Project Page

DWH Project Funding

$232,402

Known Leveraged Funding

$0

Project Description

Under the MBRACE program, Jackson State University (JSU) activities will focus on monitoring oyster reef habitat in Mississippi Gulf coast, USA, by using a sample of them as biosensors to study their behavioral patterns as a reflection of the aquatic environment conditions and to examine gulf water health in real time. Secondly, to display large scale data acquired by other techniques of MBRACE investigators for high-resolution visualization using a tiled LCD panel visual Walls, for analysis. Biosensor monitoring: The objective is to use a sample of oysters as biosensors by attaching a pair of electrodes on the shells of each of them to collect real time data on their opening and closing of their valves that reflect their breathing and nutrition patterns which indirectly depends on the conditions of the surrounding aquatic environment. The technique is based on the principle that bivalves living beings like oysters under stress close their shells a protection against perturbed or hostile aquatic environment and prolonged closure of the valves reflects alarming conditions. JSU will purchase and/or develop biosensor-detection system to collect data on the oyster behavior. JSU will rely on partner universities for assets such as boats to collect oysters and drop them in the target areas. Data Visualization: JSU has three visualization walls. One of which is operational and two under construction. The operational wall is a 2 x 4 tiled display wall assembly with physical dimensions of 19 by 6 feet (110 square feet) and resolution of 66 megapixels, driven by a cluster of 5 servers equipped with high performance GTX 780 Ti GPUs. The two walls under construction will provide even higher resolution. All three visualization walls will be made available to MBRACE scientists to display the data collected by their techniques. JSU activities will directly impact the core research areas of EMBRACE, namely, the observation, monitoring and mapping of the Gulf of Mexico by the collection and visualization of appropriate data. Goals and Objectives: JSU researcher's goal is to collect and display data that can be used in monitoring the health of the oyster reef. This will be carried out as follows: 1. Procure/Design of sensor probes to be attached on the oyster shells 2. Procure/Design and development of biosensor data collection system 3. Design and development of transmitting on site data for remote data storage 4. The formatting of collected data for display on visualization walls. 5. Display of data on JSU’s visualization walls. 6. Development of an application to allow visualizing same data on smaller systems. Proposed research activities, and the potential scientific impact. The health of oyster reefs can be used as a prime indicator of the health of the gulf. To study these reefs a multitude of sensors will have to be employed. JSU will work directly with other institutions in the selection procurement and operation of sensors as well as the collection of data. The collected data will then be formatted for display on JSU’s ultra-high definition visualization walls. Using the visualization walls is expected to allow researchers a clearer, more immersive look at the data, accelerating discovery process.