The document invites participants to a second pre-planning meeting on March 4th for an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) on visual and decision informatics to be sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The proposed Center, called the NSF-Center for Visual & Decision Informatics (NSF-CVDI), would bring together university researchers and industry/government partners to conduct applied research in information visualization, visual analytics, and automated analysis. At the upcoming meeting, industry representatives will present their technology needs and university researchers will share proposed research project descriptions to obtain feedback. The goal is to convince the NSF at a subsequent planning meeting that the projects are industry-relevant and that sufficient commitments are in place to

1. Center for Visual & Decision Informatics
A Planned National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center
YOU’RE INVITED!
Second Pre-planning meeting of the Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center Task Force
Friday - March 4th, 2011 – 9:00am to 12:00noon, Abdalla Hall Auditorium, 635 Cajundome Boulevard,
Lafayette, LA, 70506 (Driving Directions).
Greetings!
You are invited to the Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) Task Force’s second pre-
planning meeting on March 4th, 2011 from 9:00am – 12:00noon at the Abdalla Hall Auditorium. At this meeting
we will continue efforts to create an I/UCRC on the theme of Visual & Decision Informatics that will be
sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
What is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center?
An I/UCRC (http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/iucrc/) is a organizational form introduced by the NSF for fostering
sustained interaction between industries and government agencies, on the one hand, and university researchers,
on the other hand, with the aim of ensuring that universities are engaged in research that lead to inventions that
directly benefit the partnering industries and government agencies.
This cooperative model of for research emphasizes that the Center members pool their research needs through
interaction with each other and the University researchers to design a shared research portfolio.
The NSF’s experience, with existing IUCRCs, shows that each dollar provided by a member organization gets
leveraged many-folds through contributions from other members, the NSF and other non-NSF sources of
funding.
What is the NSF- Center for Visual & Decision Informatics (NSF-CVDI)?
The NSF has approved a Planning Grant submitted jointly by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the
iSchool at Drexel for the establishment of an I/UCRC in the theme of Visual & Decision Informatics.
The Center’s mission is to research and develop next generation visual and decision support tools and
techniques to enable decision makers in government and industry to fundamentally improve the way their
organization’s information is interpreted and analyzed.
CVDI will bring together, analytic, visual and perceptual techniques by advancing the state-of-the-art in the
research fields of Information Visualization, Visual Analytics and Automated Analysis. This research will be
supported by advanced computing and visualization facilities to create Decision-Making Environments (DME)
– frameworks that will enable users to explore and customize information streams in a variety of modalities to
gain better insight to that information.
The proposed NSF-CVDI will become an important component in the innovation eco-system of the region and
it complements recent innovative projects undertaken by our community, like the Fiber to the Home Initiative,
the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative and LITE.
CVDI is a collaboration between the University of Louisiana at Lafayette & Drexel University

2. Center for Visual & Decision Informatics
A Planned National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center
RECAP From the First I/UCRC Pre-planning Meeting
At our first pre-planning meeting on Nov. 19th, 2010:
In attendance were representatives from approximately ten local companies. They saw a need for driving
innovation within their organizations through sponsoring industry-relevant research at UL Lafayette and the
importance to the region of having a research center focusing on information visualization and automated
analysis for decision support.
Also in attendance were many members from UL Lafayette faculty with expertise in these research areas.
Following an overview presentation about the I/UCRC model, brief presentations were made by both industry
and the academic participants.
The overview presentations made by the UL researchers describing their research capabilities are available
from: http://nsf-cvdi.louisiana.edu/Documents.html
A number of questions raised at the meeting by the industry participants concerning the operational aspects of
the NSF-CVDI were addressed in a follow up communication; also available from the web link above.
At this meeting, one of the main recommendations made was for the university researchers to prepare more
concrete research project descriptions, based on industry research needs briefly introduced by the industry
representatives.
The I/UCRC Task Force’s Next Steps
In order to accomplish a successful launch of the proposed NSF- Center for Visual & Decision Informatics, the
I/UCRC Task Force is pursuing two critical steps:
Second Pre-planning Meeting
(This invitation)- To discuss technology needs of the industry and government participants relating to the theme
of information visualization, visual analytics and automated analysis.
Research project descriptions prepared by UL researchers will be made available to meeting attendees at least a
week prior to the meeting date. The meeting format will consist of presentations by representatives from
prospective industrial and governmental members.
Formal Planning Meeting
This is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, the location of Drexel University, who is UL Lafayette’s academic
partner in the center creation initiative. The meeting is expected to be either in late April or early May (to be
decided soon).
CVDI is a collaboration between the University of Louisiana at Lafayette & Drexel University

3. Center for Visual & Decision Informatics
A Planned National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center
The Planning Meeting will be conducted with representatives from the National Science Foundation in
attendance. The goal of this meeting is to have presentations of revised project descriptions evaluated by
industry and government participants invited by both universities and to convince the NSF representatives that
the proposed projects focus on an industry that is in a position to support the center and
the center has the potential for securing sufficient industrial and other financial commitments.
We thank you all for your consideration and participation. We look forward to working with as many of you as
are interested in being a part of this initiative that will strengthen the innovation eco-system of this region.
Your participation is critical to the successful creation of the proposed National Center of Excellence for
Visual and & Decision Informatics, the first one of its kind in Louisiana.
In order to register for the March 4, 2011 event, please confirm by sending an email to
vijay@cacs.louisiana.edu or, alternatively, rbenton@cacs.louisiana.edu. Please respond promptly, so that we
can follow up with additional information about the Pre-planning meeting.
CVDI is a collaboration between the University of Louisiana at Lafayette & Drexel University