Keynote speakers

Professor Peter D Eades

Emeritus Professor
School of Computer Science, The University of Sydney, Australia

Title:
Beautiful Networks

Abstract:
Visualizations of data are sometimes regarded as artworks. This talk describes two projects that aim to render networks as art works: GDot produces dot paintings in the style of Central Australia, and
CelticGraph produces pictures of networks as Celtic knots and links. Both projects involve difficult Mathematical problems in using Bézier curves to render paths in networks as smooth curves. We describe progress toward solutions of these problems.

Bio:
Peter D. Eades is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney, known for his expertise in Graph Drawing.

Professor Michael McGuffin

Department of Software and IT Engineering
Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS), Canada

Title:
Visualization as a Key for Unlocking Quantum Computing

Abstract:
Quantum computing (QC) leverages subtle physical phenomena to achieve computational performance beyond what is classically possible. At the same time, QC's heavy use of technical jargon, and lack of visual reasoning tools, make it difficult for newcomers to join the field, while also presenting a unique opportunity for researchers in human-computer interaction and information visualization. In this talk, I show a path for computer scientists into QC, and invite you to join a very small group of researchers inventing new interactive visualizations for understanding and designing quantum algorithms. First, we will consider general heuristics for choosing a research field or topic, and strategies for learning a new field such as QC. Second, we will cover some basics of QC, including how to simulate a quantum circuit by multiplying matrices together. This provides a convenient, accessible model for nonexperts to probe paradoxes and build intuition for phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, teleportation, and quantum magic (nonstabilizerness). Third, we will survey existing circuit visualizations, and consider problems that remain to be solved, including visualization of tensor networks, an exciting tool for accelerating computations.

Bio:
Michael McGuffin is a Professor at ETS, a French-language engineering school in Montreal, Canada, where his students have done research in human-computer interaction, information visualization, virtual and augmented reality. Previously, he did his bachelor's at University of Waterloo, worked at Alias|wavefront in Toronto, Softimage and Discreet Logic in Montreal, did his PhD under Ravin Balakrishnan at University of Toronto, and a postdoc in Igor Jurisica's bioinformatics lab. Since becoming a professor at ETS, he has spent time visiting and working within Ken Hinckley's group at Microsoft Research in Seattle, Xiaoru Yuan's lab in Beijing, Jean-Daniel Fekete's Aviz lab in Paris, and Giuseppe Di Battista's group in Rome. In 2009, his paper at the IEEE Information Visualization Conference (InfoVis 2009) received an Honorable Mention. His students, coauthors and he have published research on the space efficiency of tree visualizations (work with Jean-Marc Robert), a "Generalized Plot Matrix" (with Jean-François Im and Rock Leung), and visual programming (with Christopher Fuhrman). Most recently, McGuffin has been focused on visualization applied to quantum computing, is co-teaching a course on quantum algorithms, and is helping to establish a new institute in quantum science and engineering. https://profs.etsmtl.ca/mmcguffin/