evaluation - Agencies responsible for implementing public programs are increasingly seeking out evidence-based practices to determine services and activities that generate better outcomes at lower cost. PPRI’s program evaluation research services help state agencies test the efficacy of new policies or alternative approaches to service delivery. PPRI utilizes data for quantifying and better understanding the potentially positive, and sometimes negative, effects of applying new or different approaches. Program evaluation research is a tool for policymakers and administrators to achieve innovation, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and public accountability. Research Design and Data Analysis - As a university locus for the discussion of public policy issues, PPRI is frequently requested to produce investigative reports and analysis on socially relevant topics. Researchers at PPRI have extensive experience with complex research design and data analysis methods for policy studies in the areas of public health, public opinion, education policy, economic development, natural resources, criminal justice, primary elections, children with disabilities, and senior citizens. PPRI has produced studies for the Texas House and Senate committees on topics ranging from prison overcrowding to home childcare policies. Our carefully-planned public policy studies are cost-effective, evidence-based, focused, and designed to communicate effectively to target audiences. Our rigorous research design and analyses add to public understanding of important local, state, and national issues. We work closely with clients to define the scope of research, the intended impact, and audience. Additionally, PPRI researchers are able to draw upon our wide range of in-house expertise as well as the world-class faculty at Texas A&M University. Our data-driven research is based on state-of-the-art methods, including:

• Statistical and Econometric Analyses • Phone, Online, Mail, and In-Person Surveys • Focus groups, Listening Sessions, and In-Person Interviews • Case studies

• Best-practices and Evaluation Research Survey Research - Survey research has been a central activity of PPRI since its founding. For more than 25 years we have conducted hundreds of different surveys with thousands of respondents. Utilized in surveys are telephone, mail, paper and pencil, e-mail and web-based systems as well as in-person interviews. Many projects now involve coordinating mail, telephone and web-based surveys to maximize opportunities for respondent participation. Targeted respondent groups include the general population as well as special populations such as healthcare professionals, business owners, prisoners, teachers, and students.

PPRI has the capability to design and test any kind of survey instrument. We create web-based survey questionnaires, mark sense questionnaires, and instruments programmed for telephone interviewing. PPRI researchers also develop programs allowing survey data to be collected on notepad computers in the field with real-time data encryption. In addition, we have the expertise for developing a wide-range of sampling strategies including GIS database utilization to produce cluster samples and maps for in-person household interviewing.

In addition to data collection, PPRI has a great deal of experience in analyzing survey data and bringing that analysis to bear on policy and related questions. Furthermore, PPRI specializes in developing complex sample designs that often require weighting and error estimation procedures that are beyond the usual scope of methods used in more basic or routine surveys. Smart Grid Center The Smart Grid Center is an interdisciplinary university environment organized to modernize how electricity is delivered from suppliers to consumers and to enable new electricity products, services, and markets.

The TEES Smart Grid Center galvanizes a number of smart grid-related activities that are underway in the A&M System and brings them under a coordinated umbrella to form partnerships essential for smart grid research, education and training. These partnerships are funded through various projects in excess of more than $10 million over the next five years. The Center aims to expand on its broad range of capabilities and expertise in six key smart grid areas: Electricity Transmission/Distribution and Production/Consumption; Clean Energy Enabling Technologies; Electrified Transportation System; The Built Environment; Computer Information Services; and Energy-related Markets. They all come together to create an integrated infrastructure able to handle the growing power demands of residential, corporate, and public needs ranging from smart homes and plug-in electric vehicles to distribution intelligence and operation centers. TEEX Disaster City Located in College Station, Texas, this 52-acre training facility is situated adjacent to the TEEX Brayton Fire Training Field and delivers the full array of skills and techniques needed by today's emergency response professionals. The mock community features full-scale, collapsible structures designed to simulate various levels of disaster and wreckage which can be customized for the specific training needs of any group. Emergency responders from across the globe venture to Disaster City for search and rescue training and exercises.

Building Collapse Industrial Complex Collapse - This structure is designed to simulate industrial complex failures,

including various collapses of vessels, valves, and piping. Strip Mall Collapse - The strip mall is comprised of five connecting rooms, with each featuring a

specific type of structural failure that requires students to utilize different rescue skills. The structure delivers the dimension of unpredictability, which often occurs in a real-life collapse.

