Data Visualization Software by Advanced Visual Systems Innovates Education at East Carolina University

AVS/Express, a comprehensive data visualization software system used to create advanced graphical applications in the fields of science, engineering and academia, is being used at East Carolina University (ECU) to present complex chemistry and physics concepts to students and enable them to better comprehend advanced course material.

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ECU has utilized AVS/Express in multiple course programs that allow students to interact with physics and chemistry models individually (using a PC) or in groups (in a large interactive theater in which students use special 3D glasses to virtually explore scientific data). In both implementations, students have achieved a more rapid and comprehensive understanding of the course material throughdata visualization applications that were faculty-designed and developed to synchronize with a particular scholastic agenda.

According to Kenneth Flurchick, professor in the Physics Department at ECU, CIITR Visualization Scientist, and author of the AVS/Express-based applications, “The multi-dimensional views of scientific data that are created with AVS/Express enable our students to grasp concepts that a two-dimensional book simply cannot convey. Course materials we developed using AVS/Express for independent study on the PC have seamlessly migrated to our multi-projector CAVE theater, permitting large groups of students to not only experience our physics and chemistry courses in an entirely different manner—but also in large groups where they can share the experience.”

Flurchick added, “I have found AVS/Express to be an extremely versatile and comprehensive tool for creating and presenting my visualization-based teaching materials. Having experimented with several other toolkits, I have concluded that no other visualization system provides the options, flexibility and graphics quality of AVS/Express. The ability to run our applications on both the PC and a UNIX-based CAVE is essential to our program, and AVS/Express had met and exceeded all of our requirements and expectations.

AVS/Express enables rapid, object-oriented development of rich and highly interactive scientific and technical data visualizations. Now in its seventh year of release, AVS/Express is widely considered the world’s most popular software for advanced visual analysis. Designed for use by users with either no or highly advanced programming skills, AVS/Express is offered in several editions that exploit nearly every contemporary or legacy data format and can be deployed in a wide range of configurations. Additional information is available at www.avs.com/express/.