This is the website for Hyperspectral Imaging in Chile, a program of the Dialogues of Civilization Program at Northeastern University. Our goals for this summer are (1) to study hyperspectral imaging along with students and faculty at the Universidad de los Andes, in Santiago, Chile. for 4SH of credit as a Technical Elective, (2) to study Chlean Culture for 4SH of credit as a humanities elective (A Humanities Level 1 Core Coure), and (3) to have the experience of living for five weeks in Santiago and interacting with engineers and others in that city.

(26 June 2015) Thanks to everyone for participating in the program. Northeastern students' grades have been posted on the Banner system for the technical courrse. Grades for the culture course will be posted when they are received from UANDES. Grades for UANDES students have been submitted to Dean Anguita. He will have them posted before the grade deadline at UANDES.

It has been a great pleasure working with all of you, and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

We are thinking of a trip to the Parque Natural Aguas de Ramon, leaving the Ibis Manquehue Norte around 11:30 Saturday. Let me know if yu are interested.

(23 June 2015) NU students: We have a van leaving from the Hotel Ibis lobby Saturday at 5:15 PM to take us to the airport. You may store your bags in the hotel's storage room during the day if you like.

(15 June 2015) See Lecture 11 Code
for the code snippets and script that I used in class today.

(14 June 2015) There was a small error in xyz2rgb, in that it not behave as expected with a zero xyz. Specifically xyz2rgb([0,0,0]') returned the convesion matrix rather than the expected [0,0,0]'. I fixed it and reposted.

(10 June 2015) In the announcement below I mentioned the file xyz2rgb.m in ColorVision directory here and below. I did put it up but I forgot to update the index file and make the xyz2rgb.m file readable to all. I've corrected that and you should be able to download it now.

(9 June 2015) Three notes:

(1) In the ColorVision directory here and below, xyz2rgb.m was missing. I just added it. Download that file and the rest should work. Note that there is also a xyz2rgb.m file available at the Mathworks site; http://www.mathworks.com/help/images/ref/xyz2rgb.html. This one should work in the same way, but may give different colors as it may not assume the same three R,G,B primaries that I did. Note that the Matlab function is part of the Image Processing Toolbox in Matlab version R2015a. I am running R2014a, and it appears not to be part of that distribution.

(2) If you use hsi4 to display the data cube that Ali prepared for HW2, you may have trouble moving in wavelength with the mouse. If so, try using hsi4(data,lambda*1000,550). Multiplying wavelength by 1000 will display the wavelength in nanometers. There is a bug in hsi4 that occurs when the wavelengths are less than 1, and Ali used microns. Until I can figure out how to fix the bug, this simple change will work.

(3) Make sure you read the email from Camila about the Valpariso trip on Friday. The bus will leave on schedule, so let's all plan to get to the bus station 30 minutes early (at 8:20 for an 8:50 bus), just in case the Metro misbehaves.

(8 June 2015) Homework 2 was sent by email and is posted above. There's a 50M data cube with it. We're going to Valpariso on Friday and Camilia will send the details. The Sewall mining town trip is being planned (trying to arrange some tours, etc.) and she will let us know by the end of the week.

(2 June 2015) Here is a file of the Matlab code I used in class today to look at the image from Muncie, Indiana. I recommend you look at the file sizes before you download the data sets. Make sure you have the bandwidth to get them in a reasonable time. By the way, Romina and Jaime were talking after class about the dark spots. I went back and looked and they are only about half the brightness of the maximum. If I'd made the colorbar go to zero, we probably would not have seen them at all.

(1 June 2015) The material from today's lecture can be downloaded from the ColorVision directory on this site. For one-click operation, just get the .zip file which contains the others. I've included them in case you don't have the unzip utility.

(31 May 2015) We leave Hotel Ibis, 165 O'Connell at 11:00AM for el Dia Del Patrimonio. We'll take the Metro to Baquedano and walk in that area.

(28 May 2015) Dinner tonight is at Domin\'o, Isidora Goyenechea #2930 at 8:00. Best Metro stop is El Golf.

27 May 2015) Homeworks 1 and the required image are posted here. As Ali mentioned in an email, use BASF64 as the glass for the prism in Problem 3.

(23 May 2015) I trust that everyone has made it to their homes for the next five weeks. As I mentioned at the airport, I'm going to invite you to come to lunch at our hotel tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00PM, or 13:00 as they prefer here. This is completely optional; if you already have plans with your host family, that is fine. I just thought that some of you might like to get together for a little while. The hotel is the Ibis, at Calle O'Connell 165, a short walk from the Manquehue Metro Station. I am now able to receive texts on my Chilean phone and my American one, and maybe voice on the Chilean one. I will send the Chilean number by email.

