We use visualization as a petri dish to study intelligence augmentation: how can computation help amplify our cognition and creativity, while respecting our agency?
Research Themes
Visualization Authoring Tools
We develop languages and systems to make it easy for anyone to create common and custom interactive visualizations.
Latest & Greatest
GoFish: A Grammar of More Graphics!
Josh Pollock, Arvind Satyanarayan
IEEE VIS 2025
Pluto: Authoring Semantically Aligned Text and Charts for Data-Driven Communication
Arjun Srinivasan, Vidya Setlur, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM IUI 2025
Bluefish: Composing Diagrams with Declarative Relations
Josh Pollock, Catherine Mei, Grace Huang, Elliot Evans, Daniel Jackson, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM UIST 2024
Umwelt: Accessible Structured Editing of Multi-Modal Data Representations
Jonathan Zong, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM CHI 2024
Deimos: A Grammar of Dynamic Embodied Immersive Visualisation Morphs and Transitions
Benjamin Lee, Arvind Satyanarayan, Maxime Cordeil, Arnaud Prouzeau, Bernhard Jenny, Tim Dwyer
ACM CHI 2023
Cognitively Convivial Interaction
We prototype novel interaction paradigms that fluidly mix structures and semantics to offer more malleable experiences.
Latest & Greatest
Belidor: A Specification Language for Operationalizing Structural Analogies Between User Interfaces
Matt Beaudouin-Lafon, Devamardeep Hayatpur, Arvind Satyanarayan, Haijun Xia
ACM CHI 2026
Something In Between Formal Spec and Informal Representation
Ryan Yen, Josh Pollock, Caroline Berger, Arvind Satyanarayan
Tools for Thought Workshop 2025
Charting EDA: Characterizing Interactive Visualization Use in Computational Notebooks with a Mixed-Methods Formalism
Dylan Wootton, Amy Fox, Evan Peck, Arvind Satyanarayan
IEEE VIS 2024
Intelligence as Agency: Evaluating the Capacity of Generative AI to Empower or Constrain Human Action
Arvind Satyanarayan, Graham M. Jones
MIT GenAI Impact Papers 2024
Designing for Semi-formal Programming with Foundation Models
Josh Pollock, Ian Arawjo, Caroline Berger, Arvind Satyanarayan
PLATEAU 2024
Accessible Data Representations
Working with blind collaborators, we co-design non-visual data displays via alt text, screen readers, and tactile graphics.
Latest & Greatest
Pointing at Data Together: Establishing Common Ground with Multi-modal Data Representations in Blind/Sighted Collaboration
Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan
IEEE VIS 2026
Benthic: Perceptually Congruent Structures for Accessible Charts and Diagrams
Catherine Mei, Josh Pollock, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan
ASSETS 2025
Tactile Vega-Lite: Rapidly Prototyping Tactile Charts with Smart Defaults
Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Arvind Satyanarayan, Jonathan Zong
ACM CHI 2025
“Customization is Key”: Reconfigurable Content Tokens for Accessible Data Visualizations
Shuli Jones, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM CHI 2024
Umwelt: Accessible Structured Editing of Multi-Modal Data Representations
Jonathan Zong, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM CHI 2024
Sociocultural Design
We study how visualizations and ML models function as social artifacts: signaling identities, shaping norms, and propagating misinformation.
Latest & Greatest
Quantifying Visualization Vibes: Measuring Socio-Indexicality at Scale
Amy Fox, Michelle Morgenstern, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan
IEEE VIS 2025 · Best Paper Honorable Mention
Visualization Vibes: The Socio-Indexical Function of Visualization Design
Michelle Morgenstern, Amy Fox, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan
IEEE VIS 2025
Toward Cultural Interpretability: A Linguistic Anthropological Framework for Describing and Evaluating Large Language Models
Graham M. Jones, Shai Satran, Arvind Satyanarayan
BD&S 2025
Intelligence as Agency: Evaluating the Capacity of Generative AI to Empower or Constrain Human Action
Arvind Satyanarayan, Graham M. Jones
MIT GenAI Impact Papers 2024
Viral Visualizations: How Coronavirus Skeptics Use Orthodox Data Practices to Promote Unorthodox Science Online
Crystal Lee, Tanya Yang, Gabrielle Inchoco, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM CHI 2021 · Best Paper Honorable Mention
Interpretability & Alignment
We design metrics and interfaces for visually analyzing ML models and for discovering how they align with human expectations.
