Submission to Science Lectureships Initiative
- Title:
- eScience: Applications and Technology
- Institutions:
-
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology,
Australian National University.
Department of Computer Science,
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
- Contact Officer:
-
Dr C. W. Johnson, Head of Department,
Head, Department of Computer Science,
Australian National University,
Canberra ACT 0200.
Telephone: 02 6249 4509 Fax: 02 6249 0010
Chris.Johnson@anu.edu.au
- Summary:
-
The eScience: Applications and Technology (eSci)
project will develop a graduated set of courses for science
graduates to be trained in contemporary Information Technology, to
become practitioners in what we term e-Science. The
project will develop special-purpose course material, thus
differentiating from conventional graduate IT courses. University
involvement at ANU and RMIT will allow the development of the course
material to be informed by leading edge IT research and development.
Industry involvement will allow the courses to be taken in a
work-experience mode and will provide feedback on best-practice
aspects of current technology. The project will have an outreach
element, in which selective components of the courseware will be
projected into undergraduate courses at ANU and RMIT, and into the
secondary college system in the ACT.
- Funding Sought:
-
| 2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
| $272,800 |
$404,900 |
$266,300 |
Background
The proposal seeks to effect a convergence of the following academic
and industrial elements.
- There is a shortage of IT professionals skilled in the analysis,
management and presentation of data, in commerce, industry and
research.
- Web-based delivery and presentation and modern application
software allows information specialists to be highly effective,
without needing training in software development itself.
- Many science graduates with highly developed skills in data
analysis and interpretation have no experience in this technology.
- Indications from IT employers are that science graduates turn
out to be excellent IT professionals after a phase of appropriate
training.
Just as e-Commerce is the outcome of the intersection of
Web technology with conventional commerce, this proposal suggests
that e-Science can be seen as the outcome of the intersection
of Web technology with conventional science. This project is
seen as an early exploration of this concept of e-Science, by
proposing to educate the first generation of e-Scientists
1.
Objectives
The project will develop and deliver Masters, Graduate Diploma, and
Graduate Certificate courses for science graduates, with a focus on
the interpretation, integration and delivery of scientific, industrial
and commercial information over next-generation network services.
These courses will have the twin objectives of, firstly, providing a
clear career route into the modern IT industry for talented science
graduates and, secondly, providing a set of skills for those who may
engage in further study, research and teaching in the sciences for
the dissemination and outreach of their specialist area.
Students with a general or
specialised scientific training will acquire skills in statistical
data analysis, databases, data mining, advanced computer graphics and
data visualisation and remote interactive networked delivery. These
skills will provide them with the opportunity to contribute to the IT
industry in a significant way by bringing to it the
problem solving ability,
data awareness and
experimental rigour of the scientifically trained graduate.
The courses will produce students trained in industrial and commercial
needs for integrating database technology, data mining, data
warehousing, and computational modelling with Web delivery, display, and interaction software. They will be
able to mediate communications within enterprises and between
enterprises and their customers, suppliers, and partners: over
Intranets and the Internet. They will have
an introduction to IT work in industrial teams, and to the
requirements of creating their own enterprises.
The project has the following objectives.
- Data as mediator
- The point of view is taken that science
graduates, in the last analysis, are trained to work with data: to
gather, analyze, interpret, manipulate and communicate data. Modern
information technology, in the last analysis, provides unprecedented
technical support for data representation and presentation in all
its forms. The course will provide the science graduate with
control of this technology, to be fully empowered as a
``e-Scientist''. The course will work towards producing some of the
first practitioners in e-Science.
- Utilization of Web technology
- Put simply, the project is
predicated on modern Web technology. On one hand, it will make
extensive use of Web-based courseware. Indeed the collaboration of
two universities in a common course could hardly be conceived
without it. On the other hand, students of the course will be
trained to be sophisticated workers in the current Web technology.
- Technology transfer
- Practical experience with examples of smart
Web page construction, hardware and software, and advanced
networking in the research laboratory will transfer to industry by
way of the students and graduates. In this we include the
information service industry, as well as scientific and technically
oriented industries adopting Web technology themselves.
- Grounding in industrial practice
- The proposal crucially uses
industrial partners in two ways. Where possible students will do
the courses in a ``work-experience'' mode, where their employer
provides work release on a fractional or an episodic basis. In
addition, the courses will have a strong project component and where
possible the projects will be structured with industrial partners to
capture contemporary industrial reality.
- Software tools
- There is a rich and growing collection of
commercial off the shelf(COTS) information extraction and creation
tools for industry and commerce in the areas of data mining,
database, computational modelling, data visualisation. Existing and
forthcoming Web-based interfaces will range from common presentation
tools, to simple graphics, two-dimensional and three-dimensional
visualisation environments, immersive virtual environments, haptics,
sound, remote collaborative environments. The challenge then
becomes one of selecting and integrating the software with the
information needs of industry.
Students will gain experience with a wide range of presentation
systems, including laptop, desktop and large immersive display
environments projected over modems, over Large Area Networks, and
over high performance local and global networks.
- Visualization and simulation
- The courses will incorporate the
modern notion of computational science and engineering, which
provides support for the simulation of dynamic processes and their
visualization using graphical techniques.
- Outreach
- The embedding of science in the modern electronic
domain allows the projection of elements of the science experience
over the Web. The project will test this aspect of e-Science by
projecting appropriate demonstrator systems into selected secondary
colleges in the ACT. This will be supported by network connectivity
being provided by one of the industrial supporters, TransACT, as
part of its ``wired city'' initiative.
It is expected that this outreach can help maintain interest in the
study of science as the basis of a professional career.
The proposal involves a project staff of five over the period mid-2000
to end-2002, with the following roles calibrated in fractional terms.
- project director role (0.5)
- course development and delivery (2.5)
- industrial liaison (0.5)
- outreach development and support (0.5)
- technical support (1.0)
The positions will be distributed between ANU (3.0) and RMIT (2.0).
There will be a project Advisory Group (with university and industry
representation) which will have overview of the course curricula and
project evaluation. The day-to-day management of the project will be
carried out the senior academic appointment. Financial management
will be provided by the normal university structures.
The project will utilise a rich set of
research and teaching resources at ANU and RMIT.
- It will be supported and hosted by the Faculty of Engineering
and Information Technology at ANU.
- Visualisation expertise will be provided by the developers of
the Wedge virtual reality engine,
(Professor Rod Boswell and Dr Henry Gardner, Research School of
Physical Sciences) and by the Virtual Environments project with FEIT
and the CRC for Advanced Computational Systems.
- Computational Science and Engineering education expertise will be coordinated
by Dr Henry Gardner and Dr Alistair Rendell at ANU, and Professor
Bill Applebe and Dr Geoff Leach at RMIT.
- Outreach activities will be coordinated with those of the
National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, ANU.
- ( some RMIT items here. )
eSci will provide the following graduated set of courses (with
credit points benchmarked at 24 for a full-time semester load).
| Course |
Duration |
Coursework |
Project |
| Graduate Certificate |
1 semester |
18 cp |
06 cp |
| Graduate Diploma |
2 semesters |
36 cp |
12 cp |
| Masters |
3 semesters |
54 cp |
18 cp |
The metric here is a full-time semester load is 24 credit points.
The courses will be supported by a pool of core units, whose
content will combine an understanding of the evolving hardware and
software for visualisation, computation, remote delivery and
interactive presentation with the relevant psychology of human-computer
interfaces and an introduction to management and commercial practices.
The project component (which is 25% of each course) will either be
focussed (and located) in an industrial context or will address
communication and outreach requirements of scientific research and
teaching groups. Indicative core units are:
| Size |
Subject |
| 6 cp |
internet and intranet technologies |
| 6 cp |
data organisation (database) |
| 6 cp |
data interpretation (data mining) |
| 6 cp |
data representation (visualisation) |
| 6 cp |
modern document technologies |
| 6 cp |
scientific data analysis |
The core units will be augmented by a set of optional units, derived
from units that are currently available in undergraduate courses at
ANU and RMIT. These include the following:
| Size |
Subject |
| 6 cp |
Computational modelling and simulation |
| 6 cp |
Java programming foundations |
| 6 cp |
Display technologies |
| 6 cp |
Ethical and legal issues |
| 6 cp |
Elements of IT management |
| 6 cp |
The human-computer interface |
| 6 cp |
Elements of e-commerce (including security) |
Our aim is to put our course delivery where our subject matter is
also: to produce most of the teaching materials for the Web and to
deliver them via the Web.
The very nature of the Web is ``outreach'' and we intend to exploit this
by including student projects to present the attractions of studying
science to secondary students and also by visiting secondary schools
to promote the possibilities offered
by the technological advances of modern communication providers. We
see the provision of a schools-oriented Web page and associated links
as an integral part of our proposal.
