News

Dr. Joseph Mueller was interviewed recently on "NASA's Unexplained Files", a new TV show for science buffs and NASA enthusiasts that is now airing its second season on the Science channel.

Jacqwi Campbell interviewed SIFT researcher Peggy Wu as part of her VR Creator Series. In the interview, they cover SIFT's work in VR for behavioral heath for astronauts in deep space, and discuss thoughts on VR in general.

Read the interview.

A virtual art installation has been constructed in the virtual ecosystem of ANSIBLE, featuring the work of Los Angeles artist Kristine Shoemaker. As a Virtual World Ecosystem, ANSIBLE serves to extend earthbound activities and relations to both future Mars Astronauts and the HI-SEAS Mars exploration analog study in Hawaii. Shoemaker's virtual installation is the first of a rotation of art exhibits that will change out monthly. More details found in this article: [pdf]

Wearable, a news outlet website reporting on new human-mounted technologies, has published an article highlighting a discussion on ANSIBLE at the 2015 Web Summit. Dr. Jacki Morie and psychologist Mary Aiken dicuss using ANSIBLE as a VR solution to the psychological strain NASA astronauts may experience from prolonged spaceflight. NASA scientists participating in the isolated HI-SEAS mission are immersed in ANISBLE's virtual world, allowing them to participate in virtual activities and exchange messages with friends and family back at home.

Four papers by SIFT researchers have been accepted to various workshops sponsored by the Thirtieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-16).

Robert Goldman presented two papers -- joint work with Mike Boldt and David Musliner -- at the International Workshop on Design and Implementation of Formal Tools and Systems (DIFTS).  These papers concerned our work on verifying systems modeled as probabilistic automata.  The work was done as part of the "Quiksilver" project, funded by the Office of Naval Research, on which SIFT was a subcontractor to Carnegie-Mellon University (specifically Prof. Edmund Clarke's group).

Dr. Friedman hosted the 28th International Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning in Minneapolis, MN, drawing an international group of researchers to present advances in spatial reasoning, qualitative simulation, and knowledge representation.  The workshop website (http://qr15.sift.net/) lists the full proceedings.

Title of the paper: "Towards an Index of Mental Wellbeing in Language The relationship between time orientation, self-focus and mood during prolonged bed-rest through automated analysis of daily journals”

Authors: Schmer-Galunder, S., Wu, P., Rye, J., Ott, T & Miller, C.

Click for details on STOTICS 2015 conference.

SIFT researchers Peggy Wu and Sonja Schmer-Galunder will attend the WebSummit 2015 in Dublin in November

Technical.ly, an organization that connects technology communities via journalism and event organization, has published an interview with Peggy Wu discussing SIFT's ANSIBLE project. The article emphasizes how ANISBLE combats social isolation for astronauts by connecting them with friends and family through a shared virtual space.

Click to read.

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