About Me

Hi, I’m Arran Zeyu Wang, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, advised by Prof. David Gotz in the VACLab and Prof. Danielle Albers Szafir in the VisuaLab. Prior to that, I was a Data Visualization Engineer at Ant Group. I received my M.Sc. and B.Eng. degrees from Shandong University, China.

My research interest includes information visualization, perception/cognition, and visual analytics. I’m interested in exploring how people understand data from visualizations to build accessible, intelligent, and empirically grounded tools for easier exploratory data analysis and decision-making.

🎖 Honors and Awards

  • Best Paper Honorable Mention, ACM CHI 2026.
  • Best Paper Honorable Mention, IEEE VIS 2025.
  • Best Paper Honorable Mention, IEEE VIS 2024.
  • Best Short Paper, EuroVis 2024.

📝 Research (see for details)

Exploring and supporting people doing causal inferences with visualization and exploratory data analysis, e.g.:

  • Contextualization or Rationalization? The Effect of Causal Priors on Data Visualization Interpretation
    A. Z. Wang, D. Borland, and D. Gotz.
    IEEE Trans. Visualization & Comp. Graphics, 2026.
  • Beyond Correlation: Incorporating Counterfactual Guidance to Better Support Exploratory Visual Analysis
    A. Z. Wang, D. Borland, and D. Gotz.
    IEEE Trans. Visualization & Comp. Graphics (Proc. VIS 2024), 2025.
    Best Paper Honorable Mention 🏅

Assessing and boosting perception, cognition, and comprehension of people viewing visualized data, e.g.:

  • Redundant is Not Redundant: Automating Efficient Categorical Palettes Design Unifying Color & Shape Encodings with CatPAW
    C. Tseng, A. Z. Wang, G. J. Quadri, and D. Albers Szafir.
    ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2026.
    Best Paper Honorable Mention 🏅

  • Characterizing Visualization Perception with Psychological Phenomena: Uncovering the Role of Subitizing in Data Visualization
    A. Z. Wang, G. J. Quadri, M. Zhu, C. Tseng, and D. Albers Szafir.
    IEEE Trans. Visualization & Comp. Graphics (Proc. VIS 2025), 2026.
    Best Paper Honorable Mention 🏅

Understanding and creating accessible data presentations for neural and visual divergent individuals:

  • Programmers Who Use Screen Readers in the Vibe Coding Era: Adaptation, Empowerment, and New Accessibility Landscape
    N. Chen, L. K. Qiu, A. Z. Wang, Z. Wang, and Y. Yang.
    ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2026.

  • Our Stories, Our Data: Co-designing Visualizations with People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
    K. Wu, G. J. Quadri, A. Z. Wang, D. K. Osei-Tutu, E. Peterson, V. Koushik, and D. Albers Szafir.
    ACM SIGACCESS Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS), 2024.

💬 Invited Talk

  • 2024.11, Understanding and Supporting Visual Causal Inference Using Counterfactuals
    CIRG Seminar, Department of Epidemiology, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
    Hosted by Prof. Daniel Westreich