Old Dominion University Professor Awarded Department of Defense Contract
Zhanping Liu
By Garrett Kniseley
Zhanping Liu, assistant professor in Old Dominion University's Department of Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Engineering, has been awarded a contract by the Department of Defense (DOD) through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to continue his 20-year algorithmic research as well as software development in scientific data visualization, particularly in vector/flow visualization.
Based on ActiveFLOVE (FLOw Visualization Environment, developed by Liu from 2004-2016), the ExActiveFLOVE (Extension of ActiveFLOVE) project, accomplished by undergraduate student Sean Leonard under the supervision of Liu through a seed grant of ODU-PURS (Program for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship), motivated Liu to build on ActiveFLOVE again for a new project funded by DOD-MDA. The application of this knowledge could be used in anything from planes to ships and can help determine paths of travel and best times to do certain maneuvers. If successful through all phases, Liu's data visualization package could become widely used and a vital asset to the entire DOD.
The DOD-STTR project follows three phases. Phase 1 garnered a $100,000 payment, $60,000 to ODU and $40,000 to Frontier Technology Incorporation (FTI), which will partner with Liu and his colleague Yuzhong Shen, professor of modeling, simulation and visualization engineering. In Phase 1, the money will be used to create stronger virtual reality (VR) support, more functions and use parallel data processing to create even more powerful visualization scenarios. If the DOD is impressed by their proof of concept, they may be invited to participate in Phase 2. If invited, the second phase would award $1 million and allow for two to three years of more development. Further down the line, a potential Phase 3 would award several million dollars and begin actual implementation of the program within the DOD.
Building on his longtime body of research, Liu's project was funded by a one-year PURS award, which ended last December, from the Office of Research. The award, given in partnership with the university's Perry Honors College, provides funding for ODU faculty to offer students authentic research experiences. Once the research is further developed, it is pitched to outside partners - in this case, the DOD. Computer science student Sean Leonard, a freshman at the time, was chosen as his student researcher, and worked with Liu on further development of Liu's software package.
