While research in the domain of scientific visualization is well represented at Arizona State University through the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling (PRISM), many research efforts in other domains would greatly benefit from state of the practice scientific visualization. This second category – leveraging existing scientific visualization techniques – is much more difficult to fund through outside sources, precisely because it does not advance the art of computer graphics. However, when applied appropriately and effectively, these standard techniques can add value to existing research programs.
In general, scientific visualization can help research efforts in three ways: 1) validating an algorithm or process under development, 2) yielding insight into a data set or experimental sample, and 3) communicating results through compelling images and animations. This last item, outreach, will foster interdisciplinary research by communicating – with a picture – the essence of each researcher’s results to other ASU colleagues.