Office Complex Collapse - This structure replicates the effects of an earthquake, hurricane, tornado or bomb detonated deep within the structure, including various levels of collapsed wall structures and roof systems.

Single Family Building Collapse - This family dwelling simulates structural damage from either a natural or man-made disaster. The structure features a basement to provide a sub-level training experience.

Multi-Purpose Building Collapse - The large public assemble hall features a theater and offices in various states of collapse, each containing void spaces to challenge students to search, locate and extricate victims.

Rubble Pile Disaster City® features three active piles – each offering unique challenges to search and rescue teams and canines. Each pile has a series of interior tunnels where live “victims” can be placed for both human and canine search and rescue training. Besides two piles consisting of concrete and rebar, Disaster City boasts a wood rubble pile that can be fully customized to replicate damage from any natural or man-made disaster. Canine Training - Disaster City has quickly become one of the top canine evaluation and training

venues in the United States. The facility has hosted the Federal Emergency management Agency’s prestigious Advanced National Canine Evaluation, as well as other national and regional canine events.

Technical Skills Training Area Training at Disaster City® begins in the Technical Skills Training Area, a progressive environment offering a series of full-scale work stations for hands-on skills development. The skill objective of each station builds upon each previous one to deliver a full range of skills training. Students learn how to combine tools and techniques to lift and remove heavy objects, construct interior and exterior shoring, and practice breaching and breaking concrete in a variety of disciplines:

• Crane Operations • Exterior Shoring • Interior Shoring • Breaching-Breaking Tunnel • Trench Rescue

Transportation Disaster Training Area Chemical and Freight Train Derailments - Real chemical and freight trains in a variety of

situations—derailed and sitting on tracks—have been outfitted with a plumbing system that allows instructors to create leaks of liquid.

Passenger Train Derailment - A genuine passenger train with five cars sits in a realistic derailment configuration to deliver the ultimate challenge for emergency responders.

Government Complex - Project 133 The advanced structural collapse training facility sits next to our largest Rubble Pile and is designed to resemble a facility where an explosion brought down a large concrete building, and also destroyed a three-story Government Complex and parking garage.

This training prop draws from many of the world's largest disasters, such as the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, the Pentagon and the Mexico City earthquake, to create a premier training structure:

• A replaceable 100-square-foot hanging slab can be core-drilled and cabled, diapered or breached.

• Collapsed floors with breach panels are hung at 15, 30 and 45 degrees and provide opportunities to build sloped floor shores in different configurations.

• Two large shattered columns permit training with heavy-duty cribbing. • Second facility allows tie-backs in different configurations. • Second story breach panels permit advanced breaching techniques. • Cat-walks allow advanced rope work.

The Government Complex will be utilized during Advanced Structural Collapse courses as well as for the urban search and rescue full-scale exercise program. Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center Director: Dr. Daniel Ragsdale Despite enormous investment in the development of defensive cyber capabilities we, as a nation, continue to lose ground against determined adversaries in the conflict for control in cyberspace. The Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center is dedicated to combating adversaries who desire to harm our citizens, our government or our industry through cyber-attacks. The Center seeks to advance the collective cybersecurity knowledge, capabilities and practices through ground-breaking research, novel and innovative cybersecurity education, and mutually beneficial academic, governmental and commercial partnerships. Working with researchers, faculty and industry leaders, the Center stands committed to make outsized contributions to social good through the development of transformational cybersecurity capabilities. The Center is designated as a National Center of Excellence in both Research and Education in 2016, and more recently designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, one of only eight universities to hold all three NSA distinctions.. Texas A&M RESPOND-R Respond-R, launched in 2009, is supported by a $2 Million MRI grant from the National Science Foundation. It is a multi-disciplinary and integrated research effort to facilitate field research in Emergency Informatics (EI). EI is the real-time collection, processing, distribution and visualization of information for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from emergencies.

The research scope of Respond-R can be divided into 4 core domains – Unmanned and autonomous systems, Networking, Sensors and active sensing, and Human Robot Interaction (HRI). The goal here is to provide the researchers a complete and modular framework with unmanned system platforms (aerial, ground, and marine) plus an extensive, reconfigurable wireless network and next generation of robot and human performance sensors.

