Sheelagh Carpendale

Associate Member, Professor, Computing Science

Teaching & research interests

  • Data Visualization, Personal Visualization, Accessibility in Visualization, Open Data, Data Empowerment
  • Interaction Design, Sketch-Based Design
  • Human-Computer Interaction, Large Display Interaction, Interactive Technologies, Collaborative Interaction, 
  • Research Methodologies, Design Futures

Sheelagh's Biography

Sheelagh Carpendale is a Professor in the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University, where she holds the NSERC/AITF/SMART Technologies Industrial Research Chair in Interactive Technologies. Her research has been recognized through multiple awards including: IEEE Visualization Career Award; being inducted into the IEEE Visualization Academy and the ACM CHI Academy; a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair; the E.W.R. NSERC STEACIE Memorial Fellowship; a BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts Interactive Awards); an ASTech Innovations in Technology Award; two Best Supervision Awards; and the CHCCS Achievement Award, which is presented periodically to a Canadian researcher who has made a substantial contribution to the fields of computer graphics, visualization, and human-computer interaction. 

She leads the Innovations in Visualization (InnoVis) Research Group and co-directs the Interactive Experiences Lab (ixLab). Her research on information visualization, large interactive displays, and new media draws on her dual background in Computer Science (BSc. and Ph.D. Simon Fraser University) and Visual Arts (Sheridan College, School of Design and Emily Carr, College of Art). She is an internationally renowned leader in both information visualization interactive technologies. Her research focuses on information visualization, interaction design, and qualitative empirical research. By studying how people interact with information both in work and social settings, she works towards designing more natural, accessible and understandable interactive visual representations of data. She combines information visualization, visual analytics and human-computer interaction with innovative new interaction techniques to better support the everyday practices of people who are viewing, representing, and interacting with information.