Commendation for Luana's Dissertation
10 October 2016
Dr Luana Micallef’s PhD thesis has been commended as a runner-up in the 2016 BCS/CHPC Distinguished Dissertation award. Her thesis Visualizing Set Relations and Cardinalities Using Venn and Euler Diagrams was supervised by Dr Peter Rodgers.
Peter, who is also Director of Research in the School of Computing, said: ‘We are delighted that Luana's excellent research in this area has been recognised. Her efforts have helped many people, and shows how novel, rigorous research can also be of general use.’
The software relating to the Thesis is in wide use, and the research paper which distils the ideas in the work has over 100 citations. You can try the software here: http://www.eulerdiagrams.org/eulerAPE/
Luana is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent.
She said: ‘I am humbled and honoured that my thesis has been commended as a runner-up. Above all, I am highly grateful for the wonderful experience and support I have received from the School of Computing at the University of Kent. With the help of my PhD supervisor, Dr Peter Rodgers, I managed to build my research network and collaborate with various outstanding researchers in Europe.
‘The School also supported me in pursuing an internship and in applying for various scholarships such as those of Google Anita Borg Memorial and Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, all of which led to enriching unforgettable experiences. Seeing my research used and referenced in highly cited scientific journals like Nature, Science and Cell or The New York Times was amazing, particularly when industry and renowned laboratories like Pacific Northwest National Laboratory expressed their interest in my work.
‘My current research in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine aims at helping clinicians determine the right treatment for a cancer patient through visualizations. Together with Dr Peter Rodgers, I also aspire to further the work in the area of set visualization, and to apply this line of work to my current research.’