November 15, 2024
Colloquium Topic: Experiencing the Universe! A path to humanistic transformation in science
In this presentation, I will talk about perception experiments evidencing that audio helps to scrutinize data, will present examples of data analyzed, and will give recommendations to stop the harm caused by the neglect of multisensorial perception on both the sciences and human development in science.
Colloquium Speaker: Wanda Díaz Merced
Wanda Díaz Merced is from Gurabo Puerto Rico. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, writing a thesis on the use of audio to analyze astrophysical plasmas. Wanda works with different astrophysics, astroparticles, and gravitational wave phenomena using sound and other multisensorial perception methods to augment the data, simultaneously avoiding linearization and standardization. Her methods have proven to be effective in finding anisotropies in the information that otherwise would have been ignored.
Wanda collaborates with the University of Paris, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Athens, Polish Academy of Sciences, Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory (CREDO) in Poland, and the European Gravitational Observatory among others. Wanda also collaborates with the Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT) “Science in Braille” program, coordinating the magazine DISC for Diversity, Inclusion, Science, and Culture.
She has delivered speeches at the United Nations in Vienna and New York, as well as at the Office of Outer Space Affairs, advocating for equal access to information for people with disabilities. Her sonification techniques have become a key research focus at the Polish Academy of Sciences and will be highlighted at the Space and Security meeting organized by the French Embassy in the United Kingdom.
Due to her contributions to equity in science and her innovative methodologies, Wanda was listed by the BBC as one of the seven trailblazing women in science, alongside Marie Curie. She is an honorary ambassador of the Soka University of America in Japan and has been recognized by the Senate of Puerto Rico. The Gurabo Municipality dedicated the 100th anniversary of the Matías González García School to her, and she received the Estrella Luike Award and was named a Science Fellow by the American Astronomical Society. Wanda is currently affiliated with the Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Puerto Rico.