Arvind Satyanarayan

Arvind Satyanarayan is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He leads the Visualization Group, focusing on interactive data visualization and its role in augmenting human intelligence and creativity while respecting user agency. His research interests include human-computer interaction, data visualization, and interpretability of machine learning systems.145

Education and Career

• Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University (2017), where he worked under Jeffrey Heer at the Interactive Data Lab.
• M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University (2014).
• B.S. in Computer Science with Honors from the University of California, San Diego (2011).
• Prior to his role at MIT, he was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Google Brain and has co-founded Apropose, Inc., where he contributed to developing interactive visualization tools.247

Research Contributions

Satyanarayan's work has received multiple accolades, including an NSF CAREER award and best paper awards at prestigious conferences like ACM CHI and IEEE VIS. His systems have been widely adopted across various platforms, including Wikipedia and the Jupyter/Python data science communities. Notable projects include developing tools that enhance accessibility for visually impaired users by allowing them to create interactive visualizations through natural language descriptions.456

Recent Focus

His recent research emphasizes redefining how AI systems are evaluated, advocating for assessments based on their ability to act with agency rather than merely mimicking human behavior. He highlights the importance of creating AI that enhances user understanding and control over data interpretation.34

For more information about his work and publications, you can visit his personal website or his LinkedIn profile where he shares insights into his research and professional journey.