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Contents:

Research Interests

Education

Employment

Publications

Invited Talks

Awards and Honors

Teaching and Students

Contact Info
Cecilia R. Aragon

Staff Scientist
Visualization Group
Computational Research Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(510) 486-4106
 

Research Interests

Visual Analytics
Information and Scientific Visualization
Human-Computer Interaction
 

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley;  Advisor: Prof. Marti Hearst
M.S., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
B.S. with Honors, Mathematics, California Institute of Technology
 

Employment

2005 - present: Staff Scientist, Visualization Group, Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California. Software group lead and architect, Sunfall project for the Nearby Supernova Factory. Research in visual analytics and information and scientific visualization with applications to supernova image data.

1996 - 2005: Computer Scientist, Computational Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. (1996 - 2000: employed by Caelum Research Corp.) Research in human-computer interaction and information and scientific visualization with applications to aerospace. Group lead, Domain Exploration for the Information Design project. Data visualization, 2D/3D graphics and user interface software design and implementation for remote access and scientific collaboration software over very large heterogeneous databases of aeronautical and aerospace data.

1987 - 1996: Software Consultant, Aragon Consulting, Berkeley, California. Software development in 2D and 3D graphics, user interface design, image processing and aerodynamic modeling.

1991 - 1994: Founder and CEO, Top Flight Aviation, Inc., Livermore, California. Founded professional aerobatic flight school. Managed staff of 24, developed aviation curriculum and provided flight instruction at all levels, supervised design and building of aircraft, test flew completed aircraft, performed at airshows and competitions in the U.S. and Europe.

 

Selected Publications

Visual Analytics

Astrophysics

Human-Computer Interaction and Information Visualization

  • "Virtual Assistants in Collaborative Scientific Experiments: An Astrophysics Case Study," Sarah S. Poon, Rollin C. Thomas, Cecilia R. Aragon, Brian Lee, CSCW 2008: ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, San Diego, CA (to appear, 2008). Best Paper Award Nominee (one of 12 out of 235 submissions).

  • "The Impact of Usability on Supernova Discovery," C. Aragon and S. Poon, LBNL-62380, Workshop on Increasing the Impact of Usability Work in Software Development, CHI 2007: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA (2007).

  • "Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: A Flight Simulation Study," C. Aragon and M. Hearst, CHI 2005: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, OR (2005).

  • "Airflow Hazard Visualization for Helicopter Pilots: Flight Simulation Study Results," C. Aragon and K. Long, American Helicopter Society 61st Annual Forum, Grapevine, TX (2005).

  • "Using Visualization in Cockpit Decision Support Systems," C. Aragon, IEEE SMC 2005: Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Hawaii (2005).

  • "Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots," C. Aragon, University of California, Berkeley, Computer Science Ph.D. Dissertation (2004).

  • "Usability Evaluation of a Flight-Deck Airflow Hazard Visualization System," C. Aragon, 23rd IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Salt Lake City, UT (2004). Winner of "Best Student Paper" Award.

  • "A Prototype Flight-Deck Airflow Hazard Visualization System," C. Aragon, SAE World Aviation Congress, Reno, NV (2004).

  • "Data Visualization of Invisible Airflow Hazards During Helicopter Landing Operations," C. Aragon, Grace Hopper Conference, Chicago, IL (2004).

  • "Prediction of aerodynamic coefficients for wind tunnel data using a genetic algorithm optimized neural network," T. Rajkumar, C. Aragon, J. Bardina, and R. Britten, Data Mining III, Third International Conference on Data Mining, A. Zanasi, C. Brebbia, N. Ebecken, and P. Melli, eds. (2002) 473-485.

  • "Experimental and Computational Data Analysis in CHARLES and DARWIN," D. Korsmeyer, J. Walton, C. Aragon, A. Shaykevich, L. Chan, ISCA-97-, 13th International Conference on Computers and Their Applications (1998).

 

Theoretical Computer Science

Scientific Visualization and Simulation

  • "A Unified Approach to Building Accelerator Simulation Software for the SSC," V. Paxson, C. Aragon, S. Peggs, C. Saltmarsh, L. Schachinger, Proc. 1989 IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference (1989).

 

 

Invited Talks

  • Sunfall: A Collaborative Visual Analytics System for Astrophysics, SciDAC conference, Seattle, WA (July 2008).

  • Sunfall: A Collaborative Visual Analytics System for Astrophysics, Advanced Computing for Science Department Meeting, LBNL (July 2008).

  • Sunfall: Visual Analytics for Astrophysics, CAHSI Lecture Series, Univ. of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX (Apr. 2008).

