Mara Ocie Kaisa Solen

I am a PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia (UBC) working with Professor Tamara Munzner as part of InfoVis Group.

My research interests focus on how people visually communicate data and information in engaging, artistic, and informative ways. My interests have lead to work in smaller, more local areas such as museums and fitness groups, but I'm also interested in national and global issues such as politics, public transit, and the environment.

I completed my B.Sc. in Honours Computer Science with Distinction at UBC in 2021.

Research

Conference/Journal Papers

Visitor engagement with a digital science museum exhibit about Earth’s history and the geologic time scale: Implications for research methods and exhibit design. Laura Lukes, Nigar Sultana, Mara Solen, Tamara Munzner. Journal of Geoscience Education. 2025. Available on T&F Online.
DeLVE into Earth’s Past: A Visualization-Based Exhibit Deployed Across Multiple Museum Contexts. Mara Solen, Nigar Sultana, Laura Lukes, Tamara Munzner. TVCG, proc. VIS 2024. Available on IEEE Xplore, arxiv.

Workshop Papers

Scoping the Future of Visualization Literacy: A Review. Mara Solen. VisComm at VIS 2022. Available on OSF.

Posters

Preliminary Results from an Observational Visitor Study of a Digital Geologic Time Exhibit in a Science Museum. Nigar Sultana, Laura Lukes, Mara Solen, Tamara Munzner. Geological Society of America Connects 2023. Abstract available on GSA Connects.

Teaching

CPSC 447 (prev: CPSC 436V). Teaching Assistant. January 2022 - (ongoing).

UBC Computer Based Testing Facility. Proctor and Coordinator. September 2022 - October 2024.

CPSC 547. Teaching Assistant. September 2022 - December 2022.

UBC Extended Learning: Foundations of Software Development. Course Facilitator. April 2021 - December 2022.

CPSC 110. Teaching Assistant then Lead Teaching Assistant. September 2017 - December 2021.

CPSC 210. Teaching Assistant. July 2020 - August 2020.

Industry Employment

Tableau. Software Engineer Intern. June 2021 - August 2021.

Activision. Software Engineer Intern. May 2019 - July 2019.

Intel. Firmware Engineer Intern. January 2018 - August 2018.

Awards, Grants, and Scholarships

UBC STAIR Grant. $20,000 of stipend funding, plus $5,000 of project funds. June 2022.

British Columbia Graduate Scholarship. $17,500. May 2022.

Best CPSC 554K Student Project Award. May 2022.

Bill Aiello Award. $3050. May 2021. Article.

Designs

Selected designs from my portfolio. See all of my designs here!

Travel Pics

Designer: Mara Solen

Some data and pics from my recent solo travel trip to attend EuroVis in Luxembourg, as well as some personal travel in Toronto, Amsterdam, and Oslo!

Check out the page here and the open-source repository here!

Steam Stats

Designer: Mara Solen

This time I'm looking at and reflecting on the games I've played on Steam over the years!

Check out the page here and the open-source repository here!

Rumble Boxing Stats

Designer: Mara Solen

I made a blog post/visualization of some boxing data I pulled from my calendar and my smart watch that covers dates/times of classes, instructors, and health stats.

Check out the page here and the open-source repository here!

The 99 B-Line

Designer: Mara Solen

As part of some personal reflection on my time living in Vancouver, I made a visualization of the 99 B-Line's route and stop changes over time.

Check out the page here and the open-source repository here!

DeLVE: Deep-time Literacy Visualization Exhibit

Designers: Mara Solen, Nigar Sultana, Laura Lukes, Tamara Munzner

DeLVE is a visualization system designed for use as a museum exhibit. It visualizes data from past events on different scales with the intention of helping museum visitors improve their proportional reasoning skills.

See the live demo here, the open-source repository here, and the associated paper here!

Personal

I have a cat whom I very occasionally take outside. I like boxing, playing soccer and volleyball, watching animated movies and shows, and cooking. I have lots of tattoos and like to change my hair colour every few months.