Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010 - (Page 18)

A Student THE SCIENCE ENGINEERING I f you saw the movie Minority Report, you’ll remember how Tom Cruise’s character operated the computer by just moving his hand. ere was no keyboard, no mouse. He was just wearing a glove. ough the movie was science ction, that type of interface with the computer is already here. I know, because last summer I was working on new ways of doing it. Summer Research, Government Style I’ve always been interested in science, and I’ve been involved in science clubs and academic teams since middle school. Since I was a freshman in high school, I’ve been doing computer science research at the Jisan Research Institute in Southern California, which gives precollege students the chance to perform and publish research. I also participate in Science Olympiad and FIRST Robotics. ese activities provided an outlet for my interests during the school year, but for the summer a er my sophomore year, I wanted to try something di erent. I soon found the opportunity I was hoping for. I was searching online for summer programs when I found the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), which places students at various Department of Defense labs across the country. I’ve always been curious about what happens at these labs, and working at one of them would allow me to use the research experience I’d gained at Jisan. I decided to apply. Multiple essays and phone interviews later, I was accepted to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR Paci c) site in San Diego. I would be working in the Tactical Situations Assessment Technologies (TSAT) group under the supervision of the team leaders, Dr. LorRaine Du y and Ms. Emily Medina. New Ways to Chat Imagine trying to teach someone how to make an origami boat through a conventional chat system. Now imagine that instead of words, you could use images to convey the concepts. at was the goal of VisChat, the rst of three main projects I worked on during my internship. e underlying idea is that images could be faster and more complete than words when military personnel need to communicate ideas in di cult or dangerous situations, such as during loud forest res, loud hurricane conditions, or when under explosives attack. As part of developing VisChat, the TSAT group had partnered with the University of New Mexico to conduct a study that tested participants’ recognition of icon language. Working with a scientist named James “Sunny” Fugate, a cognitive scientist at SPAWAR Systems Center Paci c who is working on his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico, I created large sets of these icons. I indexed more than 500 clipart images of icons with commonly associated meanings (such as a red octagon meaning “stop”) and created several sets of icons without such associations. ese would all be shown to the study participants so we could see how they processed the images. My second project involved testing an actual chat system and ways to improve it. e TSAT project is looking at improvements to traditional text chat and instant messaging. ey are May/Jun 2010 vEcToRSTock 18 imagine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010
Table of Contents
Big Questions
In My Own Words
If They Build It
Design That Matters
Wired to Win
A Student at SPAWAR
Even When the Ground Shakes
Biomimicry
An Engineer in Training
Engineering My Future
Home Away From Home
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Middle Ground
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Sudoku
Knossos Game

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010