William Jones

Shirin Ermis, Cesar Aybar, Lilli Freischem et al.

Accurate forecasting of tropical cyclones (TCs) remains challenging due to limited satellite observations probing TC structure and difficulties in resolving cloud properties involved in TC intensification. Recent research has demonstrated the capabilities of machine learning methods for 3D cloud reconstruction from satellite observations. However, existing approaches have been restricted to regions where TCs are uncommon, and are poorly validated for intense storms. We introduce a new framework, based on a pre-training--fine-tuning pipeline, that learns from multiple satellites with global coverage to translate 2D satellite imagery into 3D cloud maps of relevant cloud properties. We apply our model to a custom-built TC dataset to evaluate performance in the most challenging and relevant conditions. We show that we can - for the first time - create global instantaneous 3D cloud maps and accurately reconstruct the 3D structure of intense storms. Our model not only extends available satellite observations but also provides estimates when observations are missing entirely. This is crucial for advancing our understanding of TC intensification and improving forecasts.

Stella Girtsou, Emiliano Diaz Salas-Porras, Lilli Freischem et al.

Clouds play a key role in Earth's radiation balance with complex effects that introduce large uncertainties into climate models. Real-time 3D cloud data is essential for improving climate predictions. This study leverages geostationary imagery from MSG/SEVIRI and radar reflectivity measurements of cloud profiles from CloudSat/CPR to reconstruct 3D cloud structures. We first apply self-supervised learning (SSL) methods-Masked Autoencoders (MAE) and geospatially-aware SatMAE on unlabelled MSG images, and then fine-tune our models on matched image-profile pairs. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods like U-Nets, and our geospatial encoding further improves prediction results, demonstrating the potential of SSL for cloud reconstruction.

Ayan Biswas, Terece L. Turton, Nishath Rajiv Ranasinghe et al.

We present VizGenie, a self-improving, agentic framework that advances scientific visualization through large language model (LLM) by orchestrating of a collection of domain-specific and dynamically generated modules. Users initially access core functionalities--such as threshold-based filtering, slice extraction, and statistical analysis--through pre-existing tools. For tasks beyond this baseline, VizGenie autonomously employs LLMs to generate new visualization scripts (e.g., VTK Python code), expanding its capabilities on-demand. Each generated script undergoes automated backend validation and is seamlessly integrated upon successful testing, continuously enhancing the system's adaptability and robustness. A distinctive feature of VizGenie is its intuitive natural language interface, allowing users to issue high-level feature-based queries (e.g., ``visualize the skull"). The system leverages image-based analysis and visual question answering (VQA) via fine-tuned vision models to interpret these queries precisely, bridging domain expertise and technical implementation. Additionally, users can interactively query generated visualizations through VQA, facilitating deeper exploration. Reliability and reproducibility are further strengthened by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), providing context-driven responses while maintaining comprehensive provenance records. Evaluations on complex volumetric datasets demonstrate significant reductions in cognitive overhead for iterative visualization tasks. By integrating curated domain-specific tools with LLM-driven flexibility, VizGenie not only accelerates insight generation but also establishes a sustainable, continuously evolving visualization practice. The resulting platform dynamically learns from user interactions, consistently enhancing support for feature-centric exploration and reproducible research in scientific visualization.

William Jones, Jesse David Dinneen, Robert Capra et al.

Personal Information Management (PIM) refers to the practice and the study of the activities a person performs in order to acquire or create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, use, and distribute information in each of its many forms (paper and digital, in e-mails, files, Web pages, text messages, tweets, posts, etc.) as needed to meet life's many goals (everyday and long-term, work-related and not) and to fulfill life's many roles and responsibilities (as parent, spouse, friend, employee, member of community, etc.). PIM activities are an effort to establish, use, and maintain a mapping between information and need. Activities of finding (and re-finding) move from a current need toward information while activities of keeping move from encountered information toward anticipated need. Meta-level activities such as maintaining, organizing, and managing the flow of information focus on the mapping itself. Tools and techniques of PIM can promote information integration with benefits for each kind of PIM activity and across the life cycle of personal information. Understanding how best to accomplish this integration without inadvertently creating problems along the way is a key challenge of PIM.

Paula Harder, William Jones, Redouane Lguensat et al.

The recent explosion in applications of machine learning to satellite imagery often rely on visible images and therefore suffer from a lack of data during the night. The gap can be filled by employing available infra-red observations to generate visible images. This work presents how deep learning can be applied successfully to create those images by using U-Net based architectures. The proposed methods show promising results, achieving a structural similarity index (SSIM) up to 86\% on an independent test set and providing visually convincing output images, generated from infra-red observations.

Tamir Blum, William Jones, Kazuya Yoshida

Space exploration missions have seen use of increasingly sophisticated robotic systems with ever more autonomy. Deep learning promises to take this even a step further, and has applications for high-level tasks, like path planning, as well as low-level tasks, like motion control, which are critical components for mission efficiency and success. Using deep reinforcement end-to-end learning with randomized reward function parameters during training, we teach a simulated 8 degree-of-freedom quadruped ant-like robot to travel anywhere within a perimeter, conducting path plan and motion control on a single neural network, without any system model or prior knowledge of the terrain or environment. Our approach also allows for user specified waypoints, which could translate well to either fully autonomous or semi-autonomous/teleoperated space applications that encounter delay times. We trained the agent using randomly generated waypoints linked to the reward function and passed waypoint coordinates as inputs to the neural network. Such applications show promise on a variety of space exploration robots, including high speed rovers for fast locomotion and legged cave robots for rough terrain.