2025 VIS Executive Committee (VEC) Candidates
The VIS Executive Committee (VEC) oversees the planning and success of IEEE VIS. The VEC solicits bids for future VIS conferences, is involved in their planning, and evaluates how well each VIS has achieved its objectives. The VEC makes proposals for change for ratification by the VSC, and implements improvements to better meet conference objectives. It approves associated events, proposes most OC positions, and works with the OC to deliver the conference.
The VEC provides oversight and planning for the VIS conference as described in the VIS Charter.
The 2025 candidates for the VEC are:
Tim Dwyer
I am honoured and excited to be nominated for VEC. If I am elected I will work to grow the VIS conference’s international visibility, the inclusivity of its enthusiastic and diverse community, and its topic representation. I am a professor at Monash University, Australia. My first submission was to the student competition in 2004. Since then I have seen VIS grow and change in many ways, but importantly it has retained a palpable air of excitement around helping people to see (or otherwise sense) and understand complex or otherwise hidden information. It’s that excitement around its topic, and a sense of shared vision for a future that allows people to better understand the world, that drew me into this conference series and community in the first place. If memory serves, I joined the (then InfoVis) program committee around 2006 and the organising committee in 2012, with two years each of tutorials, posters, and papers chairing. In 2019, I had the privilege to be part of the VIS restructuring workshops where the conference was refreshed into its current, multitrack format. Also in 2019, our bid to host VIS in Melbourne was accepted for 2022. After the pandemic caused us to push VIS Melbourne back to 2023, my co-general chairs (MIchael and Sarah) and I became (I believe) the longest serving incoming general chairs in VIS history, with nearly three joyous years of overnight core committee calls. Brushing away doubts about whether people were willing to attend a conference so far from North America and Europe, the Melbourne conference was a strong return to form after COVID with over 800 in-person attendees with many from the Asia-Pacific region able to join for the first time. As a VEC member I would seek to further grow the VIS conference’s international reputation by reaching out to a wider audience - both geographically and topically. Internationalism is not just about taking VIS to new places. I would also strongly support ways for people who cannot travel to participate wherever they are. Inclusivity is also about making sure that as many good papers as possible, on a wide variety of topics, can be presented at VIS. Thank you again for the nomination and I hope I get the opportunity to serve this wonderful community further.
Michelle Borkin
Is my absolute honor to be nominated to serve on the VEC. IEEE VIS has been my academic home since my first conference attendance at VIS 2006 after completing my undergraduate degree. Since my first poster in 2007, I have contributed to and embraced this incredible community and conference sharing novel research results as well as helping with conference organization. As participant, I have contributed to workshops, posters, short papers, and full papers, and engaged in networking and meetups. As organizer, I have served multiple years on the OC as Short Papers Co-Chair, VisKids Co-Chair, and Inclusivity & Diversity Co-Chair. I have been a part of the papers PC and served as an external reviewer at VIS as well as other conferences including EuroVis and CHI. I have also organized panels, tutorials, and was an original co-founder and co-organizer of the Visualization for Social Good (VIS4GOOD) workshop.
I have wished to contribute to the conference through a role on the VEC since 2019 when I was invited to attend a few VEC meetings in my role as Inclusivity & Diversity Co-Chair during our process to create the first Code of Conduct and ombuds team for VIS. It was awe inspiring during the meetings to witness the passion and devotion the VEC members have for the conference, long term goals, and short term quick action to improve the conference experience. Since then I knew I wanted to some day be a part of the VEC and share my devotion and passion for the VIS conference in order to continue sustaining and nurturing it. Now as an Associate Professor at Northeastern University with the additional research and organizational experience inside and outside of VIS, I would be honored to be a part of the VEC. I would in particular be attune to the insights and recommendations from the upcoming reVISe 1.1 findings, continue to make VIS a welcoming and accessible community, advocate for open science and publishing support, listen to the VIS community, and be open minded to making changes to the conference to ensure it is sustainable and adaptable for a long future. It would be my honor to be a part of the growth and future of the conference as part of the VEC.