Alvitta Ottley earned her doctoral degree in computer science from Tufts University in 2016 with her thesis entitled “Toward Personalized Visualizations”. She received a MS in Computer Science from Tufts University, and BS in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Currently she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA where she heads the Visual Data Analysis Group. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Alvitta Ottley’s research centers on what we can learn about individual users and how to effectively use that learning to better support people in data analysis. She uses a broad range of methods from a variety of fields to understand how best to visualize data for decision making contexts, as well as to develop innovative new visual analysis tools that are designed around how people think. Her work has made significant contributions to our understanding of individual characteristics of people that are relevant for data analysis, and how we might translate that knowledge into more effective tools.
Alvitta Ottley has a strong publication record in the top venues for visualization research, including EuroVis, IEEE VIS, and ACM CHI. Her publications are well-cited, particularly those that present ground-breaking work on individual differences. She has received several honorable mentions for best paper awards at both EuroVis and CHI, attesting to the high-quality and impact of her work. Her publications that consider how to bring machine learning, visualization, and people together in complementary ways is timely and important.
Through service to the visualization community Alvitta Ottley has also made an impact on the field. In particular, she has served in several organizing committee roles that have directly supported, encouraged, and impacted new and junior visualization researchers, such as IEEE VIS Diversity and Inclusion co-chair, as well as the Doctoral Consortium chair for ACM TAPIA.
EuroVis is pleased to recognize Alvitta Ottley with the EuroVIs Young Researcher Award 2022 In recognition of her outstanding contributions to intelligent visualization systems with exemplary foundations and techniques based on individual differences and cognitive models.