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Ontologies: from Engineering to Philosophy

My research goes from ontology-driven information systems (how we use the semantic models called computational ontologies to create information systems) to fundamental ontology in the philosophical sense (the basic foundation of all the sciences). I am especially interested in ontologies of the environment. Based on the hermeneutics philosophy developed by Heidegger and Gadamer, I go back and forth between Philosophy and ontology engineering.

 

Using ontology as the main theme, my research spans three areas:
- Information Science
- Information Systems
- Geographic Information Science

 

 

 

 

Use Google Scholar to see some of my papers.

 

Biographical Information

 

Frederico Fonseca is an Associate Professor at IST, the College of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University. He earned his Ph.D. (2001) from the Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering at the University of Maine. His thesis Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems covered the area of GIS interoperability. His research provides a theoretical basis for semantic interoperability, which is a necessary foundation for a working, interoperating environment. With his focus on system design, Fonseca demonstrates how complicated processes can be integrated to the benefit of users. His newly developed concept of ontology-based GIS is highly interdisciplinary as it brings together various research methods from artificial intelligence, software engineering, and GIS.

Fred Fonseca - Associate Professor

College of Information Sciences and Technology - Penn State University


Information Science

Information Systems

Geographic Information Science

2006 NCSA Summer Fellowship

 

I am the recipient of the 2006 NCSA summer fellowship at The National Center for Supercomputing Applications NCSA , University of Illinois with the project An Ontology-Driven Model for the Efficient Use of Provenance Information.

2006 UCGIS Research Award

 

I was deeply honored in receiving the 2006 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Research Award for my work on ontologies in GIS.

Teaching and Learning Award

 

I was honored in 2005 with the George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award

 

 

Research Statement


Three words define my research: ontologies, environment, and integration. My basic work is on ontology engineering, which is the construction of ontologies, of how people understand and represent their knowledge about a subject. I also use philosophy to drive my research on ontologies. I use Hermeneutics as developed by Heidegger and Gadamer.

 

My preferred subject for ontologies is the environment, .i.e, ontologies that describe our scientific understanding of how the environment works. Once we have different representations of the understanding of different people I am interested in how to integrate these different views. The integration of different ontologies will lead to a better understanding among different communities. The result of the integration can be used in different enterprises such as creating better public policies and enhance knowledge sharing among different nations of the planet.

The main objectives of my current research are:

  • Performing an empirical study of how different communities conceptualize and categorize scientific information about the environment;
  • Creating multiple ontologies about the environment;
  • Designing computational models to specify, represent, visualize, access, compare and share multiple ontologies of scientific information.

 

 

Publications


Ph.D. Thesis

Refereed Journals

Refereed Conferences

Book Chapters

Non-Refereed Conferences

 

 

Curriculum Vitae


Education

  • 2001
    Ph.D. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering at the University of Maine.
  • 1997
    Master's of Public Administration and Computer Science from the Government School of the Joao Pinheiro Foundation, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  • 1978
    B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  • 1977
    Advanced Degree in Data Processing Technology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Professional Experience

  • 2007 - present
    Associate Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology – Penn State University
  • 2001 - 2006
    Assistant Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology – Penn State University
  • 2001
    Joint Researcher at National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of Maine. Funded by a NASA/EPSCoRGrant.
  • 1998 - 2001
    Graduate research assistant at National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of Maine.
  • 1988 - 1998
    Senior system analyst/ GIS analyst at Prodabel, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • 1989
    Assistant Professor - Programming Systems –Computer Science - Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  • 1980 - 1988
    Consultant in Information Systems.
  • 1977 - 1979
    System analyst at Federal University of Minas Gerais Data Processing Center, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • 1977
    Teacher - Algol programming language – Summer Course- Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Honors & Awards

  • 2006
    2006 UCGIS Research Award
  • 2005
    The George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award
  • 2000
    NASA/EPSCoRGrant
  • 2000
    University of Maine College of Engineering Graduate Research Assistant of the Year
  • 1999
    ESRI/IGIF Student Scholarship Award
  • 1975
    IBM scholarship for the best student of the semester

 

 

Students / Visitors


Ph.D. Students

Visiting Scholars

If you are interested in my research projects please send me an email.

Admissions information can be obtained on Prospective Graduate Students.

 

 

Courses


FALL

  • IST240 - Introduction to Computer Languages
    This course provides an introduction to computer languages including the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history, evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to include modeling and design languages for information systems specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup languages, and others.

SPRING

  • IST503 - Introduction to IST Research
    This course is a study of major methodological, normative, and theoretical issues in the philosophy of science related to research in information science and technology. A significant part of this course will involve coordinating issues and problems customarily associated with the philosophy of science in general with current research in information science and technology (IST) in particular. In order to achieve this coordination, the study of classical texts in the philosophy of science will be interspersed at appropriate places with lectures and topics that exhibit relevant faculty research in various IST related disciplines.
  • IST240 - Introduction to Computer Languages
    This course provides an introduction to computer languages including the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history, evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to include modeling and design languages for information systems specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup languages, and others.

 

 

Projects


ITR:(GEO/SBE) Ontologies in Action: An Information Architecture to Support Investigation of Linked Health-Environment Interactions

with Mark Gahegan

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Amount: $299,994

Summary: An information architecture to support investigation of linked Health-Environment Interaction using ConceptVISTA, an ontology creation and visualization tool developed by researchers at the GeoVISTA Center, that allows users to define and link concepts and resources pertaining to a conceptual domain. Users can add and view additional information related to concepts and resources. ConceptVISTA stores ontologies in the Web Ontology Language (OWL) format and can import outside ontologies. ConceptVISTA provides users with a useful set of ontology management functions.

 

 

Editorial


Guest Editor

  • Transactions in GIS (2007)

Chair

  • GeoS 2007
  • GeoInfo (2005)

Program Committee

  • Geos 2005 International conference on Geospatial Semantics
  • SSTD 05 - 9th International Symposium on Spatial and Temporal Databases
  • 2006 First Workshop on Ontologies and Metamodels in Software Engineering

 

 

Honors & Awards


2006

2006 UCGIS Research Award.

2005

The George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award.

2000

NASA/EPSCoR Fellowship.

2000

University of Maine College of Engineering Graduate Research Assistant of the Year.

1999

ESRI/IGIF Student Scholarship Award.

1975

IBM scholarship for the best student of the semester.

 

 

Affiliations


I am associated with the following centers:

Center for Information Society
GeoVista Center

 

I work with the following professors:

 

 

Contact


Fred Fonseca

 

College of Information Sciences and Technology

The Pennsylvania State University

307E IST Building

University Park, PA - U.S.A.

16802-6823

Phone: (814) 865-6460

Fax: (814) 865-6426

fredfonseca@ist.psu.edu

 

 

Copyright © 2007 - Frederico Fonseca
nt.