By creating an Emergency Informatics instrument, Respond-R is expected to have a profound impact on research and training. It will create the technology to support incident management of events such as disaster response, emergencies and which can also perform continuous monitoring and prediction tasks. The broader societal impact of Respond-R goes beyond the traditional domains of scientific research and literally affects situations dealing with life and death. Equipment AEOS Unmanned Surface Vehicle: The unmanned surface vehicle or USV is a marine vehicle

designed to handle a variety of instrumentation and payload. It is a catamaran design with a central T shaped chassis that supports the instrumentation, power, communications and the control system. An onboard wireless interface gives control of the instrumentation deployed with USV. The propulsion is a twin-screw design providing upto 110 lbs of thrust. The USV is engineered for both autonomous and tele-operated control.

PackBot 510 Unmanned Ground Vehicle: The PacBot 510 is a tactical mobile robot that performs multiple missions while keeping first responders out of harm’s way. PackBot easily climbs stairs, rolls over rubble and navigates narrow passages with sure-footed efficiency, traveling at speeds of up to 5.8 miles per hour. PackBot is a highly adaptable robot. PackBot’s modular digital architecture accommodates a wide variety of interchangeable payloads that enable a wide variety of missions. The robot can be reconfigured quickly, based on the needs of the mission and the operator’s preferences. PackBot can be hand carried and deployed by one person in less than two minutes. No expensive, specialized equipment or vehicles are necessary; PackBot can be easily loaded into a MOLLE pack, the trunk of a car or a helicopter.

EEG Headset: The Emotiv EPOC is a high resolution, neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset. It uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and connects wirelessly to PCs. Using the provided APIs, we would be developing applications for real time stress and mental workload detection.

Eye Tracker: The IScan Omniview Eye-tracker provides real time eye tracking data and also does parallax correction. After calibration of the data it provides the binocular point of gaze superimposed over the scene image. The eye-tracker will be used as a tool for facilitating efficient human robot interaction. An example scenario can be use of heterogenous sets of robots (aerial and marine robot for inspection). Here using the eye tracker and other physiological sensors a robust, mathematical framework for heterogeneous and collaborative human-robot interaction will be developed. The eye-tracker will enable in-depth understanding for HRI problems.

Fastec High Speed Camera: The Fastec High Speed camera can record rapid processes at up to 506 fps at 1280 x 1024 full resolution and up to 112,000 fps at reduced resolution. The camera will be used to observe random events of significance at a very high frame rate which can provide a cue behind the dynamics.

Sherlock Scientific Imaging Spectrometer : The Sherlock Scientific is an imaging spectrometer for research professionals interested in understanding the infrared spectrum of hot gases and other species. The Sherlock Scientific can be used in applications where absorption, emission and reflected signatures are of interest. As an example, the remote combustion analysis of flames and flares, concentration and speciation of hot gas clouds, and spectral analysis of various targets.

TelosB Sensor node: MEMSIC’s TelosB is available as a TPR2400 Processor Radio and TPR2420 Mote, both are open-source platform designed to enable cutting-edge experi- mentation for the research community. The TPR2400 and TPR2420 bundles all the essentials for lab studies into a single platform including: USB programming capability, an IEEE 802.15.4 radio with integrated antenna, a low-power MCU with extended memory.

Physiological Sensors: Biopac BioNomadix sensors are wireless, wearable physiology monitoring devices. BioNomadix noninvasively record high quality data while comfortably allowing subjects to move freely in natural indoor environments. It uses digital transmission and short leads placed close to the signal source to provide excellent signal quality. Using these sensors we can monitor ECG, EMG, GSR, Breathing, Pulse, Temperature parameters in real time. These physiological sensors will enable human-robot interaction research in search and rescue domain that is far more time-critical and complex than existing HRI domains. These sensors will allow us to assess parameters like cognitive indices, stress, relaxation, emotional stimuli, mental workload etc. These sensors will allow us to measure human performance in a human-robot team.

Nuclear Sensors: The potential threat of a radiological terrorism incident requires that first responders are equipped with a radiation monitor that is designed to address the radiation hazards they may face. CANBERRA’s UltraRadiac-Plus – based on a US Military design – is a small, rugged, simple to operate radiation monitor that displays both the radiation levels and the total dose that is received. The UltraRadiac-Plus also has a unique “stay time” feature that shows the wearer how much time (at the current dose rate) he/she can remain in place before a high dose alarm is reached. Utilizing the included infrared RS-232 port and the equipment’s significant storage capability, the UltraRadiac-Plus can greatly assist in the efficient dose management of personnel in field situations.

