PhD-ing in vis at UBC's InfoVis Lab
Hi, I'm Ryan.
I build patient-centric visualization tools that help people communicate their health data to the providers who need to understand it.
Basically, I study how visualization leverages our cognitive biases to translate messy, subjective experience into something two people can talk about.
🎓 Expecting to graduate August 2027 — and already thinking about what's next. Open to postdoc conversations.
About me
the short version
I hold a Bachelor's in Psychology from Marist College and a Master's in Social and Cognitive Psychology from NYU, where I focused on decision making.
After my studies I worked as a research assistant in two psychology labs, the DUSC Lab and the Visual Thinking Lab, before applying to PhD programs.
I was initially interested in neuroaesthetics (the neuroscience of art), but pivoted to data visualization after encountering an art installation that used visualization to explain a complex topic. I started wondering if people actually study this kind of work (they do) and began working in the visualization field.
I'm now pursuing my PhD in Computer Science at UBC, working with Tamara Munzner in the InfoVis Lab.
Research interests
what I actually work on
How patients capture, reflect on, and share their own health stories.
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Medical histories don't live in neat tables, they live in stories, feelings, and vague subjectivity.
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Personal data visualizations are mirrors. Seeing your own patterns changes the way you understand them.
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A good chart isn't a final answer, it's an opening for two people to talk about one person's experience.
My timeline
me, at a glance
- Publication
- Funding
- Award
- Service
- Teaching
- Other
- Not accepted
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Marist College — Poughkeepsie, NY
BA, Psychology · Dual minor in Communication & Business
Sep 2010 – May 2014 -
New York University — New York, NY
MA, Psychology · Focus: Cognitive & Social Psychology
2014 – 2016 -
DePaul University Social Cognition Lab — Chicago, IL
Volunteer Research Assistant · PI: Dr. Kimberly Quinn
Sep 2019 – May 2022 -
Visual Thinking Lab, Northwestern University — Evanston, IL
Volunteer Research Assistant · PI: Dr. Steven Franconeri
Feb 2020 – May 2022 -
R. Smith, W. Krenzer, K. Quinn, and P. Gomez. "The Cheerleader Effect: Replication and Extension." Psychonomic Society Annual Meeting, Virtual, Nov. 2020.
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R. Smith, A. Bellovary, and K. Quinn. "Sense of Place and Student Wellbeing: Preliminary Evidence for Impact of Liked but Not Disliked Spaces." Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, Virtual, Feb. 2021.
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R. Smith and T. Munzner. "How Do Patients Visualize Their Own Health Stories?" SeattleVis Day, Seattle, WA, May 2025.
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R. Smith, K. D. Chin, and T. Munzner. "HealthTale: A LLM-Assisted Health Story Visualization Tool." BC AI Research-to-Adoption Summit, May 2026.
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Teaching Assistant — CPSC 100: Computational Thinking
University of British Columbia · Winter 1 2022 (Sep – Dec 2022) -
Teaching Assistant — CPSC 103: Introduction to Systematic Program Design
University of British Columbia · Winter 2 2023 (Jan – Apr 2023) -
Teaching Assistant — CPSC 447: Introduction to Visualization
University of British Columbia · Winter 1 2023 (Sep – Dec 2023) -
Teaching Assistant — CPSC 447: Introduction to Visualization
University of British Columbia · Winter 2 2025 (Jan – Apr 2025) -
MITACS Grant IT38408 — a one-year, $45k grant to collaborate with industry partner Thrive Health.
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CUPE 2278 TA Union Steward — Computer Science Department, UBC
Feb 2024 – present -
Graduate Student Society Councillor — Executive Oversight Committee, UBC
Apr 2024 – present -
Computer Science Graduate Student Association
Vice President · May 2024 – May 2025 -
R. Smith. "Position Paper: Potential Areas of Bias in Visualization-as-Input Systems." In Proc. Workshop on Envisioning a Research Agenda for Input Visualization, IEEE VIS, 2025.
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MITACS Grant IT44143 — a two-year, $90k grant to collaborate with industry partner Thrive Health.
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UBC Faculty of Science Excellence in Service Award — an annual award given to two students in UBC's Faculty of Science for service and positive impact toward the Faculty's goals.
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Lecturer — COGS 303: Research Methods in Cognitive Systems
Cognitive Systems Program, UBC
Jan 2026 – May 2026 -
Computer Science Graduate Student Association
President · May 2026 – May 2027 -
CHI 2026 Submission — submitted Feb 2026; not accepted.
The work has since been broken up and redistributed into other active submissions. Details withheld pending anonymous review.
Publications
for the bean counters
Primary (first author)
- No primary publications listed yet.
Secondary
- No secondary publications listed yet.
Awards & honors
the stuff my mom brags about
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2025
UBC Faculty of Science Excellence in Service Award — an annual award given to two students in UBC's Faculty of Science for service and positive impact toward the Faculty's goals.
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2025
MITACS Accelerate Grant IT44143 — two years, $90k, with Thrive Health.
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2024
MITACS Accelerate Grant IT38408 — one year, $45k, with Thrive Health.
Teaching
how I show up in the classroom
Being a student is stressful, and memorization has limited long-term value. What matters more is whether students leave curious and motivated to keep learning, so I support teaching around flexible engagement, small-group activities, and a pass / fail / exceed evaluation structure that lowers pressure while rewarding depth.
Hobbies
what I do when I'm not PhD-ing
My hobbies range from basketball, to soccer, to hiking. I also read a lot, you can see what I'm working through and what I've thought of everything on my StoryGraph. And I play a lot of Magic: The Gathering. My pet deck, the one I keep coming back to, is my grixis ninja deck.
Get in touch
say hi