JoAnn Kuchera-Morin


A Sampling of Current Research Projects

  1. Multi-Center Hydrogen Bond: An Interactive Visualization and Multi-modal Representation of Unique Atomic Bonds for Alternative Fuel Sources

    In our multi-center hydrogen bond research, the source of conductivity is zinc. Hydrogen replaces oxygen and forms a highly unusual multi-center bond. Simulations will allow for calculations at a higher level of complexity, leading to the investigation of how bonding strength changes as hydrogen is gradually drawn out of a hydride compound. This is a technique for using hydrogen as an alternative energy source, functioning as it would in a real world hydrogen car. The research is focusing on substances that hold hydrogen like a sponge, with the hydrogen atoms bonded weakly to the crystal structure of the host material so that they can be released with a small amount of heat. Visualizations and interactive simulations are leading to new discoveries on how these materials bond and can be released.

    The work is an artistic as well as scientific representation that was created as an interactive artistic multi-modal installation in which one flies through the 2000 atom lattice navigating by the sonification of the atomic emission spectra of oxygen and zinc. The unique hydrogen bond has its own "musical voice". All sonic information comes from precise mathematical calculations transposing the atomic emission spectra into the audio domain.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor Chris Van de Walle, Dr. Anderson Janotti, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Lance Putnam, Basak Alper.

    A video of this project is located on the Media page at www.allosphere.ucsb.edu/media.php.

  2. MICS - Multi-sensory Interactive Cell Simulator: A Radical New Instrument for Quantitative Biology

    A major challenge in human biology is establishing the molecular origins of cellular mechanics, and in particular, the role of force generation and transmission in healthy and diseased cells. To tackle this important problem, we propose a revolutionary new experimental approach that integrates real laboratory data (obtained by high-resolution optical microscopy and micro-scale mechanical manipulation) with multidimensional and interactive computer simulations to establish quantitative, predictive, and testable models of cellular mechanics.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor Megan Valentine, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Dr. Matthew Wright, Graham Wakefield, Lance Putnam.

  3. AlloBrain

    The AlloBrain reconstructs an interactive 3D model of a human brain from macroscopic, organic fMRI data sets. The current model contains several layers of tissue blood flow, in which 12 "intelligent" agents interactively mine the data set for blood density level, and gather the information to deliver back to the researchers. 3D electrocardiogram data will be superimposed on the model, with the ultimate goal of superimposing computational models of synaptic nerve response, to move toward the nano-scaled organic level in this research project. The simulation contains several generative audio-visual systems. These systems are stereo-optically displayed and controlled by two wireless (Bluetooth) input devices that feature custom electronics, integrating several MEMs sensor technologies. The first controller allows one to navigate the space using 6 degrees of freedom. The second one contains twelve buttons that control the twelve agents. This same controller also moves the ambient sounds spatially around the sphere. Its shape is based on the hyper-dodecahedron, a 4-dimensional geometrical polytope, its shadow projected onto 3 dimensions. It was developed using procedural modeling techniques, and constructed with a 3-D printer capable of building solid objects. Using these controls along with the immersive qualities of the AlloSphere have allowed associated neuroscientists to explain the structure of the brain to varied audiences. This virtual interactive prototype also illustrates some of the key research topics undertaken in the AlloSphere; multimedia/multimodal computing, interactive immersive environments, and scientific data representation through art.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor Marcos Novak, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Dr. Xavier Amatrain, Dr. Dan Overholt, Lance Putnam, Wesley Smith, John Thompson and Graham Wakefield.

    A video of this project is located on the Media page at www.allosphere.ucsb.edu/media.php.

  4. Immersive Scalable Navigation

    How can we steer through visualizations of the connectivity of the Internet, through volumetric scans of the human brain, or through higher-dimensional datasets? Even in Google Earth where the user’s view is that of an embodied agent in the physical world, navigating between the global-scale view of the planet to the view of an individual house is a complicated problem. Strategies that work at the global scale tend to become cumbersome at smaller scales, and vice-versa. This project develops immersive interfaces for navigating efficiently across scale and dimension.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Daniel Barcay (Google Earth), Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Charlie Roberts, Graham Wakefield.

  5. NASA Planck Mission Visualization Project

    Planck is a mission to measure the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), sponsored by the European Space Agency with significant input from NASA. The research group uses multimodal data representation, immersive real-time simulation, and sonification techniques to model physical processes in the early universe, which led to the formation of the CMB.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor Philip Lubin, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Dr. Jatila van der Veen, Dr. Matthew Wright, Basak Alper, Wes Smith, Ryan McGee.

  6. Multimodal Representation of Quantum Mechanics: The Hydrogen Atom

    As the sciences increasingly rely on mathematical constructs to describe the invisible processes of nature, it is important to remain cognizant of the effectiveness of empirical observation towards gaining new insights. Digital systems provide not only a means of simulating models, but also a medium for communicating through image and sound.

    This work interactively visualizes and sonifies the wavefunction of an electron of a single hydrogen atom. The atomic orbitals are modeled as solutions to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation with a spherically symmetric potential given by Coulomb's law of electrostatic force. Different orbitals of the electron can be combined in superposition to observe dynamic behaviors such as photon emission and absorption.

