Hi! I am Priya. I’m a 4th year PhD candidate in the Human Centered Design and Engineering department at the University of Washington, advised by Dr. Jason Young and Dr. Jennifer Turns.
I’m a data visualization researcher interested in the rhetorical function of data and visualizations in the spread of online propaganda. I study how open data and visualization best practices/conventions get repurposed to lend an air of objectivity to partisan narratives in social media discourse in the US. I’m also interested in critical and feminist approaches to design countervisualizations that contest or reframe partisan narratives in response to emerging propagandist visualizations.
In my Master’s research, I explored anthropographic approaches for visualizing racial demographic data to convey the diversity in lived experiences of underrepresented groups. I completed my MS in Computer Science from the University of Calgary in 2023 where I was part of the Interactions Lab and was advised by Dr.Wesley Willett in the Data Experience Lab.
I have a BA in Computer Science from Colgate University where I also worked as a data visualization designer. I am from the small island nation of Mauritius. Outside of research, you can find me reading or hanging out in the sun.