FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 2007
Contact: K.E. Schwab
724.738.2199
karl.schwab@sru.edu

Web visibility leads to major scientific modeling project invitation

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Visibility on the Web helped garner David Dailey, SRU associate professor of computer science, an invitation to join a large-scale scientific modeling project by INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science and control.

Dailey will join other researchers at the end of this month at Rice University for the INRIA-funded project. The research involves using scalable vector graphics, known in the trade as SVG. SVG is a Web and mobile technology similar to HTML, but more powerful.

“The graphics are actually created in the Web browser instead of being shipped from the server,” Dailey said. “Pictures are described with a formula, and the formula is then used by the browser to actually form the pictures.”

SVG technology is finding its way into all kinds of markets. Dailey said he recently saw an excellent example when he was in Tokyo to present a report on scalable vector graphics. “At one train station, there is a one-meter by two-meter interactive board with an overview of the city. You use your finger to identify your location and your language choice, and then zoom in to gather information on building names and exact locations near your site. If you were searching for a restroom, you touch the restroom symbol and the map immediately indicates locations near you. It was a very interactive map, all using SVG technology.”

Dailey was contacted by Jean-David Benamou, who is currently spending a year as head of the project. Benamou wrote Dailey inviting him to participate. Benamou said he has followed the SRU professor’s work with SVG on the Web for some time. 

Anyone conducting a Web search on SVG animation will find Dailey’s name near the top of the list of some 2 million entries. He has been an active member of SVG development and involved in electronic discussion groups for more than four years.

Dailey and Benamou corresponded via e-mail about the project. “It looks extremely interesting,” Dailey said. He expects to spend three days at Rice and may then continue his work from SRU.

Dailey said the software under development uses finite element models and systems of partial differential equations to model phenomena in medicine, traffic flow and structural engineering.

A member of the SRU faculty since 1999, Dailey teaches Web programming and interface design. He is a doctoral graduate of the University of Colorado and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico.

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