    The interactive component of the simulation allows one to fly through the atom with a probe that emits "stream particles" that follow along the largest changes in the probability current and gradient of the electron. The electron probability amplitude is sonified by scanning through groups of stream particles in the space. The pitch can be adjusted by the rate at which a particular set of stream particles is scanned across. This allows us to give the sonification procedure a certain type of musicality, by assigning specific pitches to different features in the wavefunction.

    This investigation is just the beginning of an effort to multimodally represent mathematical models used in physical and theoretical sciences. By finding a common meeting ground, artists and scientists can share insights and pursue similar fundamental questions about symmetry, pattern formation, and emergence.

    Key faculty and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor JoAnn-Kuchera Morin, Professor Luca Peliti, Lance Putnam.

  7. Generating Audible Tones from Coherent Electron Spin Precession in a Quantum Dot

    An audio synthesis model of electronic measurements on a quantum dot is the subject of yet another research group. Quantum dots, sometimes called artificial atoms, have utility for making new sources of clean energy. The model is a literal interpretation of electron spin precession experiments presented in the publication referenced below. The mathematical model of the experiment was mapped directly using wavelength as the basis for transposing optical frequencies into the audio domain. The frequency of electron spin precession is transposed from gigahertz to the audible range and is thereby auralized for a 3 dimensional acoustic environment. Visualizations may be derived directly and literally from the audio output and may be represented with animations of the bloch-sphere diagram or intuitive graphical renderings. The model is intended to be incorporated as a functional component into higher musical, compositional and generative systems and for that reason, is constructed with an open architecture. Conceptually, this project follows in the evolution of sound generation from earlier developments in musical instrumentation by the application of electronic pickup on acoustic instruments to analog signal generation and digital synthesis, now to map the resonant qualities of a quantum structure.

    The physical experiment from which the model is derived is a pump probe measurement of coherent electron spin in a quantum dot. The sinusoidal precession of the superposition of quantum spin states is established by the laser pump pulse incident on a quantum dot device. The phase is arbitrarily perturbed by the application of a tipping pulse that interacts with the spin precession through the Stark Tipping effect. The measurement establishes the feasibility of a quantum spin computing device by the setting, and subsequent readout of a single coherent quantum spin state at a rate sufficient for multiple read/write interactions within the time envelope of the coherent event. In the audible model, the wave-shaping effect of the coherent interaction of the tipping laser pulse is used to synthesize a sound grain when the frequency of spin precession is modeled to be within the audible range. Individual grains from the audio model are used to construct a continuous audible waveform through the process of granular synthesis.

    Future work should focus on developing an audio model for entanglement between q-bits. Intermodulations between q-bits may result in novel synthetic audio processes in a 3D environment and moreover, may provide some intuitive insight into quantum interactions. As our contemporary technology now taps the quantum level of physical phenomena, this implementation may serve to realize new musical potential.

    Reference:

    Ultrafast Coherent Optical Manipulation of a Single Electron Spin in a Quantum Dot. J. Berezovsky, M. H. Mikkelsen, N. G. Stoltz, L. A. Coldren, D. D. Awschalom. Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor David Awschalom, Dennis Adderton, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, and Lance Putnam.

  8. ImmersiveEarth: An Immersive, Multi-Modal, Multi-User Digital Earth for Human-Centered Computing

    Globes cannot practically be made large enough to represent the Earth at useful scales, and cannot simultaneously present more than half of the Earth’s surface to a stationary observer. In this human-centered computing project we are devising a new mechanism for global visualization that positions the observer inside a fully dynamic, interactive, audiovisual rendering of the entire Earth surface. ImmersiveEarth will allow researchers to rapidly prototype complicated and resource-demanding audiovisual representations of massive whole-earth datasets, in a natural setting, thus transforming the computational space into an empowering real-world environment.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor James Frew, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Dr. Matthew Wright, Basak Alper.

  9. A Technological Toolbox for Immersive and Distributed Digitally Merged Environments

    Technologies serve a role in performance, training, planning, creation, game playing, simulation, and exploration of environments in which elements of the real world must be integrated with computer-generated or “virtual” representations. The environments to be digitally merged in this study are primarily the performance venues, from which the artists must be seen and heard by each other, by their remote counterparts performing on geographically distant stages, and by the audience, both physically local and remote.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Professor Jeremy Cooperstock (McGill University), Professor Chris Chafe (Stanford), Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Professor George Legrady, Professor Sheldon Brown (UCSD).

  10. Artificial Nature/Biogenerative Art

    One may recall experiences from childhood playing in the flow of a river or watching the path of marching insects to produce fascinating natural patterns and provoke deep insights: lucid investigations in an infinite game. We approach this trans-disciplinary subject through an audiovisual evolutionary art installation and multi-agent system entitled "Artificial Nature". The system comprises a complex, dynamic and dissipative virtual world interweaving physico-chemical, biological and symbolic strata, with both visual and spatial sound projection and physical interfaces. Spectators can witness, control and discover generative and abstract spatio-temporal patterns evolving from the behaviors of artificial life agents, exploring beauty and creativity in nature and culture.

    Key faculty, postdoctoral and graduate student researchers associated with the project: Haru Ji, Graham Wakefield and Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin.