Reconnect Conferences 2010
Reconnecting Teaching Faculty to the Mathematical Sciences Enterprise and
Exposing Researchers in Government and Industry to Relevant Current Research
The CCICADA/VACCINE Summer Reconnect Conferences expose faculty teaching undergraduates to
the role of the mathematical and computer sciences in homeland security by introducing them to current
research topics that are relevant for classroom presentation. They also offer an opportunity to researchers in
government or industry to learn about recent techniques. Topics are presented in a weeklong series of lectures
and activities led by leading experts in the field. Participants are involved in both research activities and in
writing materials useful in the classroom or to share with their colleagues, with the possibility of ultimately
preparing these materials for publication in our Educational Modules Series. These workshops offer the
opportunity for junior faculty as well as mid-level and senior faculty, and government and industry
professionals to advance to advance to research questions in a new area of the mathematical sciences.
Participants acquire materials and gain ideas for seminar presentations and for undergraduate research projects
and have the opportunity to network with people from a variety of backgrounds. Topics for 2010 are:
Visual Analytics and Applications at Georgia Institute of Technology, with Professors: Georges Grinstein,
University of Massachusetts Lowell, (grinstein@cs.uml.edu) and John Stasko, Georgia Institute of
Technology, (stasko@cc.gatech.edu), June dates will be announced. Participants will be introduced to basic
concepts and components of visual analytics (human, algorithmic, and visualization). They will work together
to solve large and complex real-world problems in such areas as homeland security and bioinformatics. Each
participant will use a variety of algorithms and visualizations with realistic data sets.
Information Extraction in Los Angeles, CA in June, with Professors: Eduard Hovy, USC/ISI,
http://www.isi.edu/~hovy/, Zornitsa Kozareva, USC/ISI, http://www.isi.edu/~kozareva/, Dan Roth, UIUC,
http://l2r.cs.uiuc.edu/ and John Stasko, Georgia Tech, http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~stasko/ . Automatic
extraction of desired information from natural language text is increasingly used for medical informatics,
business applications, and the intelligence community. In this application, the input is one or more texts in the
domain in question, and the output is a database containing just the desired fields of information, extracted from
the source material and formatted appropriately. This week-long course will take students from the early,
simpler, methods through the modern ones, and will include theoretical and practical lectures as well as handson exercises using software packages. The lecturers are renowned experts in the various aspects of IE and its
visualization, and have a long history of teaching informative, engaging, and fun lectures.
Registration fees, lodging, meals, and travel:
Academic participants: registration, lodging and meals will be provided through DHS funding. Government
participants: $350 (includes all meals from Sunday dinner to Saturday lunch). Limited funds are expected to be
available to waive part or all of the registration fee and/or provide partial support for travel or lodging. ForProfit Corporation participants: $500 (includes all meals from Sunday dinner to Saturday lunch). Limited funds
are expected to be available for travel awards
Deadline for Applications are until all slots are filled. Applications will be reviewed as they are received.
For more and updated information please contact:
Midge Cozzens, Education Director for CCICADA, at midgec@dimacs.rutgers.edu or
Marti Burns, Education Director for VACCINE, at mhburns@purdue.edu.