Hi, I'm Joseph M. Nogueras a Computer Science student from Puerto Rico, that is on an internship in California, Arcata Humboldt State University , REU (Research Experience for Undergraduate students) 2009 Summer program sponsored by the NSF and the Department of Defense, and 5 and half weeks ago I was assigned to this Project called

"Computational Coastal Management".

The description of the project is: Project Title: Computation Coastal Management Intern: Joseph Nogueras, OMITTED Mentor: OMITTED (I ommit the mentors and my partner in case they didn;t want to give me aprrove to show theyre names here) Changes in the global climate, resource availability and the cascading effects of resource limitations are consistently and repeatedly occurring around the world. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment makes the following point: current technology and knowledge can considerably reduce human impacts on ecosystems. To this end, we believe it will be essential that the gap between data and knowledge be closed quickly and effectively. This gap exists in both within and between scientific domains. Furthermore, these vast scientific data repositories are siloed in ways that make them difficult to access and integrate across disciplinary domains to extract useful knowledge for decision-making by community members, resource managers and elected officials. Bridging these information gaps across scientific disciplines is only the first step, equally important is the timely translation of this information into useful knowledge that is accessible to the people who require it. This need begins with the translation of heterogeneous digital databases into new and relevant knowledge, but also with an eye towards the relationship of this knowledge to the real and complex natural and social systems in which we act. Digital systems hold great promise for bring together not only data, but also organizations and knowledge across both geographic and conceptual spaces. Computing is incestuous and will enable us to extract the desired knowledge to ensure a global management approach of our coasts at home and abroad. Given a complex regulatory framework, coupled with a multitude of scientific objectives and methodologies for the collection and analysis of scientific data, the computation systems for the translation of data to knowledge are lacking. For decades data has been collected and archived by individual organizations to serve their independent purposes, most often with little or no perspective of how these data might relate to other objectives and analysis. More appropriately, data collection should be tied to the effectively and efficiently answer questions of import and to enable knowledge creation via multidisciplinary data aggregation and analysis. The overall link of the proposed research is the issue of utilizing advances in computation model, methods and techniques to provide for an extraordinary enhancement in solving the analysis problems found in large environmental databases.

» Tasks

1.Identify the domain knowledge and issues related to managing marine ecosystems.

2.Survey of computational tools and models currently used in these domains

3.Design a common framework to bridge the gap between data and knowledge for marine ecosystems.

4.Integrate in the framework computational models and techniques capable of solving issues with data mining, data integration, data fusion and knowledge generation.

5.Design a poster and write a paper to be published in appropriate conferences / journals

We had made some progress (identify some issues, survey some computational tools and models ), but not quite that much, I'm being an "sophomore" undergraduate student , with barely 1 or 2 clases of Computer Science where I come from, I encounter with such big project and the issues, it;s so borught that is really difficult for me to deal with it,and I constantly get stuck in mind lagoons , trying to figure out something, I read research papers that I think they are related to my project but still I get even more confuse! We made a Map of issues with different "Areas of Interest " based on the LMEs approach (Large Marine Ecosystems) and we recently updated, we catalog some of the much diverse models that we found for the Areas of interest the actual issues we found are. We are suppose to find at least 5 models per each area of interest and look what type of algorithm they are using (not yet to know how they work) and look for key elements(e.g. indicators, standars, thresholds, uncertainties, constraints) it can be anything, in each model to see if one model have those key elements, may be the other models use those or similar key elements to work within the model. If they happen to have some of the key elements similar or equal, there could be some relationship or connection between those models. Then if we do that for all models and if they are connected we can actually make the framework or at least start it. Well I think the connections would be the type of data the models manage in each area of interest to solve each issue, input data and output data, how this data its being manage by the models (what algorithim, metod, tools is being use) and the output data of one model can be the input data to other model, that would be an actual connection.For example a fishery management model output data , harvesting data can be the input data to an economic model that is on the Governace Area of interest. So far that's what we have done , if anyone can help us find some of the models being used to deal with this issues, I wold be more than satisfied and thanksful.

 

 Today the director told us that we had 1 week to come with more involvement in our project or he will take the hard decision of sending me, my partner or both back home and close the project or just send me and work with just my partner. The probelm is me having this mind lagoons and not having a clear perspective of the project objective, short term objectives and long term. Usually takes me so much to read and understand a paper, and then its no so much of improvement to or project, that makes me depressed , also I have escoliosis, I don't know if that affects the way I think, how I think, slowly to get to understand someting, and it usually hurts while I'm soing my work (trying to) and give me headache and I get so tired that I cannot stand to be awake or attend to what I'm suppose to do, when I get back to the dorm I try to finish a paper that I started and it's the same story. I don't get too much hours of sleep and that's why I work inefficently, but also by the lack of experience, knowledge and independence , I'm just 18, most of my colleage here are up to 20. I know I'm being a too negative and giving excuses and the guilt to everything but is what I feel and see, like this I cannot work no more, I didn't knew this was going to be like this, it's like telling a baby to run without knowing or having the necesary experience to do it and it will constally fall, and fall until it cannot stand anymore... Even if you give him the stuff to do it, if you are not side to side with hime every time he is going to fall...

 That's how I feel, I try to do my best but it seems the most I try to do the less I'm doing and its not worted... Well I took the decision of staying and I will try to work hard for the next week, when we present our project progress(we usually make a presentation showing how the project it's going on every week, and also update a paper based in our project and recieve and make peer review to others papers/projects too) if the Director doesn't see any change in our project, a progress in teamwork, in individual involvement in the project and project progress, he will take the hard decision of sending us or me back home...

That's why I need your help to make the steps 2 to 4 or at least 2 and 3 to find those models that are being used for mitigating the issues that the marine ecosystems are having and to make the framwork. If you need the map of the issues with the differents "Areas of Interest" and the "Types of Models with imput and output represantation" and the catalog of some models that we had found to at least help us with other models you have that fits the "Areas of interest" and ther'e issues I will be more than happy to provide them to you.

Pleas help me and my partner to find those models and be sucessful in this project, we have until tuesday or Wendsday of next week to show more progress.

contact me at" martnog90@gmail.com, jn61@humboldt.edu

tel: 707-362-6819

Thank you very much, sorry if I'm asking for too much, sorry for any inconvenience...

Joseph M. Nogueras