\"glue-ing together the Universe\"

Presentation Date: Friday, March 1, 2019 Location: Visual Communication Symposium, Rice University, Houston, TX Abstract: Astronomy has long been a field reliant on visualization. First, it was literal visualization—looking at the Sky. Today, though, astronomers are faced with the daunting task of understanding gigantic digital images from across the electromagnetic spectrum and contextualizing them with hugely complex physics simulations, in order to make more sense of our Universe. In this talk, I will explain how new approaches to simultaneously exploring and explaining vast data sets allow astronomers—and other scientists—to make sense of what the data have to say, and to communicate what they learn, to each other and to the public. I will focus on the multi-dimensional linked-view data visualization environment known as “glue” (glueviz.org), explaining how it is being used in astronomy, medical imaging, and geographic information sciences. I will discuss its future potential to expand into all fields where diverse but related multi-dimensional data sets can be profitably analyzed together. Toward the aim of bringing the fruits of visualization to a broader audience, I will also introduce the new “10 Questions to Ask When Creating a Visualization” website, 10QViz.org. Full program downloadable from: https://vcs.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs2036/f/VCS%202019%20program%20booklet.pdf