The 2014 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Image Science will bring together an international community of imaging experts, young investigators, and students working in diverse imaging application areas to share new insights, developments and research progress in the unique open environment that is the hallmark of a GRC. Whereas the application areas seeking imaging solutions are broad and varied, including the study of everything from the structure of cells to the formation of distant galaxies, they are tied together by common technical issues related to the enormity of the data sets generated by modern imaging systems and the unique issues associated with the evaluation of imaging devices for their objective comparison and optimization. Image Science is now a science in its own right, rather than simply a tool to support other scientific endeavors. Image Science has its own principles and computational methods, such that all imaging modalities can be tied together via a common scientific framework. This new GRC meeting series is a follow- up to a National Academies Keck Future Initiative Conference held in November of 2010, which brought together imaging scientists to explore and build on interdisciplinary connections in cutting edge imaging research. The establishment of a Gordon Research Conference on Image Science will provide a sustained venue for this same purpose of bringing together imaging scientists across imaging disciplines to share ideas and solutions to the unique challenges associated with the design and evaluation of imaging systems that are shared across imaging application areas. The 2014 Image Science GRC is being organized jointly by Kyle J. Myers, PhD of the FDA and Richard G. Paxman, PhD of General Dynamics - Advanced Information Systems. It will be held June 8-13, 2014 at Stonehill College in Easton, MA. Distinguished speakers have been identified to present in nine sessions, each reflecting an important aspect of Image Science: 1) Methodologies and Observers for Objective Assessment of Image Quality;2) Use of Object Models and Priors in Imaging;3) Task- based Design of Imaging Systems;4) Adaptive Imaging;5) Extraction of Information from Multiple Time Points and Imaging Platforms;6) Imaging in Four or More Dimensions;7) Compressive and Coded Sensing Systems;8) Image Science in Astronomy;9) Unconventional imaging. The guiding principle of a Gordon Research Conference is to encourage communication and discussion of ideas and new unpublished results at the very frontier of the field. Thus it is expected that only unpublished research is presented (both orally and in poster sessions). To promote the discussion of cutting-edge research, GRCs are officially """"""""off-the-record,"""""""" with no abstracts or proceedings published before, during, or after the conference. This will be a unique and compelling aspect of this meeting, unlike any other in the imaging field. A primary goal of this meeting is to create opportunities and offer supportive mentoring opportunities for young investigators to enhance their research potential and likelihood of success.
The tremendous pace of innovation in medical imaging technologies offers society a tantalizing array of potential methods for earlier detection of disease, less invasive and more effective interventions, and improved clinical trial methodologies for determining therapeutic efficacy of new compounds faster and with fewer patients on experimental regimens. However, the costs associated with determining the efficacy of new imaging diagnostics, image-guided interventions, and image-based measures of drug efficacy through large- scale clinical trials are prohibitive. The 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Image Science will promote information exchange and foster collaboration between imaging scientists in such diverse application areas as medicine, astronomy, remote sensing, homeland security and defense, to stimulate the expanded application of image science principles, with the goal of accelerating the pace of imaging-system development, evaluation, and adoption for maximum impact on public health.