Outcomes
- Course material:
- Core units will be developed progressively.
| semester |
2001S1 |
2000S2 |
2001S1 |
2001S2 |
2002S1 |
2002S2 |
| new units |
|
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
| existing units |
|
|
3 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
- Enrolment profile:
- The student enrolment profile will be
increased progressively from a low base. The full complement of
units will not be available until the end of the grant period, in
2003. These students will be distributed between ANU and RMIT.
| semester |
2000S1 |
2000S2 |
2001S1 |
2001S2 |
2002S1 |
2002S2 |
| new enrolments |
|
10 |
20 |
20 |
30 |
30 |
| existing enrolments |
|
|
10 |
20 |
20 |
30 |
- Industry support of students:
- It is estimated that 25%
of the students will be fully-funded by industry.
| semester |
2000S1 |
2000S2 |
2001S1 |
2001S2 |
2002S1 |
2002S2 |
| new enrolments |
|
3 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
| existing enrolments |
|
|
3 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
Budget
- Parameters:
-
- The eSci proposal involves a range of coursework programs.
These will not be part of the institutions' funded load and will
not be accessible through HECS arrangements. Hence they will be
available on a full-fee basis, of $1,500 per (6 credit-point) unit.
- The eSci proposal involves major course development.
Project staff will need to engage in a substantial period of
course development, in advance of student enrollment. The
submission seeks support for this course development phase. The
enterprise will be self-supporting after this three-year
development phase.
- Quality laboratory facilities are required, as the courses
will have a high experimental content. Laboratory establishment
costs are sought. Laboratory maintenance and replacement will be
covered will be covered as a standard course overhead.
- Industry contributions (cash and in-kind) will support the
courses being available in a work-experience mode for a segment of
the student group. This provides course relevance. This also
enables course access for a substantial group of students for whom
the up-front fee would provide a barrier to entry. The supporting
industrial partner will either pay the course fee for an
affiliated student, or will provide a flexible work arrangement
that would otherwise not be economic.
- ANU will provide the following in-kind contributions:
- Teaching space and laboratory space,
- Access to Wedge virtual reality system ($100,000 over three
years),
- Access to Robot command station,
- Staff time to Advisory Group.
- Outreach to schools will be enabled by an in-kind contribution
of network connectivity by an industrial partner.
- Details:
-
| |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
| salaries + oncosts (29% of base) |
186.8 |
366.4 |
381.0 |
| Overheads (60% of base) |
86.0 |
168.5 |
175.3 |
| Staff equipment |
40.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Laboratory equipment |
0 |
150.0 |
150.0 |
| Fee Income |
-40.0 |
-280.0 |
-440.0 |
| Total |
272.8 |
404.9 |
266.3 |
Implementation Timetable
The following development points are involved
- March 2000
- First draft of curriculum document available.
- May 2000
- Academic appointments (2) made.
- July 2000
- Controlled student intake (1 core unit).
- October 2000
- Academic appointments (2) made.
- November 2000
- Curriculum document refined.
- February 2001
- Computing laboratory commissioned.
- March 2001
- First major student intake (3 core units).
- July 2001
- Schools outreach commences.
- November 2001
- Curriculum document refined.
Evaluation Plan
The project evaluation plan consists of the following elements.
- Student evaluation is carried out at end of each unit, to
validate unit delivery against stated objectives.
- Student evaluation is carried out at end of the course, to
validate the course experience against the stated objectives.
- Course objectives are discussed and confirmed in an annual
meeting of project Advisory Committee.
- Graduate attributes are evaluated by a longitudinal study of
selected graduates and their employers after one, two and four
years.
- Employment rate of graduates is monitored.
- The number of industry-supported students and industry-supported
projects is monitored.
Contact Details
-
Wizard Information Services
GPO Box 2700, Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: 02 6275 0750 Fax: 02 6275 0777
URL: http://wizardis.com.au/
-
Transact Communications Project
ACTEW Corporation
GPO Box 366, Canberra ACT 2601
http://www.transact.actew.com.au/
Fractal Graphics
39 Fairway Nedlands
Western Australia 6009
Telephone: 08 9386 7917 Fax: 08 9386 2460
http://www.fractalgraphics.com.au/
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Footnotes
- ...tex2html_comment_mark1
- For the
purposes of this proposal "science" is taken to include all flavours
of pure and applied science as well as engineering.
Brian Molinari
1999-12-08