Category Archives: Research

Overview Precision agriculture is the science of linking differential global positioning systems with significant computational resources to apply customized quantities of pesticide, seeds, and fertilizer according to a particular field’s specific needs. This project uses data from Geographic Information Systems and from moisture sensors connected to farm machinery and inserted into the soil to help […]

Overview The images show the startup history of firms in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area of North Carolina. The data was provided by Ted Zoller, assistant professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill. For the purpose of these visualizations, firms are broadly classified into three categories; Information Technology (IT) – represented by blue […]

Overview QCD is concerned with simulating the strong force–the force that binds quarks together to create subatomic particles. The calculations involved are very complex, and using visualization enables researchers to test various scientific theories to determine whether they see what they would expect. These images are visualizations of a single time-step in computing the topological […]

Overview RENCI built this visual analytical tool to help UNC Chapel Hill’s Dr. William Kauffman determine whether the Gene Ontology terms assigned to proteins to describe their functions within the genome actually made sense. Dr. Kauffman hypothesizes that purging the ontology of old assumptions and classifications would make it more useful. By looking at genes […]

Overview The key result of this work is establishing a base of weather simulation leading to higher resolved, local forecasts of critical events in North Carolina. Local forecasts are currently not part of the National Weather Service toolkit for producing daily forecasts. There are several approaches for demonstrating improvement in forecasts, including, 1) refining the […]

Overview Understanding heterogeneous distributed job flow on computational grids can be a daunting task. Machine and network states constantly change as a function of job load, queue size, network utilization and other parameters. Obtaining peak efficiency in this environment requires visual monitoring and analysis tools to facilitate the complex computational topography. One such tool developed […]

Overview Open Cobalt is an open source software development environment for creating and deploying collaborative multi-user online applications on multiple operating systems and devices. It was used to create a collaborative online environment where users at all the RENCI engagement centers can easily communicate, collaborate and share resources and applications. Prior to creating this Open Cobalt […]

Overview As populations surge along the North Carolina coast, conveying information about the possible effects of hurricanes and resulting floods becomes more critical. Detailed visualizations of storm impacts caused by hypothetical, but probable, hurricanes, can educate the public and decision makers about the impacts of tropical storms and resulting flooding and inundation. RENCI has created […]

Overview Dr. William Kaufmann (UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center) used RENCI 3D visualization to study genetic changes caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation that trigger the development of melanoma. The visualizations of predicted protein-protein interactions made it easier to spot important interactions and relationships in complex biological data. The research could lead to a better […]

Overview Alan Huber spent an entire career with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studying how pollutants disperse on the wind through urban environments, an important question when considering urban air quality and how particulates (pollens, dust, pollutants, etc.) disperse. Airflow is complicated by urban geography; narrow streets lined with skyscrapers and smaller buildings prevent air […]