{"id":2576,"date":"2024-01-28T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T10:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2025-06-27T20:46:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:46:36","slug":"inaugural-idsc-day-showcases-um-interdisciplinary-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/inaugural-idsc-day-showcases-um-interdisciplinary-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural IDSC Day Showcases UM Interdisciplinary Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marta Missiaggia<\/strong> has been a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Miami for over a year, but it wasn\u2019t until she helped a friend search for a data science job at the University that she discovered the Frost Institute for Data Science & Computing<\/a> (IDSC). She couldn\u2019t believe what she stumbled upon.<\/p>\n

\"MartaMissiaggia\u2019s research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Miller School of Medicine is focused on developing a new detector for proton radiation therapy treatments. But that research requires massive computational power and expertise in machine learning, skills that she and her colleagues don\u2019t have. So when she heard about \u201cIDSC Day\u201d\u2014an event held in the heart of the UM campus on September 28, 2023, to introduce the UM community to IDSC\u2014Missiaggia raced over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never heard of this institute,\u201d Missiaggia, who holds a PhD in physics, said as she walked through rows of posters highlighting IDSC research projects. \u201cI\u2019m trying to see if there\u2019s an opportunity to collaborate. I\u2019d like to find a second mentor who can help me. There\u2019s a lot of potential here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missiaggia\u2019s discovery was exactly what IDSC leaders were hoping to accomplish. The Institute has grown rapidly over the past four years, recruiting world class scientists and securing millions of dollars in research grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and others. But that expansion started just before the U.S. was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent most everyone into quarantine and forced IDSC\u2019s growing stable of experts to work in the anonymity of their home offices.<\/p>\n

Nick Tsinoremas<\/strong>, founding director of IDSC, said the Institute has the added challenge of having their experts spread out across UM\u2019s three campuses in Coral Gables, Virginia Key, and the medical campus in downtown Miami. But he said events like IDSC Day, which was attended by more than 130 people, are helping to evolve the Institute beyond the \u201cnucleation phase\u201d into a more mature, well-known institute.<\/p>\n

\"great

Great Room, Frost Institute for Chemistry and Molecular Science building<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is our first opportunity to get to know each other, to see each other, to talk with each other,\u201d Tsinoremas told the crowd gathered for the event. \u201cHopefully, we can make this a tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guillermo \u201cWilly\u201d Prado<\/a><\/strong>, the University\u2019s chief academic officer who serves as interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, told the crowd that he had worked with members of the IDSC team since their early years when the Institute was known as the Center for Computational Science. \u201cIDSC is a gem,\u201d Prado said. \u201cThe University is very committed to data science and computing. My colleagues and I have benefited greatly from the work that IDSC has done in the past. And I\u2019m looking forward to seeing all the great work that\u2019s going to come out of IDSC in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout IDSC Day, members of the Institute presented their latest research during a series of lectures. Dozens of projects were outlined on posters and visitors were allowed to play with some hands-on projects, including a virtual reality program where users \u201cpaddle\u201d through Miami\u2019s waterways to learn the value of mangroves.<\/p>\n

\"left

left to right: XR Game Experience Designer Xueer Xia assists Provost Prado while they share a laugh with Interactive Media Professor and IDSC Core Facutly member, Creative Technologies, Ching-Hua Chaun.<\/p><\/div>\n

But one of IDSC\u2019s main goals is to spread the gospel of data science beyond the Institute to every corner of the U. The Institute has brought on a series of joint-appointments in recent years\u2014researchers who split their time between IDSC and another school or department at UM. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that these faculty members will attract attention and people will reach out to them and collaborate,\u201d said Ben Kirtman<\/strong>, deputy director of IDSC (pictured below at left).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ben

Left to Right: Ben Kirtman, IDSC Deputy Director, Mohamed Iskandarani, IDSC Fellows Steering Committee Chair, Thomas Merrick, IDSC Creative Technologies, r. Project Manager XR Initiatives, and Justin Gammage, IDSC Director of Partnerships<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s why much of the focus of IDSC Day was on the unique partnerships, collaborations, and grant programs<\/a> offered by IDSC for students, faculty, and researchers at UM. (L to R, pictured below.) Abigail Fleming<\/a>, <\/strong>associate director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law, showed off an interactive data tool<\/a> created in conjunction with IDSC that allows builders, politicians, and residents of Miami-Dade County to measure the real-world costs when new construction projects displace residents. Lynn Perry<\/strong><\/a>, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, explained how she worked with IDSC to develop a computer-based tracking system to better understand how preschoolers communicate. And Samantha Ballard<\/strong><\/a>, a postdoctoral research associate at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, explained how a 2023 grant from IDSC allowed her to hire an intern and receive the computational assistance she needed to advance her research into atmospheric gravity waves in tropical cyclones.<\/p>\n

\"Abigail<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople could see data science as a barrier if they\u2019re not already involved in it, so the fact that IDSC is interdisciplinary is great,\u201d Ballard said after her presentation. \u201cI liked the setup with IDSC. I\u2019d like to stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SierraSierra Bainter<\/strong>, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, has been using IDSC resources for years. As a quantitative psychologist, she and her research assistant have used the TRITON supercomputer<\/a> to run their data and have received help from IDSC experts to make that process work. But Bainter, who prefers working in teams rather than doing solo projects, attended IDSC Day to meet their experts in machine learning and see if there are other ways they can collaborate. \u201cI was able to connect directly with IDSC staff to learn more and ask questions about supercomputing resources, onboarding, and consulting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Interactions like those, Tsinoremas said, show why IDSC Day will likely return in 2024. \u201cThis is our first,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be our last.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Story by Alan Gomez<\/a> | Videos produced by Explica Media<\/a> Solutions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IDSC Day Presentations<\/h2>\n

IDSC Core Faculty Members<\/h3>\n