Making Decisions With Visualizations
University of Rostock, Germany
Postdoctoral Researcher in Visualization
Institute for Visual and Analytic Computing
University of Rostock
Lena Cibulski
My research activities center around the design of visualization tools that assist people in making data-informed decisions. I study how visualizations can amplify the often intangible, experiential knowledge underlying human reasoning with data and how this can benefit from computational support.
Interests
- Multivariate/Temporal Data Visualization
- Application-Driven Research
- Analytics and Decisions
- Human Factors and Cognition
Education
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PhD in Visualization, 2024
Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
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MSc in Computer Science, 2017
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
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BSc in Visual Computing, 2016
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
January 27, 2026
I am honored to win the 1st prize in the Fraunhofer ICT Dissertation Award 2025!
November 5, 2025
Best Short Paper Honorable Mention at IEEE VIS! I also contributed as a panelist and session chair!
My Research
My research blends methodologies from computer science, design, and decision theory to address challenges that arise in a variety of application areas such as engineering or life sciences. These include decision-making under conflicting objectives, parameter space exploration, domain knowledge exploitation, feature engineering for computational support, or analysis of cause-effect relationships. I am also interested in how reflections on the practice of crafting visualizations for real-world problems inform the refinement of methods for visualization research.
If you would like to work with me, please reach out! I am particularly interested in multidisciplinary discussions on human factors, methodological aspects of visualization research, and real-world applications.
Featured Publications
Visual Analysis for Multi-Attribute Choice
Lena Cibulski
This dissertation presents findings from problem-driven research that centers around the design of visualization tools to assist experts in making data-informed choices. Its theoretical, methodological, and technical contributions shape the understanding of decision-related activities on large data sets and how to support them with visualization.
Aug 2024
Revisiting PAVED: Studying Tool Adoption After Four Years
Lena Cibulski,
Thorsten May
We revisit the adoption of PAVED in the target domain after four years. Our survey reveals a small number of power-users and helps carve out factors that influence whether and how a tool is adopted in the intended work environment.
May 2024
PAVED: Pareto Front Visualization for Engineering Design
Lena Cibulski,
Hubert Mitterhofer,
Thorsten May,
Jörn Kohlhammer
We present a design study on Pareto front visualization to support engineers in applying their expertise and subjective preferences for selection of the most-preferred electric motor design. We propose PAVED, an interactive parallel coordinates visualization for exploration of multi-criteria alternatives.
Jul 2020
Recent Publications
Visual Analysis of Time-Dependent Observables in Cell Signaling Simulations
Proceedings of the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine - Short Papers, 2025
Best Short Paper Award EG VCBM 2025
Towards Understanding Decision Problems as a Goal of Visualization Design
Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference - Short Papers, 2025
Best Short Paper Honorable Mention IEEE VIS 2025
Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference - Posters, to be published, 2025
Visual Analysis for Multi-Attribute Choice
Dissertation, 2024
1st prize in Fraunhofer ICT Dissertation Award 2025
Best Dissertation in Computer Science at TU Darmstadt in 2024
VRVis Visual Computing Award Honorable Mention 2025
A User-Centered Perspective on Information Needs of Stakeholders in the Circular Economy
Proceedings of the Electronics Goes Green 2024+, 2024
Invited Talks
User Preferences in Visualization-Based Choice-Making
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Making Choices With Visualizations
TU Wien, Austria
Making Choices With Visualizations
Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria
Teaching
I engage in teaching with an integrated master course on recent advances in visualization research and its applications as well as exercise sessions for master courses on visualization, visual analytics, and data science. I also give guest lectures on selected visualization topics from time to time.
Courses
Visualization
Course 23036, Master, Spring Term 2026
Master Theses
On-Going
- B. Köse - User Interfaces for Preference Elicitation
- F. Gärtner - Interactive Cluster Manipulation for Temporal Parallel Coordinates Axes
- M. Brüggemann - Visual Analysis of Microbiome Data Using Topic Modeling
Former Students
- P. Roether-Heß - Entwicklung und Visualisierung KI-basierter Entscheidungsunterstützung für die Differenzialdiagnostik von Demenzerkrankungen
- M. Langer (TU Darmstadt) - Nutzerorientierte Entwicklung einer Visualisierung für Messdaten aus der Fahrzeugerprobung
- T. Reiner (TU Darmstadt) - Visual Inference for Modeling and Reasoning With Bayesian Networks
- S. Hainzl (TU Darmstadt) - Bridging the Domain Gap: Visual Identification of Domain-Invariant Features in Time Series
- M. Nieslony (TU Darmstadt) - Visuelle Analyse des Antriebsdegradationsverhaltens von PHEV- und BEV-Fahrzeugen im Kontext der Dauerlauferprobung
- H. Pfeifer (TU Darmstadt) - A Visual Analytics Approach to Sensor Analysis for End-of-Line Testing