Shannon Bohle

SHANNON BOHLE holds the Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree and is a professional librarian and archivist. Her background includes approximately 15 years of work experience in informal education (library, archive, museum) and formal education (K-16). She is a writer, editor and presenter. Shannon has over 50 publications in various media formats. During her graduate study for the MLIS, she completed a project relating to the history of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to obtaining her graduate degree, Shannon worked at the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum assisting with the education programming and working as a tour guide. Later, Shannon worked with the collection of one of the founding members of NACA (the precursor to NASA) located in the Oberlin College Archives. Shannon then served for a year at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as the archivist of a living Nobel Prize winning scientist’s collection (James D. Watson, co-discoverer with Crick and Wilkens of the structure of DNA) in the area of molecular biology. This included the official compilation of his books in translation in 26 languages. She has lectured on molecular biology digital resources at the University of California, Berkeley (2007) and science archives and history at the University of Oxford (2008). She presently serves at the volunteer Director of the Library and Archives at NASA CoLab in Second Life, a public-private collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It is the first library or archives in a synthetic immersive environment recognized by the Library of Congress (MARC Code: CaPsLAN). The project received various media coverage, including an article on CNN's website. Her publishing background includes Technical Reviewer (along with Brion Vibber, Chief Technical Officer, Wikimedia Foundation) for MediaWiki (O'Reilly, 2008), a bestselling book in Library and Information Science Automation, and editorial duties for two books published by Cambridge University Press (2004-5) as well as three other books. Shannon's creative approach toward digital libraries and computing can be found in Library Journal. Her video, "Can Results from Planck Prove the Inflation Paradigm?" with physics Nobel laureate John C. Mather, received a special showing at the Nobel Museum in Sweden. Mather's research led to strong empirical support to The Big Bang Theory. After the video, Dr. Mather was a speaker to a sizable audience in Second Life at NASA e-Education island and Stella Nova. A second video, with physics Nobel laureate Albert Fert also aired on the NobelPrize.org channel. Shannon has lectured on the subject of machinima at two conferences, Innovation for Libraries in the 21st Century (2010) and the 2011 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education. Her 3D visualization of p53 protein using data from the Protein Data Bank was published on the website of the journal Nature. Shannon has co-presented about the library at National Defense University during the Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds conference (2010), and it also gained attention at the Defense Technical Information Center conference. She was awarded the Linden Prize "Top 10" in 2010 by Linden Lab's CEO to "formally recognize the best of-the-best" for having "greatly enhanced and changed thousands of lives around the world."

Her recent project "Curiosity AI" won second place in "AI Concept Exploration" in The White House/Department of Defense international 2011 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge, including a check for $3,000, an engraved trophy, a ribbon, and a medallion from the DoD / US Army for "Simulation, Training & Research." Curiosity AI explores how artificial intelligence can communicate R&D concepts to be used in our future exploration of Mars. Curiosity AI focuses on a human controlling one AI which then controls many other AIs. Specifically, it proposes the use of a UAV flying hovercraft such as the Embla UAV. A UAV hovercraft like this would be capable of speeds of 50 miles per hour or more and would not limited by difficult terrain and could also navigate into caves on Mars and the Moon. Videos depicting the futuristic Mars Embla swarm were published in February (in a new media format on YouTube), and a presentation given at the IEEE Oregon Virtual Worlds Symposium on March 11, and submitted (as part of a larger project) for an AI contest in December of 2010. In terms of defense applications, the project simulates how one human could operate many drones, including swarms. According to Tim Owings, deputy project manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office, "Right now, it takes two Soldiers to operate an unmanned aircraft," he said. "We want to take that to one-to-one and even to one-to-four. We will need higher levels of autonomy in our unmanned aircraft systems if an operator controls multiple vehicles" (March 24, 2011). Shannon had a chance to demonstrate the project and be on a panel discussing "The Future of AI" at the Defense Gametech Conference in Orlando followed by panel member consisting of winners at National Defense University.

Shannon serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Library & Archival Security. She is also a consultant for The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, that "connects cutting edge scientists, engineers, and doctors to writers, producers, directors, and actors in Hollywood in a free exchange of ideas to further a dialogue between the science and entertainment communities." Finally, Shannon is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Additional accomplishments are noted in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Education, Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women, Marquis’ Who’s Who in America, and Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World.

Serious Games Background:
* Nature Publishing Group, & NASA JPL -- Second Life: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Archivist_Llewellyn
* Tech@State -- http://tech.state.gov/profile/ShannonBohle

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Shannon Bohle

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