ABOUT THE LAB

Consider a degree in Data Visualization. Join the Byrd Data Visualization Lab and learn how to solve the problems you want to work on.

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What is Data Visualization?

Data Visualization is an iterative process of transforming raw data into a visual representation that provides insight into what the data represents. Data visualization provides insight. Insight enables the analysis of data, informed decision making, discovery of new knowledge, and the explanation of complex data.  Insight enables storytelling through and about data.  Watch the video to the right for a more detailed description.

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What can you do as a Data Visualization Specialist?

We live in a data-rich, data-enabled world. Understanding the data visualization process affords flexibility to work in any industry, discipline, every major, every sector in society where there is data to be analyzed and visualized. If you have the interest, the motivation, the ability to think creatively and broadly, you are only limited by your imagination.

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Why is Data Visualization Important?

Data is everywhere. There is a demand for persons with data visualization skills in every discipline and industry. Having the skills to transform data into something more meaningful and the capacity to represent data in a visual way affords flexibility to go beyond being a generator and user of data to being a person who can make sense of data and present it in a visual way for broader audiences.

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What problems do you want to solve?

Data visualization is about more than just pretty pictures. Data Visualization application can be seen in many applications (that include, but is not limited to):

LAB FACILITIES & FEATURES

The Byrd Visualization Lab is a closed lab with card key access located on the third floor of Knoy Hall in Room 373, a room shared with another lab. There are 12 work workstations, each with 2-3 display monitors, that are equipped with commonly used visualization and design software. 

The Byrd Viz Lab also features:

• a  VIZIO SmartCast™ 80” Class Ultra HD display;

• 20 Raspberry Pi’s and accessories;

• a 55” 4K ultra high definition display;

• a multi-touch 65” Ideum platform table with touch technology with support for 80 touch points that is loaded with integrated PC with an Intel Quad Core i7 computer system, 16GB RAM, 512 GB hard drive, and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics card;

• a Dell PowerEdge R430/128G RAM/Xeon/12T HDD server;

• 11 Leap motion controllers;

• 10 Microsoft Kinect One sensors with PC adapter;

• a 3D projector (Epson 5030UBe) with shutter glasses;

• one Samsung HTC Vive VR system;

• one Microsoft Hololens Development Edition;

• one Swivl C Series Robot with 60-inch lightweight tripod;

• dedicated access to Purdue University’s Brown High-Performance Cluster optimized for a wide variety of highly-parallel and HPC applications;

• two 12-core Xeon Gold 6126 “Sky Lake” processors (24 cores total);

• EDR Infiniband interconnect 

MISSION

The mission of the Byrd Visualization Lab is to be a source for Visualization Capacity Building.

The Lab seeks to train students and postdoctoral fellows to be outstanding scientists and to serve as "Agents of Insight"  who utilize visualization to enable scientific discovery, engage in multi-disciplinary collaborations and foster broader participation and inclusion.

VISION

It is the vision of the Byrd Visualization Laboratory that each member develops and refines transferable, marketable skills that serve as the foundation for successful careers in fields where persons knowledgeable in data visualization are in demand -- the global workforce, industry, research and academia.

VALUES

We aim to do high quality rigorous science and publish that work in respected, scholarly places. We are excited about about the interdisciplinary topics we work on that include: uncertainty visualization (it's role and impact on reasoning in decision-making), big data, and high performance visualization. It is important that lab members learn, advance their careers and contribute to the scientific community.

GOALS

The goals of the Byrd Visualization Laboratory are to:

1.  bridge science, technology and the arts through visualization.

2. serve as a resource for expertise that will enable visualization of what's expected and discover the unexpected in large, complex data.

3. present visualizations of large data sets in non-overwhelming ways.

The Byrd Visualization Lab is comprised of outstanding undergraduate, Master, and PhD students, as well as Post-Doc's and Faculty Fellows.

Click the names or photos of students below to reach their bios to learn more about them. 

Left: Elizabeth McGuckin, Kalika Lacy, Pradeep Periasamy, Xiao Lei 
Right: Benjamin Carpenter, Qiuhan Zhang, 
Jennifer Brisco

Not Shown: Jisoo (Jay) Hwang and Wenkai (Kevin) Han

MEET THE TEAM

Post-Doc & Faculty Fellows

PhD Students

Master Students

Undergraduate Students

SROP Students

STUDENT PUBLICATIONS​

CGT 270 Students (Spring 2018)

Han, Bin (2018) "Geographic and Demographic Analysis of Claims Serving Mental Health Patients in Indiana," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316758

Mauro, Edith R. (2018) "Food Deserts and Their Effect on the Rate of Obesity," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316760

Zhang, Danielle Qiuhan (2018) "Analysis and Visualization of Environmental Causes on Automobile Accidents in Dense Traffic Float Areas," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316763

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Byrd Data Vis Lab Spring 2018 Student Researcher Scholars

OUR Scholars (CGT Undergraduates)

Williams, Ian (2018) "Identifying Contributing Factors to the Opioid Abuse in Indiana Using Visual Analytics," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 31.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316762

Dodson, Jackalyn R. (2018) "Spotting Trends in Side Effects and Drug Interactions: Data Visualization Tools Can Supplement Decision Making for Medical Prescribers," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 30.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316757

SLLC-Scholars

Martin, Dylan (2018) "Big Data Visualization: HoloLens Brings Meaningful Interaction to Lupus Medical Data," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316759

Washington, Lauren T. (2018) "Visualizing Lupus Symptom Clusters Using D3," The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research: Vol. 8, Article 33.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316761

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FUNDING FOR STUDENTS​

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National Science Foundation |  Graduate Research Fellowship

This fellowship is open to senior undergrads or first year graduate students.

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18573/nsf18573.htm