John Stasko
Encyclopedia
John Thomas Stasko III is a Professor in and the Associate Chair of the School of Interactive Computing
in the College of Computing
at the Georgia Tech
, where he joined the faculty in 1989. He also is one of the founding members of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center
there. Stasko is best known for his extensive research in information visualization
and visual analytics
, including his earlier work in software visualization
and algorithm animation.
. As a youngster, he lived in Pennsylvania
(Lancaster
and Reading
) and south Florida
(Miami, Boca Raton, and Deerfield Beach). Stasko attended Bucknell University
and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1983. He went directly to graduate school and earned an Sc.M. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Brown University
in 1985 and 1989, respectively. His doctoral thesis, "TANGO: A Framework and System for
Algorithm Animation," is a highly cited project in the area of Software Visualization
. Stasko joined the faculty of the College of Computing
at Georgia Tech
in 1989. He and his wife Christine have three children, John IV (Tommy), Mitchell, and Audrey. Stasko is an avid golfer and was winner of the 1996 Bobby Jones Memorial Tournament
at East Lake Golf Club
in Atlanta.
, Stasko continued his research in algorithm animation and software visualization
. He was the lead editor on the 1998 MIT Press book Software Visualization: Programming as a Multimedia Experience, generally considered the lead reference for that field. Stasko also was one of the founding faculty for the GVU Center
at Georgia Tech
.
In the late 1990s, his research broadened into other areas of human-computer interaction and he developed a specific focus on information visualization
. He formed the Information Interfaces Research Group which he still directs. More recently, Stasko has been a pioneering researcher in the new field of visual analytics
, and was
a contributor to the 2005 book, Illuminating the Path, that laid out a research agenda for this field.
Stasko has published extensively in these fields, including over 125 conference papers (two Best Papers Awards), journal articles, and book chapters. His research in information visualization
spans a spectrum
from theoretical work on interaction, evaluation, and the conceptual foundations of visualization to more applied work creating new techniques and systems (such as TANGO, POLKA, SunBurst, InfoCanvas, Jigsaw) for people in a variety of domains. He was Papers Co-Chair for the IEEE Information Visualization (InfoVis) Symposium in 2005 and
2006 and for the IEEE Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) Symposium in 2009. He is currently on Steering Committee of the IEEE InfoVis Conference, the ACM Symposium on Software Visualization, and is an At Large member of the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee.
In 2007 Stasko was appointed Associate Chair of the newly created School of Interactive Computing
at Georgia Tech
. In addition to this role, he leads the Information Interfaces Research Group where he advises undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. He traditionally teaches CS 1331, an introductory object-oriented programming course and CS 7450, Information Visualization, which originated in 1999 and is one of the first courses on this topic in the world.
Georgia Institute of Technology School of Interactive Computing
The School of Interactive Computing is an academic unit located within the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology . It conducts both research and teaching activities related to interactive computing at the undergraduate and graduate levels...
in the College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing
The College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology has roots stretching back to an Information Science degree established in 1964. In 1988, Georgia Tech president John Patrick Crecine elevated the School of Information and Computer Science to become the College of Computing, making...
at the Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, where he joined the faculty in 1989. He also is one of the founding members of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center
GVU Center
The GVU Center at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary research center located near Technology Square in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded by James D. Foley, the Center's first director, on October 15, 1992. According to U.S....
there. Stasko is best known for his extensive research in information visualization
Information visualization
Information visualization is the interdisciplinary study of "the visual representation of large-scale collections of non-numerical information, such as files and lines of code in software systems, library and bibliographic databases, networks of relations on the internet, and so forth".- Overview...
and visual analytics
Visual analytics
Visual analytics is an outgrowth of the fields information visualization and scientific visualization, that focuses on analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces...
, including his earlier work in software visualization
Software visualization
Software visualization is the static or animated 2-D or 3-D visual representation of information about software systems based on their structure, size, history, or behavior....
and algorithm animation.
Early life and education
John Stasko was born on August 28, 1961 in Miami, FloridaMiami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. As a youngster, he lived in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
(Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
and Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
) and south Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(Miami, Boca Raton, and Deerfield Beach). Stasko attended Bucknell University
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1983. He went directly to graduate school and earned an Sc.M. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1985 and 1989, respectively. His doctoral thesis, "TANGO: A Framework and System for
Algorithm Animation," is a highly cited project in the area of Software Visualization
Software visualization
Software visualization is the static or animated 2-D or 3-D visual representation of information about software systems based on their structure, size, history, or behavior....
. Stasko joined the faculty of the College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing
The College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology has roots stretching back to an Information Science degree established in 1964. In 1988, Georgia Tech president John Patrick Crecine elevated the School of Information and Computer Science to become the College of Computing, making...
at Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
in 1989. He and his wife Christine have three children, John IV (Tommy), Mitchell, and Audrey. Stasko is an avid golfer and was winner of the 1996 Bobby Jones Memorial Tournament
at East Lake Golf Club
East Lake Golf Club
The East Lake Golf Club is located in the neighborhood of East Lake which is in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. East Lake Golf Club was the home club of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones. It is also the permanent home of The Tour Championship.-History:...
in Atlanta.
