Hi, we're the MIT Visualization Group!

We use visualization as a petri dish to study intelligence augmentation: how can computation help amplify our cognition and creativity, while respecting our agency?

Research Themes

Visualization Authoring Tools

We develop languages and systems to make it easy for anyone to create common and custom interactive visualizations.

Latest & Greatest

GoFish: A Grammar of More Graphics!

Josh Pollock, Arvind Satyanarayan

IEEE VIS 2025

Pluto: Authoring Semantically Aligned Text and Charts for Data-Driven Communication

Arjun Srinivasan, Vidya Setlur, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM IUI 2025

Bluefish: Composing Diagrams with Declarative Relations

Josh Pollock, Catherine Mei, Grace Huang, Elliot Evans, Daniel Jackson, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM UIST 2024

Umwelt: Accessible Structured Editing of Multi-Modal Data Representations

Jonathan Zong, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM CHI 2024

Deimos: A Grammar of Dynamic Embodied Immersive Visualisation Morphs and Transitions

Benjamin Lee, Arvind Satyanarayan, Maxime Cordeil, Arnaud Prouzeau, Bernhard Jenny, Tim Dwyer

ACM CHI 2023

Interpretability & Alignment

We design metrics and interfaces for visually analyzing ML models and for discovering how they align with human expectations.

Latest & Greatest

Semantic Regexes: Auto-Interpreting LLM Features with a Structured Language

Angie Boggust, Donghao Ren, Yannick Assogba, Dominik Moritz, Arvind Satyanarayan, Fred Hohman

ICLR 2026

Abstraction Alignment: Comparing Model-Learned and Human-Encoded Conceptual Relationships

Angie Boggust, Hyemin (Helen) Bang, Hendrik Strobelt, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM CHI 2025

Toward Cultural Interpretability: A Linguistic Anthropological Framework for Describing and Evaluating Large Language Models

Graham M. Jones, Shai Satran, Arvind Satyanarayan

BD&S 2025

Explanation Alignment: Quantifying the Correctness of Model Reasoning At Scale

Hyemin (Helen) Bang, Angie Boggust, Arvind Satyanarayan

eXCV 2024

Saliency Cards: A Framework to Characterize and Compare Saliency Methods

Angie Boggust, Harini Suresh, Hendrik Strobelt, John V. Guttag, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM FAccT 2023

Cognitively Convivial Interaction

We prototype novel interaction paradigms that fluidly mix structures and semantics to offer more malleable experiences.

Latest & Greatest

Belidor: A Specification Language for Operationalizing Structural Analogies Between User Interfaces

Matt Beaudouin-Lafon, Devamardeep Hayatpur, Arvind Satyanarayan, Haijun Xia

ACM CHI 2026

Something In Between Formal Spec and Informal Representation

Ryan Yen, Josh Pollock, Caroline Berger, Arvind Satyanarayan

Tools for Thought Workshop 2025

Charting EDA: Characterizing Interactive Visualization Use in Computational Notebooks with a Mixed-Methods Formalism

Dylan Wootton, Amy Fox, Evan Peck, Arvind Satyanarayan

IEEE VIS 2024

Intelligence as Agency: Evaluating the Capacity of Generative AI to Empower or Constrain Human Action

Arvind Satyanarayan, Graham M. Jones

MIT GenAI Impact Papers 2024

Designing for Semi-formal Programming with Foundation Models

Josh Pollock, Ian Arawjo, Caroline Berger, Arvind Satyanarayan

PLATEAU 2024

Accessible Data Representations

Working with blind collaborators, we co-design non-visual data displays via alt text, screen readers, and tactile graphics.

Latest & Greatest

Benthic: Perceptually Congruent Structures for Accessible Charts and Diagrams

Catherine Mei, Josh Pollock, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan

ASSETS 2025

Tactile Vega-Lite: Rapidly Prototyping Tactile Charts with Smart Defaults

Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Arvind Satyanarayan, Jonathan Zong

ACM CHI 2025

“Customization is Key”: Reconfigurable Content Tokens for Accessible Data Visualizations

Shuli Jones, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM CHI 2024

Umwelt: Accessible Structured Editing of Multi-Modal Data Representations

Jonathan Zong, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM CHI 2024

VisText: A Benchmark for Semantically Rich Chart Captioning

Benny J. Tang, Angie Boggust, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACL 2023 · Outstanding Paper Award

Sociocultural Design

We study how visualizations and ML models function as social artifacts: signaling identities, shaping norms, and propagating misinformation.

Latest & Greatest

Quantifying Visualization Vibes: Measuring Socio-Indexicality at Scale

Amy Fox, Michelle Morgenstern, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan

IEEE VIS 2025 · Best Paper Honorable Mention

Visualization Vibes: The Socio-Indexical Function of Visualization Design

Michelle Morgenstern, Amy Fox, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan

IEEE VIS 2025

Toward Cultural Interpretability: A Linguistic Anthropological Framework for Describing and Evaluating Large Language Models

Graham M. Jones, Shai Satran, Arvind Satyanarayan

BD&S 2025

Intelligence as Agency: Evaluating the Capacity of Generative AI to Empower or Constrain Human Action

Arvind Satyanarayan, Graham M. Jones

MIT GenAI Impact Papers 2024

Viral Visualizations: How Coronavirus Skeptics Use Orthodox Data Practices to Promote Unorthodox Science Online

Crystal Lee, Tanya Yang, Gabrielle Inchoco, Graham M. Jones, Arvind Satyanarayan

ACM CHI 2021 · Best Paper Honorable Mention

News

2026-05-14

Huge congratulations to Dr. Angie Boggust for a masterful defense of her thesis on “Reconciling AI Representations and User Mental Models”

2026-04-22

Two papers this spring: Angie’s Semantic Regexes will appear at ICLR, and Matt’s Belidor will appear at CHI.

2025-08-15

It’s going to be a jam-packed Fall with Benthic at ASSETS, FabObscura at UIST, and GoFish, Visualization Vibes, and (honorable-mention-winning!) Quantifying Visualization Vibes at VIS!!

2025-07-01

Arvind was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure!).

2025-04-25

It’s a busy spring with a paper on Cultural Interpretability; Pluto at IUI; Abstraction Alignment and Tactile Vega-Lite at CHI; and an update on semi-formal programming.

2024-06-25

Huge congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Zong for presenting a terrific defense of his dissertation on “Participation and Power in Data Collection and Analysis”.

2024-05-05

It’s been a busy spring with a new white paper on agency with GenAI, and two CHI ‘24 papers on customizable accessibility and authoring multimodal data representations.

2024-03-11

Angie was named a 2024 Apple Scholars in AIML! Congrats Angie!!

2024-02-20

Arvind was named a 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Fellow

2023-06-09

Two papers this summer: Saliency Cards at ACM FAccT 2023 and VisText at ACL 2023. VisText was recognized with an Outstanding Paper Award.