Oct. 10, 2022 鈥� If a doctor wants to get a closer look at a tumor inside of a patient, or if scientists want to get a detailed image of a plant, animal or inanimate structure, scientists and doctors frequently rely on sophisticated imaging devices.聽
Powering some of the most sophisticated imaging devices are ions. Working to make ion sources even more efficient, accessible, and able to handle large amounts of data are (黑料正能量) Assistant Professor of Computer Science Scott Feister, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Alona Kryshchenko, Ph.D.聽
鈥淚f you want create a beam of radiation to take a picture of something you can鈥檛 see with the naked eye, you could use an ion source,鈥� Feister explained. 鈥淭here are instruments around the world that create and use ions in this way. The ions offer a source of 鈥榣ighting鈥� for the picture, the way a flashbulb is used to offer a source of lighting for photos.鈥澛�
Kryshchenko and Feister just received $112,480 from National Science Foundation (NSF) as a continuation of a grant to support their research project, 鈥淓nhancing Laser Based Ion Sources with High Data Rate Techniques.鈥澛�
As a mathematician, Kryshchenko鈥檚 role in the project is to use the data science to help scientists accelerate the process and tighten the focus and control. Part of the process involves using statistical estimates and mathematical formulas to facilitate 鈥渕achine-learning,鈥� which is the process of teaching a computer to 鈥渓earn鈥� somewhat the way a human would learn.
鈥淒r. Kryshchenko is able to understand, at a math level, the enormous amount of data we are able to gather in science experiments 鈥� it鈥檚 called 鈥榟igh data rate鈥� science,鈥� explained Feister. 鈥淲e are moving away from an approach where we take small amounts of data, with humans examining every detail we capture. Now, we are taking a large amount of data and letting machines understand what we are seeing.鈥澛�
The NSF project is a collaboration between 黑料正能量, the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, and researchers from various other institutions.
Feister and Kryshchenko have been working with laboratories in Dayton and in labs in some of the other cooperating universities such as The Ohio State University and Miami University.聽
鈥淭here are only a few labs in the world successfully working with these extremely high data rates to study ions created by lasers,鈥� Feister said. 鈥淥f those, the highest data rates are happening at the Air Force lab in Ohio. We are pushing the limits of laser-based ion sources.鈥澛�
Five 黑料正能量 students are involved with the project. They are currently combing scientific literature to see what other methods have been tried to process data so that the research team can adjust and try those methods for larger amounts of data, and further advance this type of research technology into the future.聽