Data visualization - communicating information clearly and effectively through graphical means - is the focus of a presentation by UO physics professor Greg Bothun at 4 p.m. today (Feb. 15) in room 101 of the Knight Library.

The free presentation is sponsored by the office for Research, Innovation and Graduate Education. Refreshments will be served.

“Moving forward, big data is only going to become more and more relevant to researchers from all disciplines,” Bothun said. “Finding new ways to visualize data is key to our success as a research university.”

Bothun says federal funding agencies are increasingly interested in the presentation of data and that finding new and better ways of communicating the key aspects of data is a something that can be beneficial to all researchers.

In addition to Bothun, who will offer a presentation on “The UO Strategy; Examples of Visualization,” Friday’s program features a small panel made up of the following experts:

• Kristi Potter, University of Utah — “Visualization of Uncertainty”

• Craig Rasmussen, UO College of Arts and Sciences Information Technology Support Services/Los Alamos National Labs — “The Visual Cortex Project”

• Hank Childs, Computer Information Systems and Livermore Labs — “Scientific Visualization”

Data visualization experts say effective visualizations strike a balance between form and function and - most important - manage to communicate clearly. One often-cited example is a wind map of the United States on the day after Hurricane Sandy’s arrival. It was created by a pair of Google computer scientists, using wind data from the National Digital Forecast Database.

- from UO Office of Research, Innovation and Graduate Education