Information visualization is a powerful means for understanding data and informing human minds. As people begin to rely on visualizations to make high-impact and even life-critical decisions, there is a growing need to ensure that information can be perceived accurately and precisely.

My research addresses these challenges by leveraging cognitive and perceptual principles to quantify and model user performance with visualizations. Results from these projects have led to visualization design guidelines in domains such as cyber security and health-risk communication, as well as a better understanding of what makes visualizations effective. My current research expands on these findings by creating systems that integrate models of user abilities to better optimize visualization design and behavior. I’m also interested in human-computer interaction and visual analytics in general.

At WPI I’m teaching courses in data visualization and web programming. It’s fun to see students apply what they’ve learned towards creative solutions involving social issues and problems in their own scientific domains.