Volatile Organic Compound Gas Monitor (ppbRAE 3000): The ppbRAE 3000 is the most advanced handheld volatile organic compound (VOC) gas monitor on the market. Its Photoionization Detector’s (PID) extended range of 1 ppb to 10,000 ppm makes it an ideal instrument for applications from HazMat/Homeland Security, industrial hygiene, to Indoor Air Quality and military applications. With a 10.6eV lamp and PID technology, the sensor provides some unique features: A 3-second response time, Extended range up to 10,000 ppm with improved linearity, Humidity compensation with inbuilt humidity and temperature sensors etc.

Weather Station: The Davis Vantage Vue wireless weather station provides accurate, reliable weather monitoring in a self-contained, easy-to-install system. It includes outdoor sensor array and LCD console. The weather station can mounted on top of a vehicle for measurements during field experiments. The integrated Sensor Suite including temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point, rain, barometric pressure, and humidity sensors. The unit also includes a WeatherLink data logger and software for additional analyses.

Computing and Storage Servers: As part of this project, a number of servers have been purchased. This includes two Dell Rack servers and one Mac Pro server. The Dell Servers are mounted on a mobile shock-proof server rack. This will enable the servers to be transported to the disaster zone. The Dell servers are compute server (with 2 quad core Intel Xeon processors and 48 GB memory) and storage server ( with 1 Quad core intel Xeon processor and 3 TB of disk space which can be increased). The Mac Pro will be used for development of human computer interaction tools and interfaces.

Texas Research Data Center The Texas Research Data Center operates in close collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau to enable research that expands basic scientific knowledge and provides benefits to the federal statistical system. The TXRDC is part of the national RDC network and is one of a small number of research facilities located at leading research institutions around the United States. The TXRDC serves Texas and the nation by hosting a secure computing lab where qualified researchers with approved projects can conduct research using restricted-access versions of important datasets maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies.

The TXRDC provides a valuable resource for research; one that is available at only a few locations around the country. Specifically, it gives researchers in the State of Texas and beyond the ability to work with restricted-access versions of important datasets in the federal statistical system.

The restricted access versions of data sets can be superior to public versions of the same data for the purposes of addressing certain research questions. For example, restricted access data sets may: have larger samples, finer levels of geography, and more detailed codes for key variables. Additionally, restricted access data sets may provide access to micro data (instead of aggregated data). Finally, there may be options for linking data sets in ways that are not possible when working with public versions.

Qualified researchers who gain project approval can use the secure lab at the TXRDC to conduct research that advances basic science and improves the effectiveness of the federal statistical system. A partial list of available datasets includes restricted access versions of:

• US Decennial censuses and important demographic surveys such as the American Community Survey (ACS), the Current Population Survey (CPS), the American Housing Survey (AHS), the National Survey of Family Growth; the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, the National Crime Victimization Survey; and more …

• Economic censuses and surveys such as the censuses of manufacturing, businesses, wholesale trade, commodity flow data, foreign trade data, and also specially constructed datasets such as the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD), the Integrated Longitudinal Business Data Base (ILBD), and the Longitudinal Employer-Household Database; and more …

• Major health datasets from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) including the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, detailed vital statistics files, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), and more …

• See Datasets Available in Research Data Centers for further notes and links to the topic. Also contact our staff to inquire about specific datasets and related issues.

Visualization Laboratory The Visualization Laboratory at Texas A&M College of Architecture is primarily housed on the fourth floor of the Langford Architecture Center's Building C in the College of Architecture. This 7,500 square-foot space contains a reception area, faculty and staff offices, two video studios, color and black-and-white darkrooms, video editing facilities, image input and output facilities, an electronic classroom, sound creation and manipulation facilities, a Cyberware 3D

scanner, research spaces, an immersive visualization lab, and approximately 25 visual workstations. All computational facilities in the laboratory are interconnected by high-speed network links. The laboratory in turn is connected to the university's network backbone and from there to the Internet. The central laboratory server computers, additional faculty offices and an additional classroom are located on the adjacent third floor. The video studios total over 2,000 square feet with complete lighting, blue screen, and cyclorama systems. Professional-quality digital video cameras with field kits are available to students for location video shoots. Additional video cameras are located in the studios. The electronic classrooms are equipped with visual workstations, high resolution, multi-scan projectors, multiple format video and DVD decks, and surround audio systems. Recent additions to the laboratory's facilities are high definition digital video equipment and immersive visualization facilities.