Cloud computing for environmental science webinar airs tomorrow

16 December 2013

Preserving biodiversity, understanding animals’ social interactions, and predicting droughts: these are all key research areas for ecologists and environmental scientists. And like so many areas of research these days, they are all data intensive and thus potential beneficiaries of cloud computing.

Kenji Takeda, Solutions Architect and Technical Manager at  Microsoft Research Connections, writes:

With that in mind, we are delighted to be hosting a webinar tomorrow (Tuesday, December 17, 2013), at 16:00 GMT, in which Tanya Berger-Wolf of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Cristian Bonacic and Hugo Neyem of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile will discuss how to use Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform, to expand and accelerate environmental research.

Tanya will describe her upcoming research in Kenya, where she will study the social interactions of zebras. She’ll be gathering data from multiple sources, everything from drones and GPS trackers to camera traps and traditional sightings. The task of bringing all this field data together is a perfect fit for the cloud. So Tanya is developing an end-to-end system that goes from collecting data in Africa, feeding it into models, and sharing the results—all via Windows Azure.

Cristian and Hugo will discuss how they are taking LiveANDES, a tool designed to promote wildlife conservation in Chile, from a bare metal Microsoft SQL Server installation onto Windows Azure. They will highlight how the cloud can facilitate the exchange of wildlife data among conservation professionals, government officials, and amateur naturalists. Their project will play a critical role in helping the conservation community keep track of some 15,000 new plant and animal species discovered every year in the region.

Please join us online to see how Windows Azure is helping environmental scientists work together, and to learn how you, too, might exploit the cloud to make your research easier, faster, and more scalable. Also, become part of the Windows Azure for Research discussions on our LinkedIn group page and on Twitter via @azure4research and #azureresearch.

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