The Joseph Canizaro and James Livingston Center for Environmental Informatics at the University of New Orleans has landed a Naval Research Laboratory contract worth nearly $2 million. The funds will allow UNO researchers to investigate new Geospatial Intelligence techniques to mine and visualize large-scale data collected by Federal agencies, such as meteorological, oceanographic and open-source intelligence information.

The Department of Computer Science and the Naval Research Laboratory have enjoyed a collaborative relationship over the past two decades. The partnership has resulted in the training of high-caliber undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to excel as scientists for the Navy and other federal agencies.

The establishment of the Center for Environmental Informatics in 2015 was made possible by a donation from real estate developer Joseph Canizaro and Major General James Livingston. The multidisciplinary center draws on the expertise of faculty members and research staff from a number of academic departments, including computer science, biology, mathematics, electrical engineering, and civil and environmental engineering. Center personnel work with collaborators from the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and others.