Abstract: Modern decision-making increasingly relies on complex data, imperfect models, and limited domain expertise--yet decisions must still be made with confidence and accountability. This talk presents a research perspective on visual analytics as a bridge between data, models, and human judgment. Through three case studies spanning public-health risk analysis, multivariate scientific visualization, and causal model auditing with large language models, I will show how interactive visualization can reveal structure in high-dimensional data, support reasoning under uncertainty, and help humans critically assess both statistical and AI-generated explanations. Together, these examples illustrate how visual analytics enables users not only to explore data, but to form, challenge, and refine beliefs that underpin scientific and societal decisions.
Bio: Klaus Mueller received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from The Ohio State University in 1998. He is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University and a Senior Scientist at the Computational Science Initiative at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He currently serves as the Acting Chair of the Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Founding Chair of the Computer Science Department at SUNY Korea, where he also served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Finance for two years.
His research interests span visual analytics, explainable AI, machine learning and data science, human-centered responsible AI, fairness, belief modeling and personalized communication, virtual and augmented reality, and computational and medical imaging. Dr. Mueller received the U.S. National Science Foundation Early Career Award in 2001, the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity in 2011, and the Meritorious Service Certificate and Golden Core Award of the IEEE Computer Society in 2016. In 2018, he was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.
To date, he has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, which have been cited over 15,000 times. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences, has organized or participated in 18 tutorials, chaired the IEEE Visualization Conference in 2009, served as elected Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Visualization and Computer Graphics (VGTC) from 2012-2015, and was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics from 2019-2022. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Location: NCS 120
Bio: Klaus Mueller received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from The Ohio State University in 1998. He is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University and a Senior Scientist at the Computational Science Initiative at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He currently serves as the Acting Chair of the Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Founding Chair of the Computer Science Department at SUNY Korea, where he also served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Finance for two years.
His research interests span visual analytics, explainable AI, machine learning and data science, human-centered responsible AI, fairness, belief modeling and personalized communication, virtual and augmented reality, and computational and medical imaging. Dr. Mueller received the U.S. National Science Foundation Early Career Award in 2001, the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity in 2011, and the Meritorious Service Certificate and Golden Core Award of the IEEE Computer Society in 2016. In 2018, he was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.
To date, he has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, which have been cited over 15,000 times. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences, has organized or participated in 18 tutorials, chaired the IEEE Visualization Conference in 2009, served as elected Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Visualization and Computer Graphics (VGTC) from 2012-2015, and was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics from 2019-2022. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Location: NCS 120
Join C4E for an interactive workshop with Dr. Raju Rajan, founder of ReWild Long Island, exploring how artificial intelligence can support community-led land stewardship.
ReWild Long Island advances hands-on ecological restoration across Long Island through native planting, organic land care, water protection, composting, and waste reduction.
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 4 | 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM
Location: Wang Center, Room 301
Three-Part Agenda Breakdown:
- The Vision: ReWild's AI Tool
- The Community: Shaping the Tool Together
- The Standards: Applying Responsible AI Frameworks
Speaker: Raju Rajan is a technologist with a strong communitarian ethic. Since obtaining a PhD in Communication Networks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he has enjoyed a long career as researcher and consultant. His entrepreneurial acumen has led him to found two IT start-ups as well as a number of community groups aimed at organizing people for systemic change.
Raju is one of the founders of ReWild Long Island and currently serves as Board President. He is works with Long Island Together, a progressive collective that organizes around education, immigration and social change.
An avid gardener and amateur tree-enthusiast, Raju also owns and manages Sharadavanam, a small agroforest farm in Southern India dedicated to rewilding and permaculture.
Raju resides in Port Washington, NY with wife Sonia Arora, an educator & community organizer, and son Kabeera Singh, in college.
Please register using this form to join the discussion.
The Provost's Office is excited to invite you to join in responding to an extraordinary opportunity to enhance our academic and research capabilities in AI at Stony Brook. SUNY recently made funding available to support the creation of departments of AI and Society at its universities. Stony Brook is well-positioned to seize this opportunity to build upon our interdisciplinary strengths in AI.
The office is hosting a forum on Friday, Nov. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in Ballroom A, SAC. You are invited to attend to learn more about this opportunity and to help us generate ideas to build a compelling proposal for Stony Brook to submit to SUNY. Lunch will be provided.
