ART-SCIENCE-VIS INTERSECTIONS Visualizations by Francesca Samsel The Art-Sci-Vis Lab (ASV) is a joint lab between the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and the University of Texas, Austin, and a sub-group of TACC’s larger visualization team. The lab’s ethos are rooted in the philosophy that the arts and the sciences are equally deep, rich, and significant disciplines that shape and influence modern society’s endeavors. While many projects focused on this intersection tend to weigh one discipline over the other (art installations inspired by issues in science, or scientific figures/visualizations that treat artistic practice as purely aesthetic, end-stage design work), the ASV lab is focused on the mutual, free-flowing, simultaneous benefit of both. Our research therefore considers how, for example, expertise from the arts improves the analytical practice and communicative capability of multivariate, volumetric visualizations of environmental systems, or how insight into biogeochemical processes might improve environmentally-focused public art. Toward these aims, the lab employs and collaborates across disciplines, drawing members from the arts, humanities, social sciences, computer sciences, and natural sciences. For a current list of lab contributors and collaborators, see here. The ASV Lab supports full-time researchers through the Texas Advanced Computing Center as well as students at multiple levels, including undergraduate, graduate, and postdoc. Blending Art & Science Explores how artistic languages can help people better absorb and engage with scientific challenges like climate change. This work uses creative, human‑centered approaches to make complex issues more understandable, emotional, and accessible Featured Project Bedrock Exploration of Earth’s past with immersive multimedia content View All Projects Expanding the Visual Vocabulary of Scientific Visualization Broadens the limited shapes traditionally used in science by introducing richer visual languages. This work explores new forms to represent data more expressively and meaningfully Featured Project Affective Glyphs Essential encoding tool in multi-variate datasets View All Projects Environmental Visualization As data size increases in size and complexity, visualization must keep pace. Improve visualization of environmental simulation data and to improve research in analysis and communication of environmental phenomena and Earth systems processes Featured Project Antarctic How temperatures will affect sea level rise and coastal communities View All Projects Traditional Media Making art is a process of discovery. Connections to communicate in a language that incorporates the humanistic and the cognitive speak to us all. Using analogies, metaphors, and science to address our relationships with the rest of the natural world Featured Project Migration Series A nature print capturing birds in graceful, quiet motion. View All Projects Francesca Samsel, M.F.A. Francesca Samsel, trained as an artist, focuses on multidisciplinary collaborations with visualization and climate scientists. Her work blends the languages of art and climate science in order to speak in a human voice about our rapidly changing planet. A decade ago, her artistic career morphed into a blend of artistic practice and environmental science via an artist-in-residence at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She is a regular speaker at conferences such as the AGU Fall Meeting and the IEEE Visualizations Conference, and has an extensive publication record. Sculpting Data: How HPC and Art Create the Future of Scientific Visualization Article on the work of Francesca Samsel, Greg Abram Work on expanding the vocabulary of scientific communication is partially supported by the National Science Foundation under awards IIS 1704604 and IIS 1704904. Contact Email: fsamsel@tacc.utexas.edu Tools & Software Github Links Colormoves Galaxy ABR Applets People Lab Members Science Collaborators Facilities Associated Groups & Institutions Documentation Publications Talks / Lectures