Latest & Greatest
Semantic Regexes: Auto-Interpreting LLM Features with a Structured Language
Angie Boggust, Donghao Ren, Yannick Assogba, Dominik Moritz, Arvind Satyanarayan, Fred Hohman
ICLR 2026
Abstraction Alignment: Comparing Model-Learned and Human-Encoded Conceptual Relationships
Angie Boggust, Hyemin (Helen) Bang, Hendrik Strobelt, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM CHI 2025
Toward Cultural Interpretability: A Linguistic Anthropological Framework for Describing and Evaluating Large Language Models
Graham M. Jones, Shai Satran, Arvind Satyanarayan
BD&S 2025
Explanation Alignment: Quantifying the Correctness of Model Reasoning At Scale
Hyemin (Helen) Bang, Angie Boggust, Arvind Satyanarayan
eXCV 2024
Saliency Cards: A Framework to Characterize and Compare Saliency Methods
Angie Boggust, Harini Suresh, Hendrik Strobelt, John V. Guttag, Arvind Satyanarayan
ACM FAccT 2023
News
2026-09-01
Arvind started his year-long sabbatical with the ex)situ team at Inria, France and was awarded an Inria International Chair
2026-07-29
Huge congratulations to Dr. Josh Pollock for delivering an evocative and expansive defense of his thesis “GOMG: A Grammar of More Graphics!”
2026-05-14
Huge congratulations to Dr. Angie Boggust for a masterful defense of her thesis on “Reconciling AI Representations and User Mental Models”
2026-04-22
Two papers this spring: Angie’s Semantic Regexes will appear at ICLR, and Matt’s Belidor will appear at CHI.
2025-08-15
It’s going to be a jam-packed Fall with Benthic at ASSETS, FabObscura at UIST, and GoFish, Visualization Vibes, and (honorable-mention-winning!) Quantifying Visualization Vibes at VIS!!
2025-07-01
Arvind was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure!).
2025-04-25
It’s a busy spring with a paper on Cultural Interpretability; Pluto at IUI; Abstraction Alignment and Tactile Vega-Lite at CHI; and an update on semi-formal programming.
2024-06-25
Huge congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Zong for presenting a terrific defense of his dissertation on “Participation and Power in Data Collection and Analysis”.
2024-05-05
It’s been a busy spring with a new white paper on agency with GenAI, and two CHI ‘24 papers on customizable accessibility and authoring multimodal data representations.
People
Gene
PhD Researcher
Yi-Hao
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ticha
Visiting PhD Researcher
Dylan
PhD Researcher
Helena
PhD Researcher
Ryan
PhD Researcher
Camelia
Visiting PhD Researcher
Racquel
Postdoctoral Researcher
Arvind
Associate Professor
Arnav
PhD Researcher
Matt
Visiting PhD Researcher
Cynthia
Administrative Assistant
Alumni
Angie Boggust
PhD Researcher
⤷ Research Scientist at Apple AIML
Vineet Pandey
Postdoctoral Researcher
⤷ Faculty at Utah CS
Amber Horvath
Postdoctoral Researcher
⤷ Faculty at UVic CS
Evan Peck
Visiting Scientist
Zoe De Simone
PhD Researcher
Josh Pollock
PhD Researcher
Daniel Hajas
Visiting Scientist
Harini Suresh
PhD Researcher
⤷ Faculty at Brown CS
Amy Fox
Postdoctoral Researcher
⤷ Faculty at UCSD CogSci
Nathalie Vladis
Postdoctoral Researcher
Crystal Lee
PhD Researcher
⤷ Faculty at MIT CMS/W
Alan Lundgard
PhD Researcher (On Leave)
⤷ UXD at Stanford Libraries
Jonathan Zong
PhD Researcher
⤷ Faculty at CU Boulder InfoSci
Caroline Berger
Visiting PhD Researcher
Matt Blanco
Undergraduate Researcher
Mateo Monterde
Undergraduate Researcher
Grace Huang
MEng Researcher
Ebenezer "EJ" Sefah
MEng Researcher
Nava Haghighi
SM Researcher
⤷ PhD Student at Stanford CS
Catherine Mei
MEng Researcher
Dhiraj Barnwal
Research Intern
Soomin Chun
Undergraduate Researcher
Siyoung Kim
Undergraduate Researcher
Tiffany Chen
Undergraduate Researcher
Shuli Jones
MEng Researcher
Houssam Kherraz
MEng Researcher
Tanya Yang
Undergraduate Researcher
Mengzhu (Katie) Chen
SM Researcher
Annie Bryan
Undergraduate Researcher
Katie Bacher
MEng Researcher
JiWoong (Joon) Jang
Research Intern
Sophia Zheng
MEng Researcher
Benny J. Tang
SM Researcher
Esther Kinyanjui
Undergraduate Researcher
Anna Arpaci-Dusseau
Undergraduate Researcher
Rupayan Neogy
MEng Researcher
Nicolás Kennedy
Research Intern
Allen Lee
Undergraduate Researcher
Wonyoung So
SM Researcher
⤷ PhD Student at MIT DUSP
Lydia Patterson
MEng Researcher
Hyemin (Helen) Bang
MEng Researcher
⤷ PhD Student at MIT CSAIL
Sovesh Mohapatra
Research Intern
Isabella Pedraza Pineros
MEng Researcher
Katherine Huang
Undergraduate Researcher
Anna Meurer
Undergraduate Researcher
Hello from Cambridge, MA!