Chief Science and Technology Officer
National Security Directorate
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Title
Visualization and viability: the future of visual analysis in an era of autonomous discovery
Abstract
VIS 2024 marks twenty years since the formative workshops that led to the development of the visual analytics research agenda. Over those two decades, the visualization field has continued to refine the role for human inquiry in the process of data-driven discovery. Visualization and visual analytics are at another infection point, as AI-driven methods and the emergence of autonomous science, engineering, and operations motivate further evolution in the blending of human and machine intelligence. Realizing the impact of new visualization advances by deploying them at scale for real-world applications, especially in an era of autonomy, also requires visualization practitioners to work within a growing ecosystem of enabling digital infrastructure that includes large-scale data management, AI engineering, and continuum compute. The lessons learned from a series of visualization system deployments provide insight into future directions for the research community as it enters another era of significant change.
About the speakers
Bill Pike is the Chief Science and Technology Officer for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s National Security Directorate, where he guides organizational vision and strategy across PNNL’s security mission space. His office is responsible for establishing long-term R&D strategy and strategic partnerships across PNNL’s $800 million national security portfolio, in areas including AI and advanced analytics, nonproliferation and nuclear science, chem/bio defense, and systems engineering. He guides organizational processes for connecting geopolitical drivers, market trends, and emerging technologies to shape new investments that advance US goals in science, energy, and security.
Since joining the Laboratory in 2005, he has led basic and applied R&D programs in visual analytics for science, energy, and security. Bill was the Director of PNNL’s Computing and Analytics Division from 2014 to 2022, where he grew an R&D capability in data science, cybersecurity, and software engineering to over 550 staff. Previously, he was Technical Group Manager for Visual Analytics at PNNL and the R&D coordinator for the National Visualization and Analytics Center.