We have a growing focus on data visualization at Northeastern. The Khoury College of Computer Sciences has several professors focused on visualization research. They also support two new degree programs in Data Science. The college includes a strong team of 62 tenured and tenure-track faculty and another 55 teaching faculty, and the College plans to continue hiring. Northeastern is also now top ranked among top computer science schools in terms of publications at selective venues.

Beyond Khoury College, visualization work is being conducted across campus by faculty in Art and Design, Journalism, Politics, Engineering, and the Library. The interdisciplinary NUVis Visualization Consortium ties these researchers together, and helps foster cross-cutting studies. We have a rich tradition of working on meaningful problems in collaboration with civic, business, and global partners.

Our warm supportive community of researchers eagerly seeks women and minority students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty to promote diversity.

Faculty

Khoury College is searching more broadly for professors, teaching professors, and lecturers across all areas. See the college's open positions page for more details.

Postdoctoral Researcher

We have multiple open roles for postdocs in visualization and visual analytics with Michael Correll, Clifton Forlines, and Mahsan Nourani.

Prof. Lace Padilla has an open postdoc position in information visualization and uncertainty communication. See the job posting for more information about the role and application instructions.

Student Research

PhD Research

At Northeastern, students interested in graduate studies on visualization have several degree programs to choose from. We offer PhD programs in Computer Science, Personal Health Informatics, Network Science, and Cybersecurity. We will help guide incoming students in applying to the appropriate degree program for their interests.

(1) Prof. Lace Padilla has two open and funded PhD positions for students interested in data visualization, human perception, and cognition. More information about the roles is available on her website.

(2) We have two open and funded PhD positions located at the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine, to work with Profs Forlines, Correll, Nourani, andTory. Topics include but are not limited to: Human-AI interaction and AI explainability, uncertainty visualization, AR/VR, physiological sensing, and applications in Engineering and Biomedicine.

(3) Prof. Cody Dunne currently has two open and funded PhD positions, possibly focused on layered graph drawing / network visualization, reverse engineering software, cybersecurity and defense geospatial network visualization, supply chain visualization, SQL query visualization, temporal event sequence visualization esp. for healthcare, multidimensional data visualization, and visualization perception and cognition.

PhD students in these programs who are making acceptable progress are guaranteed at least five years of full funding. Spring PhD admission is available for exceptional students.

Undergraduate & Master's Research

We are also looking for exceptional undergraduate and master's students to work as part of dynamic teams with our graduate students and faculty. Research with us can be paid or unpaid for research experience. We hire students hourly or for co-ops.

How to Apply

We are particularly interested in candidates with strong programming proficiency, such as full stack web development experience, JavaScript, D3, WebGL, Python, and Java. Experience with user study design, perceptual psychology, and vision science is also valuable. Candidates should have strong English speaking and writing skills.

If you are interested in applying to work with us, please email us at visualization-apply@ccs.neu.edu including:

• A statement of your research interests, which of us you want to work with, and what work of ours is interesting to you;
• Your CV;
• Academic transcripts (can be unofficial);
• Test scores for students: GRE for graduate students, SAT for undergraduate, and TOEFL/IELTS if foreign; and
• Any additional materials that would help us evaluate your skills, such as your homepage, design portfolio, online demos or videos, and GitHub profile.

If we think you would be suitable research partners, we will schedule an interview with you.

The official PhD program application form is available here.