Management, analysis and visualization of extreme-scale scientific data will undergo radical change during the coming decade. Coupled with changes in the hardware architecture of next-generation supercomputers, explosive growth in the volume of scientific data presents a host of challenges to researchers in computer science, mathematics and statistics, and application sciences. Failure to develop new data management, analysis and visualization technologies that operate effectively on the changing architecture will cripple scientific discovery and put national security at risk. Using examples from climate science, Dr. Lucy Nowell will explore the technical and scientific drivers and opportunities for data science research funded by the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

BIO: Dr. Lucy Nowell is a Computer Scientist and Program Manager for the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program office in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. While her primary focus is on scientific data management, analysis and visualization, her portfolio spans the spectrum of ASCR computer science interests, including supercomputer architecture, programming models, operating and runtime systems, and file systems and input/output research. Before moving to DOE in 2009, Dr. Nowell was a Chief Scientist in the Information Analytics Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). On detail from PNNL, she held a two-year assignment as a Program Director for the National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure, where her program responsibilities included Sustainable Digital Data Preservation and Access Network Partners (DataNet), Community-based Data Interoperability Networks (INTEROP), Software Development for Cyberinfrastructure (SDCI) and Strategic Technologies for Cyberinfrastructure (STCI). At PNNL, her research centered on applying her knowledge of visual design, perceptual psychology, human-computer interaction, and information storage and retrieval to problems of understanding and navigating in very large information spaces, including digital libraries. She holds several patents in information visualization technologies.

Dr. Nowell joined PNNL in August 1998 after a career as a professor at Lynchburg College in Virginia, where she taught a wide variety of courses in Computer Science and Theatre. She also headed the Theatre program and later chaired the Computer Science Department. While pursuing her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Computer Science at Virginia, she worked as a Research Scientist in the Digital Libraries Research Laboratory and also interned with the Information Access team at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Laboratories in Hawthorne, NY. She also has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Drama from the University of New Orleans and the Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theatre from the University of Alabama.