VMASC RESEARCHERS WIN TWO OF TOP FIVE AWARDS AT EURO SIMULATION WORKSHOP
Researchers associated with Old Dominion University and its Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) won two of the top five awards given to papers presented at the 2007 Euro Simulation Interoperability Workshop in Genoa, Italy.
"We are again on top," exclaimed Andreas Tolk, an ODU engineering faculty member and one of the authors to win an award. "Two of the five internationally awarded papers come out of Norfolk!"
A third winning paper was presented by a team based at George Mason University in Northern Virginia and had among its authors an ODU and VMASC alumnus.
The Euro SIW is sponsored by the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO), whose mission is to provide an open forum that promotes the interoperability and reuse of models and simulations through the exchange of ideas, the examination of technologies and the development of standards. To this end, SISO sponsors interoperability workshops alternating between sites on both sides of the Atlantic. The meeting in Genoa was in June.
The five papers receiving the "2007 Euro SIWzie" awards were announced in order of the judges' preference. The two ODU/VMASC papers were rated second and third. Other SIWzies went to the teams from University of Nottingham, George Mason and Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Switzerland.
The fact that three of the awards were won by researchers in Virginia-the only state in the United States to place in the competition-backs up a commonwealth initiative launched earlier this year titled, "Virginia: Positioned to Lead the Nation in Modeling and Simulation."
These are the winning papers from ODU/VMASC:
"A Distributed Crowd Behavior Model Using Game Technology," which presents an overview of a crowd behavior model with applications for the military and emergency responders. The authors are from ODU and VMASC, as well as WernerAnderson, Inc., a modeling and simulation company based in Gloucester, Va., that is associated with VMASC as a member firm. The authors are: Eric Weisel, founder and president of WernerAnderson. He also is an ODU adjunct professor in modeling and simulation and engineering management. He is the primary author. Lisa Moya, who has an undergraduate degree from ODU and is associated with WernerAnderson. Frederic McKenzie, ODU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at VMASC. Mimi H. Nguyen, an ODU graduate student and VMASC researcher. Mikel Petty, former VMASC chief scientist now associated with the University of Alabama.
"Data, Models, Federations and Conceptual Links via Common Reference Models," which describes a new, holistic approach to solving interoperability problems in computer simulations. The authors are: Andreas Tolk, ODU associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering and a senior research scientist at VMASC. As a member of the executive committee of SISO, he helped to bring an interoperability workshop to Norfolk earlier this year. Saikou Diallo, a VMASC project scientist, ODU graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in ODU's MSIM program Charles Turnitsa, a VMASC project scientist, ODU graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in ODU's MSIM program.
The team based at George Mason presented the paper, "A Framework for Integrating Command and Control Systems, Geographic Information Systems and Simulations." Among its authors is ODU alumnus James Muguira, a computer engineer.
Papers authored by ODU and VMASC researchers are frequently found on the recommended reading lists of SISO.