Tuesday, March 3, 2015
6:30 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Presentation
The Nott Memorial on Union College’s main campus
A presentation by Mike Kelly (’91)
and Jeremy Farrell (’03)
The Jefferson Project is a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute (RPI), IBM and The FUND for Lake George that studies the past,
present and potential future states of Lake George, a large oligotrophic
lake in the Adirondack Park of New York State.
The project will develop new ways to explore, characterize and
experiment in the waters and watershed of the lake. New high-resolution
bathymetric and topographic surveys, advanced networked sensors in
and around the lake and coupled computer modeling will enable and drive
this endeavor. Measurement data from the sensors will be analyzed
locally at the sensor deployment sites as part of a distributed smart
network. Analytics within this cyberinfrastructure will enable prediction
and detection of events and trends that contribute to changes in the lake.
Large-scale display and manipulation of these datasets will occur at a
new visualization lab at RPI’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute.
Jefferson Project findings will inform improved decision and
policy making in an effort to preserve Lake George as an incredible
resource. This presentation provided an overview of the project with
discussion of specific use-cases and analyses of initial data.
Mike Kelly (’91) | Research Engineer at IBM Research
Mike Kelly, a native of Albany, NY, has had a lifelong love for Lake George
and the Adirondacks. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
from Union College in 1991 and went on to earn his master’s degree in
electrical engineering from Union Graduate College in 1992.
For over 20 years, Kelly has worked for IBM as a microprocessor chip designer
and has extensive experience in floating point hardware design. Currently, he
works for IBM Research on The Jefferson Project (and is having the time of his
life!). Kelly is also involved with sensor selection, deployments and integration
into the network/cyberinfrastructure. He is very interested in the ongoing
and future research that The Jefferson Project will encompass.
Jeremy Farrell (’03) | Postdoctoral Research Associate/Adjunct Faculty at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute
Joining Darrin Freshwater Institute (DFWI) in 2003, Farrell has spearheaded
the launch of a number of new DFWI projects. Graduating with a bachelor’s
degree in geology from Union College in 2003, Farrell went on to receive his
doctorate in biology in 2013 from RPI. He continues his research as a postdoctoral
scholar for DFWI in addition to teaching the fresh water ecology course
for the Semester of Study program.
Farrell’s research involves hydroacoustic studies to varying degrees, mainly
the study of fisheries and macroinvertebrates in brook trout. Farrell has developed
his skill with hydroacoustics to help with research in other areas including
Lake George cold water fisheries studies, sediment typing, habitat mapping
and detection and mapping of invasive plants.
Farrell has also been a valuable asset when it comes to database management/
development and GIS work. His other research interests include flow cam
work, mesocosm studies and Hudson River research involving zebra mussels.