Sabbatical 2024-2025

Third Sabbatical's A Charm

As an aging half-time academic, I figure I am down to my last professional sabbatical in life.

I believe in the intent of sabbatical, perhaps because it's been reinforced by two previous experiences. Perhaps neither so much as the definition as a noun in the Oxford dictionary suggests:

a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel, traditionally one year for every seven years worked.

nor in the luxurious perspective of this consideration found on Wikipedia:

A sabbatical is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of shmita, which is related to agriculture. According to Leviticus 25, Jews in the Land of Israel must take a year-long break from working the fields every seven years.

No. Sabbatical, to me, is aligned with my approach to education. Never did I not work a job during the pursuit of my five degrees. Usually I worked half-time but sometimes part-time and, for eight years, full-time. I believed work could be an integral part of study: as a place to apply the knowledge. This never worked better than when supported by a corporation or as an option when working a university research scientist role.

Turns out that I take overdue sabbaticals when I have worked my way up the learning curve on a job, to whereby I feel I am providing ample usefulness to a team of collaborators with the existing knowledge I apply to our shared activities. I found I could keep a half-time funding level, for working on existing activities, and spend the other half pursuing goals of a sabbatical. These aims afford me:
  • to find a new direction in which to advance the work I am currently performing.
  • to find a new area of work in which to expand my contribution.
  • to dive into new areas of knowledge where day-to-day life has suggested significance.
  • to calm a growing wanderlust that has built up since the last such period.
I have found these goals to be compatible in pursuit, and have been chewing on them for the last three years, hoping to find a best path forward for a final professional sabbatical.

Sabbatical 1 (2003-2004):

Supported by 50% FTE funding from the PRISM project at the University of Washington, which I had been working on since 1998, I focused a sabbatical on
  • a deep dive into immersion, distributed intelligence, and embodied cognition
  • in the context of mixed reality applications integrating virtual reality
  • such that I could better understand augmenting human intelligence and purpose
  • during seven months in the southern hemisphere (New Zealand and Australia) helping develop culture for a bustling, emergent, research spin-off of our Seattle-based academic lab.
Sabbatical 2 (2011-2012):

Supported by 50% FTE funding from a consultancy building websites for non-profit organizations that I started in 1995, I focused a sabbatical on
  • a deep dive into ocean awareness as coupled with climate change modeling
  • in the context of understanding earth systems modeling and the complex information science supporting the CMIP
  • such that I could competently promote the work of climate modelers and better read their publications
  • during various investigations of climate change effects upon the world's ocean in France, South Africa, Singapore, California, and Nova Scotia.
Sabbatical 3 (third times the charm 2024-2025)

Supported by 50% FTE funding from my role as a visual analyst at CENIC, I'm investigating a sabbatical agenda that takes
  • a deep dive into embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in human-coupled systems
  • in the context of understanding the contribution of artificial intelligence as a positive contributor through ideation and statistical relevance
  • such that I can better contemplate the societal effect of such systems
  • during many investigations of applied AI to personal projects, collaborations, and research publications.


Tangible Sabbatical Deliverables
  • Special Journal Issue on Art+AI for Computer Graphics & Applications (already completed)
  • Realistic science perspective for Barbara Kingsolver meets science fiction style novel:
    • AI
    • godwit physiology and ecology
    • device miniaturization
  • AI injection into middle-mile fiber routing for maximum impact to unserved areas (already in progress)
  • AI injection into geospatial analytics and visual communication
Potential Sabbatical Collaborations
  • University of Alaska (Fairbanks)
  • Alaska Sea Grant
  • RISD/Brown/URI (AI meets art and climate change)
  • 20-year Anniversary New Zealand Reunion
  • (more to come... help me here)