Phase II IUCRC UNC Charlotte Site: Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI)

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI) focuses on developing advanced visual and decision support tools and techniques that enable decision makers to improve the way organizations' information is interpreted and exploited. This award will create a CVDI Site at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, which will focus on data science and big data analytics research related to risk mitigation in financial services, healthcare, and social good. Financial services and healthcare, along with energy, retail, and logistics are the key sectors of Charlotte's economy. On the other hand, social good is an important issue currently facing Charlotte community. Social good analytics can aid the community's effort to improve living conditions of its citizens, which will positively influence the overall workforce readiness for employers. This contribution will be measured in novel data collection mechanisms and long-term outcomes of implemented policies. The net effect will be more resilient industry, increased economic development, increased social capital, and increased economic mobility in all segments of the community. The researcher team on this award is uniquely focused on developing long-term capability for researching, understanding, and documenting risk, as well as creating tools and applications for explaining and predicting such risks. This will be accomplished through the application of data- and analytics-driven technologies, including, but not limited to, data and analytics platform, advanced visualization techniques, artificial intelligence and deep-learning algorithms, agent-based modeling and simulation, network science analysis, and systems dynamics methods. Over the next 5 years, this Site will seek to transform UNC Charlotte into the national hub of innovation and creativity for the benefit of industry and the society. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.