Professional career
Upon joining the faculty at Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, Stasko continued his research in algorithm animation and software visualization
Software visualization
Software visualization is the static or animated 2-D or 3-D visual representation of information about software systems based on their structure, size, history, or behavior....
. He was the lead editor on the 1998 MIT Press book Software Visualization: Programming as a Multimedia Experience, generally considered the lead reference for that field. Stasko also was one of the founding faculty for the GVU Center
GVU Center
The GVU Center at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary research center located near Technology Square in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded by James D. Foley, the Center's first director, on October 15, 1992. According to U.S....
at Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
.
In the late 1990s, his research broadened into other areas of human-computer interaction and he developed a specific focus on information visualization
Information visualization
Information visualization is the interdisciplinary study of "the visual representation of large-scale collections of non-numerical information, such as files and lines of code in software systems, library and bibliographic databases, networks of relations on the internet, and so forth".- Overview...
. He formed the Information Interfaces Research Group which he still directs. More recently, Stasko has been a pioneering researcher in the new field of visual analytics
Visual analytics
Visual analytics is an outgrowth of the fields information visualization and scientific visualization, that focuses on analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces...
, and was
a contributor to the 2005 book, Illuminating the Path, that laid out a research agenda for this field.
Stasko has published extensively in these fields, including over 125 conference papers (two Best Papers Awards), journal articles, and book chapters. His research in information visualization
Information visualization
Information visualization is the interdisciplinary study of "the visual representation of large-scale collections of non-numerical information, such as files and lines of code in software systems, library and bibliographic databases, networks of relations on the internet, and so forth".- Overview...
spans a spectrum
from theoretical work on interaction, evaluation, and the conceptual foundations of visualization to more applied work creating new techniques and systems (such as TANGO, POLKA, SunBurst, InfoCanvas, Jigsaw) for people in a variety of domains. He was Papers Co-Chair for the IEEE Information Visualization (InfoVis) Symposium in 2005 and
2006 and for the IEEE Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) Symposium in 2009. He is currently on Steering Committee of the IEEE InfoVis Conference, the ACM Symposium on Software Visualization, and is an At Large member of the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee.
In 2007 Stasko was appointed Associate Chair of the newly created School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology School of Interactive Computing
The School of Interactive Computing is an academic unit located within the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology . It conducts both research and teaching activities related to interactive computing at the undergraduate and graduate levels...
at Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
. In addition to this role, he leads the Information Interfaces Research Group where he advises undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. He traditionally teaches CS 1331, an introductory object-oriented programming course and CS 7450, Information Visualization, which originated in 1999 and is one of the first courses on this topic in the world.
Selected bibliography
- John Stasko, Carsten Gorg, and Zhicheng Liu, "Jigsaw: Supporting Investigative Analysis through Interactive Visualization", Information Visualization, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 2008, pp. 118–132.
- Zachary Pousman, John T. Stasko and Michael Mateas, "Casual Information Visualization: Depictions of Data in Everyday Life", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, (Paper presented at InfoVis '07), Vol. 13, No. 6, November/December 2007, pp. 1145–1152.
- Ji Soo Yi, Youn ah Kang, John T. Stasko and Julie A. Jacko, "Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, (Paper presented at InfoVis '07), Vol. 13, No. 6, November/December 2007, pp. 1224–1231.
- Zach Pousman and John Stasko, "A Taxonomy of Ambient Information Systems: Four Patterns of Design", Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI 2006), Venice, Italy, May 2006, pp. 67–74.
- Robert Amar, and John Stasko, "Knowledge Precepts for Design and Evaluation of Information Visualizations," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Vol. 11, No. 4, July/August 2005, pp. 432–442.
- John Stasko, Todd Miller, Zachary Pousman, Christopher Plaue, and Osman Ullah, "Personalized Peripheral Information Awareness through Information Art", Proceedings of UbiComp '04, Nottingham, U.K., September 2004, pp. 18–35.
- Christopher Hundhausen, Sarah Douglas, and John Stasko, "A Meta-Study of Algorithm Visualization Effectiveness", Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, Vol. 13, No. 3, June 2002, pp. 259–290.
- Stasko, John T. and Zhang, Eugene, "Focus+Context Display and Navigation Techniques for Enhancing Radial, Space-Filling Hierarchy Visualizations", Proceedings of IEEE Information Visualization 2000, Salt Lake City, UT, October 2000, pp. 57–65.
- John Stasko, John Domingue, Marc H. Brown, Marc and Blaine PriceBlaine PriceBlaine Alexander Price, is a Senior Lecturer in Computing at The Open University in the United Kingdom.Price was born in Montreal, Canada...
,(editors), Software Visualization: Programming as a Multimedia Experience, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998.
- Stasko, John T., "TANGO: A Framework and System for Algorithm Animation", IEEE Computer, Vol. 23, No. 9, September 1990, pp. 27–39.