Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology
In Memoriam: Andrew Wade, SIAT
Andrew Wade's fellow students and friends remember him as passionate, energetic and brimming with positive energy. His colleagues and supervisors remember him for his groundbreaking contributions to his field of visual analytics. All were saddened by his passing in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, September 25, 2011.
His supervisor, Brian Fisher, passes on word about Andrew's research: "It garnered awards from IEEE VAST in the Discovery Exhibition and the VAST Challenge, and impressed Boeing enough to create a position for him. At least two other companies were competing with Boeing to try to hire him, but Boeing won out. We are still analyzing video from his pair-analytics sessions with Boeing engineers, they are probably the best examples of analytic practices we have found in our work."
Andrew Wade defended his master's thesis in August 2011 but wanted to postpone his graduation for another semester in order to fit in a co-op term in India. He was in a plane which had just taken tourists to view Mount Everest and was returning to try to land in foggy conditions. (His thesis is now available online.)
A memorial service for Andrew will be held in Vancouver at 11 am on October 8, at the UBC Botanical Gardens. All who knew Andrew are welcome to celebrate his life and honour his memory.
His degree will be awarded at the FCAT convocation ceremony on October 6 at 2:30 pm and his family will be there to accept it on his behalf.
- Thesis: Visual analytics for aviation safety: A collaborative approach to sensemaking (scroll to bottom for thesis download link)
- Maclean's obituary: "Andrew Thomas Wade: He loved Vancouver, and jogging along the seawall with his mother. But his real passion became airline safety."
- Denver Post: "Denver native Andrew Wade killed in Nepal plane crash"
- What's On Tianjin: "US tourists Andrew Wade, Natalie Neilan among 19 killed in Mt Everest jet crash"
- Rino's Soccer Club memorial page
- Visual Analytics Community remembrance page
- Facebook: A friend's memories
- SFU media release: "Posthumous degree for student killed in plane crash"
- SFU 2010 media release featuring Andrew's research: "When birds hit planes: research helps reduce bird-strike risk"
- Andrew Wade Memorial Scholarship in Visual Analytics
- Andrew's family has created an endowment to fund an annual award in his name
- The Peak, June 2012: "SFU commemorates deceased grad student"
Andrew Wade's father accepted his degree, awarded posthumously.
Lori & Ken Pollock