Harvard University Division of Continuing Education: Professional Development

Data Visualization: Conveying Information through Visual Representations

June 19-20

9 am to 5 pm at Harvard University
Early bird tuition: $1,800. Regular tuition: $2,100. See the early bird tuition deadlines.
Class size limited.

The amount and complexity of information produced in science, engineering, business, and everyday human activity is increasing at staggering rates. This program introduces you to visual representation methods and techniques that increase the understanding of complex data. Good visual interpretations of data improve comprehension, communication, and decision making.

What you will learn

  • How visual representations help in the analysis and understanding of complex data
  • How the human visual system processes and perceives images
  • How to critique visualizations and identify the design principles used to create them
  • Good design practices for visualization
  • Various visualization approaches for different data types

Topics covered

  • Design principles
  • Perception
  • Color
  • Statistical graphs
  • Maps
  • Trees and networks
  • High-dimensional data
  • Visualization tools

Who should enroll

The program is open to anyone who is interested in the visual analysis of data. Programming experience is not necessary.

Other information

You are encouraged to bring a wireless laptop.

Faculty

Hanspeter Pfister

Hanspeter Pfister is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard. His research lies at the intersection of visualization, computer graphics, and computer vision. It spans a range of topics, including scientific visualization, point-based graphics, appearance acquisition, GPU computing, and 3D displays. Pfister also offers his semester-long courses online at Harvard Extension School, where he won the Petra T. Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009.

Before joining Harvard he worked at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories as an associate director and a senior research scientist. Pfister has a PhD in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a master’s in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.

Questions?

Contact harvardprofdev@dcemail.harvard.edu.

Register now >
through June 18