Please click here to RSVP as soon as possible.
This funding will support innovation in our curriculum, allowing us to create programs that explore the social and societal impact of AI alongside the technological advancements led by researchers in engineering and scientific disciplines.
We believe we can make a significant impact through this SUNY program and look forward to your participation in this initiative.
Stony Brook University Northern California Alumni Chapter - Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation Panel
Join us for a Northern California Alumni and Friends luncheon followed by a panel discussion, celebrating the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation, moderated by Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Panel Discussion with:
Richard Bravman '78, Chief Strategy Officer, Affinity Solutions
Jalal Mahmud, PhD '08, Master Inventor, IBM Watson
Reza Raji '86, CEO, Xenio Systems
Andrew Protter, PhD '83, Chief Scientific Officer, Auansa Inc.
Moderated by:
Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Click here for more information and to register.
Join us for a Northern California Alumni and Friends luncheon followed by a panel discussion, celebrating the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation, moderated by Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Panel Discussion with:
Richard Bravman '78, Chief Strategy Officer, Affinity Solutions
Jalal Mahmud, PhD '08, Master Inventor, IBM Watson
Reza Raji '86, CEO, Xenio Systems
Andrew Protter, PhD '83, Chief Scientific Officer, Auansa Inc.
Moderated by:
Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Click here for more information and to register.
An interactive session to discover how to create ALT text tags from images and create high-impact visuals, from identification to communicating ideas with images.
Discover how to use AI to create ALT text from images as well as identify objects in your environment, and build relatable visuals for high-impact presentations. Images communicate ideas as a way to understand concepts. AI-generated images have helped allow anyone to create these.
In this session, you will
- Creating image ALT Tags
- Transform ideas into images that are visually appealing
- Identify objects from visuals
Register here.
Language shared online through social media or messaging reflects people's thoughts and emotions. Processing this data with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning can reveal mental health and psychological traits. For example, analyzing Facebook posts enables me to predict depression before it is clinically diagnosed and highlight particular symptoms. At the population level, billions of geo-tagged Tweets can be used to monitor health risk patterns, including depression and anxiety trends across communities. Beyond assessment, I'm using Large Language Models (LLMs) to improve mental health care, including training therapists and assisting with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. These applications of NLP and Al may lead to earlier and more effective interventions and improved access for underserved populations.
Speaker: Johannes Eichstaedt, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Psychology & Human-Centered Al, Stanford University
Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss what a CS PhD entails and the traits and habits that are important for success in PhD programs and future careers. While the talk is targeted to first-year PhD students, PhD students at all levels should derive from it.
Bio: Samir Das is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook
University. He is currently serving as the department chair. He is well recognized in the
community for his research in wireless networks and systems.
Location: NCS120
Bio: Samir Das is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook
University. He is currently serving as the department chair. He is well recognized in the
community for his research in wireless networks and systems.
Location: NCS120
Fall 2025, Mondays 2 to 3:20 pm, NCS 220 and Zoom link to be announced soon.
The seminar will be jointly taught by Prof. Dimitris Samaras samaras@cs.stonybrook.edu.
The overall purpose of this seminar is to bring together people with interests in Computer Vision theory and techniques and to examine current research issues. This course will be appropriate for people who already took a Computer Vision graduate course or already had research experience in Computer Vision.
To enroll in this course, you must either: (1) be in the Ph.D. program or (2) receive permission from the instructors.
Each seminar will consist of multiple short talks (around 15 minutes) by multiple students. Students can register for 1 credit for CSE656. Registered students must attend and present a minimum of 2 talks. Registered students must attend in person. Up to 3 absences will be excused. Everyone else is welcome to attend.
The seminar will be jointly taught by Prof. Dimitris Samaras samaras@cs.stonybrook.edu.
The overall purpose of this seminar is to bring together people with interests in Computer Vision theory and techniques and to examine current research issues. This course will be appropriate for people who already took a Computer Vision graduate course or already had research experience in Computer Vision.
To enroll in this course, you must either: (1) be in the Ph.D. program or (2) receive permission from the instructors.
Each seminar will consist of multiple short talks (around 15 minutes) by multiple students. Students can register for 1 credit for CSE656. Registered students must attend and present a minimum of 2 talks. Registered students must attend in person. Up to 3 absences will be excused. Everyone else is welcome to attend.