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Contents:

Research Interests

Education

Awards and Honors

Employment

Publications

Teaching and Students

Program Service

Contact Info
Cecilia R. Aragon

Staff Scientist
Computational Research Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(510) 486-4106
     
 

Research Interests

Human-Computer Interaction
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work for Scientific Collaborations
Scientist-Computer Interaction
Visualization and Visual Analytics
 

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, 2004;  Advisor: Prof. Marti Hearst
M.S., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
B.S. with Honors, Mathematics, California Institute of Technology
 

Awards and Honors

Top 25 Women of the Year, Hispanic Business Magazine, 2009
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2008
Best Paper Award Honorable Mention, ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 2008
Best Poster Award, IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology, 2007
Most Highly Rated Presentation, Grace Hopper Conference, 2007
Best Application Paper Award, 5th International Conference of Machine Learning Applications, 2006
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Spot Awards, multiple years
Best Student Paper Award, 23rd IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 2004
Eugene L. Lawler Award, 2004
U.S. patent pending for video image stabilization system (UnshakerTM)
NASA Space Act Award (twice)
Bell Laboratories Graduate Fellowship
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (declined)
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
United States Aerobatic Team (twice)
 

Employment

2005 - present: Staff Scientist, Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California. Research in visualization, analytics, and human-computer interaction with applications to scientific collaborations and large scientific data sets, including supernova image data and other astrophysics data. Software group lead and architect, Sunfall project for the Nearby Supernova Factory, Deep Sky, and PDG Workspace for the Particle Data Group.

1996 - 2005: Computer Scientist, Computational Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. (1996 - 2000: employed by Caelum Research Corp.) Research in human-computer interaction and information and scientific visualization with applications to aerospace. Group lead, Domain Exploration for the Information Design project. Data visualization, 2D/3D graphics and user interface software design and implementation for remote access and scientific collaboration software over very large heterogeneous databases of aeronautical and aerospace data.

1987 - 1996: Software Consultant, Aragon Consulting, Berkeley, California. Software development in 2D and 3D graphics, user interface design, image processing and aerodynamic modeling.

1991 - 1994: Founder and CEO, Top Flight Aviation, Inc., Livermore, California. Founded professional aerobatic flight school. Managed staff of 24, developed aviation curriculum and provided flight instruction at all levels, supervised design and building of aircraft, test flew completed aircraft, performed at airshows and competitions in the U.S. and Europe.

 

Selected Publications

Refereed Book Chapters

  • "Collaborative analytics for astrophysics exploration," Cecilia R. Aragon, Handbook of Automation, Shimon Y. Nof (ed.), Springer-Verlag (2009).

  • "The impact of usability on large science projects," Cecilia R. Aragon and Sarah S. Poon, Usability and User-Centered Design in Software Development: Case Studies and Real Life Applications, Ann Blandford, Timo Jokela, Tobias Uldall-Espersen, and Erik Frøkjær (eds.), IGI Global, in press (2009).

Refereed Journal Publications

Refereed Conference Publications (Full Papers)

  • "A Tale of Two Online Communities: Fostering Collaboration and Creativity in Scientists and Children" (PDF), C. Aragon, S. Poon, A. Monroy-Hernandez, D. Aragon, ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition, Berkeley, CA (2009). [23% acceptance rate]

  • "Workflow Management for High Volume Supernova Search," Cecilia R. Aragon and Karl J. Runge, ACM SAC 2009: ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (2009). [29% acceptance rate]

  • "Context-Linked Virtual Assistants for Distributed Teams: An Astrophysics Case Study" (PDF), Sarah S. Poon, Rollin C. Thomas, Cecilia R. Aragon, Brian Lee, CSCW 2008: ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, San Diego, CA (2008). Best Paper Award Honorable Mention. [27% acceptance rate; top 4% of submissions nominated for best paper award]

  • "Using Visual Analytics to Maintain Situational Awareness in Astrophysics" (PDF), Cecilia Aragon, Sarah Poon, Gregory Aldering, Rollin Thomas, Robert Quimby, Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (IEEE VAST), Columbus, OH (2008). LBNL-658E. [34% acceptance rate; invited to a special issue of the Journal of Information Visualization]

  • "A Fast Contour Descriptor Algorithm for Supernova Image Classification," C. Aragon and D. Aragon, LBNL-61182, SPIE Symposium on Electronic Imaging: Real-Time Image Processing, San Jose, CA (2007). [38% acceptance rate]

  • "Supernova Recognition using Support Vector Machines," R. Romano, C. Aragon, and C. Ding, LBNL-61192, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Machine Learning Applications, Orlando, FL (2006). Winner of Best Application Paper Award. [23% acceptance rate]

  • "Improving Aviation Safety with Information Visualization: A Flight Simulation Study," C. Aragon and M. Hearst, CHI 2005: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, OR (2005). [25% acceptance rate]

  • "Airflow Hazard Visualization for Helicopter Pilots: Flight Simulation Study Results," C. Aragon and K. Long, American Helicopter Society 61st Annual Forum, Grapevine, TX (2005).

