About the Program
The ability to understand and communicate data is an essential skill in this big data era. Data visualization specialists present complex information in an easy-to-understand format. Their efforts can help identify trends, provide important insights, illustrate impact, and enable data driven decision making. They can help highlight tumors in MRI images to track disease progression or visualize air flow over a car to assist designers in making more fuel efficient vehicles. The data visualization major at Purdue University focuses on the computer and graphics tools necessary to create accurate and meaningful visualizations for researchers, leaders, decision-makers and the general public.
To help you understand how to use data, you will learn about visualization techniques and work on design, programming, and user research skills. You will also experience firsthand the design and development process of a complex data visualization system. Data management and basic analysis skills are also important in this field. When you graduate from the program, you will be able to design effective visual representations of data based on the data’s characteristics, business needs, and the requirements of prospective users.
The coursework for this major will lead you through the spectrum of visualization topics. From learning about the basic types of data and their popular visualization forms to applying design techniques to scientific data, you will gain experience and problem solving skills that will be the foundation for your data visualization career. You will be able to combine all of your new skills in the Visualization Studio course and create a comprehensive, interactive visualization system for data analysis.
Special Features
- Prepare for a career in a field with an ongoing need for professionals who know how to present raw data in a way that does not overwhelm.
- Work with professors who are leading researchers in the area of data and scientific visualization
- Learn in small, close-knit classes that feature individualized attention
- Work with industry-standard software to gain the best hands-on experience
- Experience projects that highlight the visualization of data-rich information (InfoVis), scientific data (SciVis), biological data (BioVis), and more.
- Utilize the Polytechnic learning environment to become a career-ready graduate
The Data Visualization major is part of the Computer Graphics Technology program. The Computer Graphics Technology program is accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.
DTVS Website
Data Visualization Major Change (CODO) Requirements
Critical Course
The ♦ course is considered critical.
In alignment with the Degree Map Guidance for Indiana’s Public Colleges and Universities, published by the Commission for Higher Education (pursuant to HEA 1348-2013), a Critical Course is identified as “one that a student must be able to pass to persist and succeed in a particular major. Students who want to be nurses, for example, should know that they are expected to be proficient in courses like biology in order to be successful. These would be identified by the institutions for each degree program”.
