From the dot visualization, Rachel notices from the academic clusters that Harvard SEAS has a large cluster of faculty in computer science (included electrical engineering), and faculty clusters in materials science and mechanical engineering and applied physics. This is encouraging.

Through the office location dropdown she notices the faculty clusters in two buildings, Maxwell Dworkin and Pierce Hall, and makes a mental note to learn more about these locations.

From the filter dropdown menu, Rachel selects the research interest Bioinspired Robotics and Computing. She compares the ten faculty in the results, and makes note of the four faculty who are also researching artificial intelligence, Robert Wood, Cengiz Pehlevan, Demba Ba, and Radhika Nagpal. She hovers over their red grid elements and notes their web address and full lists of research interests.

Next she filters the faculty by Computer Science and notes the large number of Computer Science faculty researching artificial intelligence.

Rachel searches the list of faculty for the four faculty that caught her attention in previously, and compares their affiliations. She notices that, of the four, Robert Wood and Radhika Nagpal have affiliations with several centers and institutes. She looks to see which other faculty are also affiliated with those same centers and institutes. She has heard of the Wyss Institute and makes a note of it for future reference.

Rachel selects Computer Science from the side menu and is surprised and excited by how highly connected that academic areas is with other schools and centers at Harvard.

Rachel clicks on Robotics at Harvard and notes the four academic areas affiliated with that initiative.

Rachel selects the Robotics and Control from the filter dropdown menu. She notices that Robert Wood has published papers with both Conor Walsh and David Clarke. She clicks on the highlighted squares to see the number of papers they’ve published together, notes the words that appeared most frequently in those articles.

By selecting the dark blue color at the intersection of Robert Woods’s name she can see that this faculty member has published at least 201 papers.

Rachel uses the network diagram to explore the relationships between Robert Wood, Radhika Nagpal, Conor Walsh, and David Clark. She notices how well-connected Robert Wood is to other faculty through joint membership in initiatives as well as through joint research efforts.

She decides to apply to a PhD program at Harvard SEAS with Robert Wood as her faculty advisor! She clicks his photo and is directed to this professor’s contact information on the school website.