  • "Using Visualization in Cockpit Decision Support Systems," C. Aragon, IEEE SMC 2005: Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (2005). [59% acceptance rate]

  • "Usability Evaluation of a Flight-Deck Airflow Hazard Visualization System," C. Aragon, 23rd IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Salt Lake City, UT (2004). Winner of Best Student Paper Award.

  • "A Prototype Flight-Deck Airflow Hazard Visualization System," C. Aragon, SAE World Aviation Congress, Reno, NV (2004).

  • "Prediction of aerodynamic coefficients for wind tunnel data using a genetic algorithm optimized neural network," T. Rajkumar, C. Aragon, J. Bardina, and R. Britten, Data Mining III, Third International Conference on Data Mining, A. Zanasi, C. Brebbia, N. Ebecken, and P. Melli, eds. (2002) 473-485.

  • "Experimental and Computational Data Analysis in CHARLES and DARWIN," D. Korsmeyer, J. Walton, C. Aragon, A. Shaykevich, L. Chan, ISCA-97, 13th International Conference on Computers and Their Applications (1998).

  • "A Unified Approach to Building Accelerator Simulation Software for the SSC," V. Paxson, C. Aragon, S. Peggs, C. Saltmarsh, L. Schachinger, Proc. 1989 IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference (1989).

  • "Randomized Search Trees," C. Aragon and R. Seidel, Proc. 30th IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (1989), 540-546. [one of 2 top theory conferences with historical acceptance rates of 22-33%]

Refereed Short Papers and Posters

  • "Automated Analysis for Detecting Beams in Laser Wakefield Simulations," Daniela Ushizima, Oliver Ruebel, Prabhat, Gunther Weber, E. Wes Bethel, Cecilia Aragon, Cameron Geddes, Estelle Cormier-Michel, Bernd Hamann, Peter Messmer, Hans Hagen. Seventh International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, Proceedings of IEEE ICMLA'08, 2008. LBNL-960E. [50% acceptance rate]

  • "Sunfall: A Collaborative Visual Analytics System for Astrophysics," C. Aragon, S. Bailey, S. Poon, K. Runge, R. Thomas, IEEE VAST poster, Sacramento, CA (2007) (2-page abstract). LBNL-657E. Winner of Best Poster Award. [42% acceptance rate]

Refereed Workshop Publications

  • "Context-Linked Intelligent User Interfaces," Sarah S. Poon, Rollin C. Thomas, Cecilia R. Aragon, Brian Lee, Workshop on Human Interaction with Intelligent and Networked Systems, IUI 2009: International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, Sanibel Island, FL (2009).

  • "Designing Scientific Workflow Management Systems for Data-Intensive Astrophysics Projects", Cecilia R. Aragon and Sarah S. Poon, Designing Cyberinfrastructure to Support Science Workshop, CSCW 2008: ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, San Diego, CA (2008).

  • "Towards Virtual Radical Collocation in Science Projects", Sarah S. Poon and Cecilia R. Aragon, Supporting Distributed Team Work Workshop, CSCW 2008: ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, San Diego, CA (2008)

  • "The Impact of Usability on Supernova Discovery," C. Aragon and S. Poon, LBNL-62380, Workshop on Increasing the Impact of Usability Work in Software Development, CHI 2007: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA (2007).

