FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Tied closely to the development of cognitive computer models are the validation and verification techniques to ensue the models are correct.
That’s where Tim Trucano, Sandia National Laboratories validation and verification expert, steps in.
He is in the early stages of developing ways to make sure the cognitive models are working as they should.
“I work on developing methods to generate and use information that allow cognitive modelers to validate their models,” says Trucano, who has spent many years working with the NNSA Advanced Simulation & Computing Program.
He and his team are seven months into an internally funded Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project. They are attempting to create a validation methodology that “makes sense for cognitive and group interaction modeling,” Trucano says. In particular, they are researching mathematical methods and computational procedures for scientifically comparing cognitive models with empirical observations as part of the validation process.
Ultimately they hope to develop a verification and validation strategy for the CS&T program, as well as specific insight into one or more projects.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Chris Burroughs, coburro@sandia.gov, (505) 844-0948