[VanBUG] Next VanBUG Talk: Dr. Tamara Munzner Oct 8th 2015‏

Dear VanBUGger,

Following our successful season opener (sorry we ran out of pizza, but I trust everyone had at least a slice or two), Dr. Tamara Munzner from UBC Dept of Computer Science will give a talk titled “Visualization Analysis and Design for Biology” on October 8th, 2015 at 6pm.

Abstract:
Computer-based visualization systems provide visual representations of datasets designed to help people carry out tasks more effectively. They are suitable when there is a need to augment human capabilities rather than replace people with computational decision-making methods. Visualization usage can be analyzed in terms of why the user needs it, what data is shown, and how the idiom is designed. I will discuss this framework for analyzing the design of visualization systems and analyze a range of biology visualization applications through this lens.

Bio:
Tamara Munzner is a professor at the University of British Columbia Department of Computer Science, and holds a PhD from Stanford. She has been active in visualization research since 1991 and has published over sixty papers and book chapters. Her book Visualization Analysis and Design appeared in 2014. She co-chaired InfoVis in 2003 and 2004, co-chaired EuroVis in 2009 and 2010, and is chair of the VIS Executive Committee. She has worked on visualization projects in a broad range of application domains, including genomics, evolutionary biology, geometric topology, computational linguistics, large-scale system administration, web log analysis, and journalism.

Our introductory speaker is Bhav Dhillon, PhD student in Dr. Fiona Brinkman’s lab.  The title of her talk is “Exploring the Evolution of Antimicrobial Resistance using IslandViewer 3”.