Dissertation and Refereed Doctoral Consortia

Other Publications

  • "Host Galaxies of Type Ia Supernovae from the Nearby Supernova Factory," Childress, M.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Chotard, N.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Periera, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R. C.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "Multi-Wavelength, Multi-Epoch Integral Field Spectrograph Extraction for the Nearby Supernova Factory," Bongard, S.; Thiebaut, E.; Pecontal, E.; Rigaudier, G.; Soulez, F.; Buton, C.; Chotard, N.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Smadja, G.; Tao, C.; Antilogus, P.; Bailey, S.; Pain, R.; Pereira, R.; Ripoche, P.; Wu, C.; Aldering, G.; Aragon, C.; Childress, M.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Perlmutter, S.; Runge, K.; Swift, H.; Thomas, R. C.; Baltay, C.; Jerke, J.; Rabinowitz, D.; Scalzo, R., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "Flux Calibration and Extinction Properties from the Nearby Supernova Factory," Buton, C.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Childress, M.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinovitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R. C.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "Classical Type Ia Spectral Indicators from the Nearby Supernova Factory," Chotard, N.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "Direct Analysis of Type Ia Supernovae Observed by The Nearby Supernova Factory," Thomas, R.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "The Power of Spectrophotometry: K-correction-free Type Ia Supernova Light Curves from the Nearby Supernova Factory," Pereira, R.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R. C.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #489.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "SNe Ia From The Nearby Supernova Factory: The Reign Of The Normals And The Revolution Of The Rare," Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Chotard, N.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R. C.; Rabinowitz, D.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #338.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "Generalized Spectral Correlations of Type Ia Supernovae from the Nearby Supernova Factory," Bailey, S.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Chotard, N.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R.; Wu, C., American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #321.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41 (2009).

  • "The Nearby Supernova Factory: First Results," Copin, Y.; Aldering, G.; Antilogus, P.; Aragon, C.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Bongard, S.; Buton, C.; Childress, M.; Gangler, É.; Jerke, J.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pécontal, É.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinovitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Ripoche, P.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Smadja, G.; Swift, H.; Tao, C.; Thomas, R. C.; Wu, C., EAS Publications Series, Volume 36, 2009, pp.11-15 (2009).

  • "Seeing the Unseeable," E. Wes Bethel, Chris Johnson, Charles Hansen, Claudio Silva, Steven Parker, Allen Sanderson, Lee Myers, Martin Cole, Xavier Tricoche, Sean Ahern, George Ostrouchov, Dave Pugmire, Jamison Daniel, Jeremy Meredith, Valerio Pascucci, Hank Childs, Peer-Timo Bremer, Ajith Mascarenhas, Ken Joy, Bernd Hamann, Christoph Garth, Cecilia Aragon, Gunther Weber, and Prabhat. SciDAC Review, Number 8, pp. 24-33. LBNL-472E. Summer 2008.

  • "DOE SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies," E. Wes Bethel, C.R. Johnson, C. Aragon, Prabhat, O. Rübel, G.Weber, V. Pascucci, H. Childs, P.-T. Bremer, A. Mascarenhas, B. Whitlock, S. Ahern, J. Meredith, G. Ostrouchov, K. Joy, B. Hamann, C. Garth, M. Cole, C. Hansen, S. Parker, A. Sanderson, C.T. Silva, and X. Tricoche. In 2008 DOE ASCR CS PI Meeting, Denver, CO, USA, April 2008. LBNL-63701.

  • "Data Taking in a Virtual Control Room: the SNfactory Example," Antilogus, P.; Thomas, R. C.; Aldering, G.; Aragon, C.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Hornero, E.; Pecontal, A.; Poon, S.; Runge, K.; Scalzo, R.; Bailey, S.; Baltay, C.; Buton, C.; Bongard, S.; Childress, M.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Pain, R.; Pecontal, E.; Pereira, R.; Perlmutter, S.; Rabinowitz, D.; Rigaudier, G.; Smadja, G.; Tao, C.; Wu, C. Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems II. Edited by Brissenden, Roger J.; Silva, David R. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 7016, pp. 70161L-70161L-12 (2008).

  • "The Nearby Supernova Factory: toward a high-precision spectro-photometry"   (PDF), Copin, Y.; Buton, C.; Gangler, E.; Smadja, G.; Pecontal, E.; Rigaudier, G.; Antilogus, P.; Bailey, S.; Pain, R.; Pereira, R.; Wu, C.; Aldering, G.; Aragon, C.; Bongard, S.; Childress, M.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Perlmutter, S.; Runge, K.; Thomas, R. C.; Weaver, B. A.; Baltay, C.; Bauer, A.; Rabinowitz, D.; Scalzo, R. Proc. of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Grenoble, France (July 2007).

  • "The Supernova Integral Field Spectrograph: keys to high-precision spectro-photometry"   (PDF), Buton, C.; Copin, Y.; Gangler, E.; Smadja, G.; Pecontal, E.; Rigaudier, G.; Antilogus, P.; Bailey, S.; Pain, R.; Pereira, R.; Wu, C.; Aldering, G.; Aragon, C.; Bongard, S.; Childress, M.; Loken, S.; Nugent, P.; Perlmutter, S.; Runge, K.; Thomas, R. C.; Weaver, B. A.; Baltay, C.; Bauer, A.; Rabinowitz, D.; Scalzo, R. Proc. of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Grenoble, France (July 2007).