(21 May 2015) I will be on campus Friday morning. I anticipate leaving my office, 216 Lake Hall, at 2:00PM to take the subway to the airport. If you would like to join me, send me an email, and meet at my office shortly before 2:00.

(20 May 2015) Departure Info: Our flight, AA1086, departs at 5:05PM. See travelplans.txt for the complete list of flights. We should be at the airport no later than 3:00. Please get your own ticket, check your bag if necessary, and proceed to the gate. Be sure you have my mobile number to text me in case there is any confusion.

Communication: While we are in Chile I have unlimited text messaging in both directions from US phones. On Saturday I will get a Chilean number for local texting and email it to everyone. I will also be checking email regularly.

Office Hours: I'm available to meet with you at any time to discuss anything relating to the program. Ali and I will be at the Hotel Ibis located at Calle O Connell 165, near Manquehue Station on Metro Line 1. Email or text at any time to meet with me. Once the program starts, we will set up a regular schedule and locations for office hours and extra help sessions.

T-Shirts: I have program T-shirts for everyone, which I will distribute when we arrive in Santiago.

Sunday: In the evening, we have a housing meeting scheduled. Your host family will take you to the meeting. Ali and I will also attend. I will probably also plan an optional meal and get-together sometime mid-day on Sunday. I'll send email and post the information here.

Monday Morning: We've got a detailed agenda for the program. On Monday morning, we'll be met at the gate of the Universidad at 8:30AM. Here is a map. Look for the red arrow on the photo on the second page for the meeting place. Be sure to allow plenty of time for travel. Transit is crowded in Santiago and may not be as fast as it is in Boston. Your host family will be able to give you some advice on how long it will take. Bring these two documents with you for reference during the program.

(11 May 2015) I've updated the travel plans. There was an error in the first flight number and some of the times have changed by a few minutes. Also if you checked the travel site at myneu.edu, you may have noticed that the BOS-MIA flight was listed as overnight. That was a data entry error on my part. I'm starting to get more information from UANDES, and Ali and I are making final plans for the Hyperspectral Imaging course. There will be a large group of Chilean students joining us, and I'm looking forward to getting started in less than two weeks. Here's the weather forecast. Remember these are in Celsius (Multiply by 9/5 and add 32 for F). It looks comfortable now, but remember it's going to get a little bit colder over the duration of our trip.

(7 May 2015) I believe you have alredy heard from UAndes about your host families. They will meet you at the airport and take you to their homes. Above, I have posted a tentative syllabus for the hyperspectral imaging course and a calendar for the overall program.

If you haven't done so, please send a picture of your passport face page.

(31 March 2015) Notes from the predeparture meeting are posted below, along with the beginnings of a packing list and the Arrival Guide provide by UANDES.

(18 March 2015) Pre-departure meeting: 31 March, 8-9PM in 212 Lake. For a traditional Chilean drink, see http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/03/17/393355841/tea-tuesdays-south-america-runs-on-yerba-mate

(18 Dec 2014) The Application Site is now open. Applications will close in mid-to-late January. Our travel information is posted here.

Course Materials:
ColorVision Matlab files.
Black Body Radiation Matlab files.
Reading related to the course.
Hemoglobin Spectra in a graph.
Lecture 11 Code

Getting Around. The subway: Metro website. and Metro map. The campus is to the east of Los Domincos Station on the Linea 1 (Red Line). There is bus service (C02 "micro") from Los Dominicos and limited shuttle service from Hernando de Magallanes subway station. For schedules, check: http://www.uandes.cl/vida-universitaria/servicios-estudiantiles-locomocion.html We'll have a guide at the airport to help with transportation when we arrive.
The campus: Universidad de los Andes.

Facts and Figures about UANDES.

Notes from pre-departure meeting

Packing List (Work in Progress)

Arrival Guide prepared by UANDES.

Matlab help: Note that there is a Matlab TA available to help with any Matlab problems. Check https://gazette.coe.neu.edu/?q=content/mathworks-ta-office-hours-spring-2014 for hours.

ABOUT THE BACKGROUND: My favorite winter passtime is skiing. I put this background together from a detail of a photograph taken at Park City, in 2003. There are four copies in different orientations so that the tracks (and more importantly, the brightness levels) line up as the pattern repeats.