Melanie Bancilhon



PhD Candidate @ WashU

mbancilhon@wustl.edu


HTML tutorial

I’m a Computer Science PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis working with Dr. Alvitta Ottley. My thesis research is about investigating the impact of data visualization on reasoning and decision-making under uncertainty. I have a special interest in evaluating how individual differences (e.g. behavioral, cognitive) impact interactions with data. My field of expertise is at the intersection of human-computer interaction, data visualization and human-centered AI. During my PhD I have undertaken research internships at Adobe Research and IBM Research.

Prior to joining WashU, I obtained my B.A. in Computer Science at Smith College with Architecture & Design as a second major.

I will be on the job market starting Fall/ Summer 2024.



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Recipient of Inclusivity and Diversity Scholarship to attend IEEE VIS 2022

NSF Smart Health & AI Student Awardee 2020

Sigma Xi Awardee 2019

Grace Hopper Scholar 2018
Conference Organizing

Student Committee Member, IEEE Visualization for Communication (VisComm), 2022

Student Committee Member, IEEE Visualization for Communication (VisComm), 2021


Conference Reviewing

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2023

ACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), 2023

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023

IEEE Visualization for Communication (VisComm), 2022

IEEE Visualization Conference, 2022

IEEE Visualization for Communication (VisComm), 2020

European Creative Industry Summit (ECIS), 2020


Guest Lectures

Visualization Design Studio @ Columbia School of Nursing, 2022

Visualization for Decision-Making @ WPI, 2021


Mentorship & University Service

Student Mentor for the WashU First Gen Program, 2021 - 2023

Graduate Student Senator, 2020 - 2023

WashU representative and mentor at the Tapia Conference, 2022

DataKind Reviewer for the data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge, 2020


Etc.