  • SpectraVis: Visualization and Analytics for Physics and Astrophysics, VACET All-Hands Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT (Apr. 2008).

  • SpectraVis: Visualization and Analytics for Astrophysics, SciDAC Computational Astrophysics Consortium Meeting, SLAC, Menlo Park, CA (Apr. 2008).

  • Women in College of Engineering Leadership Retreat, Fresno State University, Fresno, CA (Apr. 2008).

  • High Performance Computing at Berkeley Lab Berkeley Edge Program, UC Berkeley, CA (Mar. 2008).

  • Sunfall: A Visual Analytics System for Astrophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (Feb. 2008).

  • Sunfall: A Visual Analytics System for Astrophysics, UCB BEARS research symposium, CSE session, Berkeley, CA (Feb. 2008).

  • Panel on Challenges and Opportunities on Strengthening Competitiveness, CAHSI Annual Meeting, Miami, FL (Dec. 2007).

  • SpectraVis: Visualization and Analytics for Supernova Spectra, VACET Meeting, IEEE Vis 2007 (Nov. 2007).

  • SC 07 Broader Engagement panel on careers in supercomputing, SC 07, Reno, NV (Oct. 2007).

  • Presentation on overcoming obstacles in getting a PhD in computer science, Grace Hopper conference, Orlando, FL (Oct. 2007). Most highly-rated presentation at the conference.

  • Overview of NERSC Analytics Program, NERSC, Oakland, CA (Sep. 2007).

  • Sunfall: NERSC Analytics for Astrophysics Users, NERSC, Oakland, CA (Sep. 2007).

  • Visualization Research at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (Jun. 2007).

  • High-Volume Supernova Search Image Processing Techniques, Astronomy Visualization Workshop, San Diego, CA (Nov. 2006).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, DOE Computer Graphics Forum, Monterey, CA (May 2006).

  • LBNL Analytics Support for Astrophysics: The Nearby Supernova Factory, DOE Computer Graphics Forum, Monterey, CA (May 2006).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (Jun. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (Apr. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA (Mar. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (Mar. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Computer Science Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (Mar. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (Mar. 2005).

  • Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: Airflow Hazard Display for Helicopter Pilots, Computational Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (Feb. 2005).

  • Making the Invisible Visible: Augmented-Reality Airflow Hazard Visualization for Pilots, Adaptive Displays Conference, SIGGRAPH 2004, Los Angeles, CA (Aug. 2004).

 

 

Awards and Honors

  • Best Paper Award Nominee, ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 2008
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Spot Award, 2008
  • Best Poster Award, IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology, 2007
  • Most Highly Rated Presentation, Grace Hopper Conference, 2007
  • Best Application Award, 5th International Conference of Machine Learning Applications, 2006
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Spot Award, 2006
  • Best Student Paper Award, 23rd IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 2004
  • Eugene L. Lawler Award, 2004
  • U.S. patent pending for video image stabilization system (UnshakerTM)
  • NASA Space Act Award (twice)
  • Bell Laboratories Graduate Fellowship
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (declined)
  • McKinney Prize in English
  • Tau Beta Pi - Engineering Honor Society
  • 4.0 undergraduate GPA
  • National Merit Scholar
  • United States Aerobatic Team (twice)

 

Teaching

Instructor, 8th Grade Honors Algebra, Berkeley, CA, Sept. 2007 - June 2008.

Co-Instructor, Industrial Design and Human Factors, IEOR 170 (upper division engineering course with enrollment of 60 juniors and seniors), University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2005.

Certificated Flight Instructor, Oakland, Livermore, and Tracy Airports, over 2400 hours of flight instruction given, over 3000 hours of ground instruction given, 1987 - 2008.

Teaching Assistant, Computer Graphics, CS 284 (graduate computer science course), University of California, Berkeley, 1984.

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Computer Science, CS 1 (freshman introductory computer programming course), University of California, Berkeley, 1983.

Mathematics Tutor, college and high school level, 1979 - 1983.

Students

Current summer student (2008):
Wayne Ryan

Former students:
Elena Caraba
Sarah Poon
Adarsh Uppula
Daniel Wong

Research programs for undergraduates:

 


Contact Info

Cecilia R. Aragon
Computational Research Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
One Cyclotron Road, MS 50F-1650
Berkeley, California 94720

(510) 486-4106 (tel)
(510) 486-5812 (fax)

Projects and Groups:
http://snfactory.lbl.gov
http://vis.lbl.gov
NERSC Visual Analytics