  • "DOE's SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies - Strategy for Petascale Visual Data Analysis Success," Bethel, E. W., Johnson, C., Aragon, C., Prabhat, Ruebel, O., Weber, G., Pascucci, V., Childs, H., Bremer, P.-T., Whitlock, B., Ahern, S., Meredith, J., Ostrouchov, G., Joy, K., Hamann, B., Garth, C., Cole, M., Hansen, C., Parker, S., Sanderson, A., Silva, C., Tricoche, X. CTWatch Quarterly, Volume 3, Number 4, November 2007.

  • List of all astrophysics publications from ADS, the Astrophysics Data System.

 

Teaching

Lecturer, Information Visualization and Presentation, I247 (graduate course), School of Information, University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2010.

Instructor, 8th Grade Honors Algebra, Berkeley, CA, Sept. 2007 - June 2008.

Co-Instructor, Industrial Design and Human Factors, IEOR 170 (upper division engineering course with enrollment of 60 juniors and seniors), University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2006.

Certificated Flight Instructor, Oakland, Livermore, and Tracy Airports, over 2400 hours of flight instruction given, over 3000 hours of ground instruction given, 1987 - 2008.

Teaching Assistant, Computer Graphics, CS 284 (graduate computer science course), University of California, Berkeley, 1984.

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Computer Science, CS 1 (freshman introductory computer programming course), University of California, Berkeley, 1983.

 

Students

Summer and academic year student research interns at LBNL:

Ukwatta Jayarathna
Jacob Andreas
Wayne Ryan
Elena Caraba
Sarah Poon
Adarsh Uppula
Daniel Wong

Research programs for undergraduates:

 

Program Service and Outreach

Workshop organizer (with S. Poon and C. Silva), The Changing Face of Digital Science: New Practices in Scientific Collaborations, CHI 09, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2009.

Chair, IEEE Computer Society Entrepreneur and Pioneer Awards Committee, 2008-present.

Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W), board member, 2008-present.

Latinas in Computing, founding member, 2007-present.

Program committee member: IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT), International Conference on Knowledge Capture (K-CAP), 2008-present.

Paper reviewer: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), IEEE Visualization (Vis), IEEE Information Visualization (InfoVis), IEEE Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST), Conference on Advancing Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT), International Conference on Knowledge Capture (K-CAP), ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C), 2005-present.

Proposal reviewer: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (DOE ASCR), U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR), U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE), NWO Free Competition (European computer science funding agency), National Science Foundation, 2005-present.

LBNL Women in Science Council, founding member. Objectives include: recruitment, retention, and development of women scientists throughout the Lab, 2008-present.

LBNL Computing Sciences Diversity Working Group, founding member. Objectives include: increase diversity in the two computing divisions, perform outreach and increase the Lab's and Directorate's visibility as a workplace committed to diversity, 2008-present.

LBNL Computing Sciences Mentoring Program, steering committee member. Objectives include: establishment of formal staff mentoring program in computing sciences, ongoing management and evaluation. 2009-present.

LBNL Alvarez Fellowship Selection Committee, member. Screening, interviewing, ranking and selection of candidates for highly competitive postdoctoral fellowship in Computational Research Division. 2008-2009.

MentorNet mentor. E-mail mentoring of computing graduate students. 2008-present.

Technical Advisory Board for Environmental and Spatial Technology team at Eureka Springs High School, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, board member. Duties include: advising high school students on computer science and robotics projects. 2006-present.

Volunteer speaker at numerous programs supporting diversity in computer science, including: Women in College of Engineering Leadership Retreat, Fresno State University; Berkeley Edge Program; Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions; Supercomputing Broader Engagement; Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology; Expanding Your Horizons, UC Berkeley Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research (SUPERB), 1996-present.

President of WICSE (Women in Computer Science and Engineering - UC Berkeley EECS Department Ph.D. student group), 1987 and 2004.

 


Contact Info

Cecilia R. Aragon
Computational Research Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
One Cyclotron Road, MS 50B-2239
Berkeley, California 94720

(510) 486-4106 (tel)
(510) 486-5812 (fax)

Projects and Groups:
Advanced Computing for Science
Visualization Group
Nearby Supernova Factory
NERSC Analytics
Deep Sky
Particle Data Group