Arnav Mardia is a 4th-year Computer Science major studying geographic visualizations and social networks with Dr. Clio Andris. 

How long have you been an undergraduate researcher at Georgia Tech?

I began my research journey in Spring 2024 with the Friendly Cities Lab.

How did you get involved with undergraduate research?

I came across different research labs and groups while looking at CS Junior Design options. When I got to campus, I always wanted to be involved with some form of research group. I felt it would be a great extension to what I would learn through coursework and help me explore various fields that stretch beyond what I’d learn in class. I started reaching out to various professors and groups that were working on projects and research questions that seemed interesting to me. I eventually stumbled on the Friendly Cities Lab and reached out to Dr. Andris.

What are you working on?

Our lab is an interdisciplinary research group within the School of City and Regional Planning and the School of Interactive Computing. We focus on research questions relating to geographic information systems and spatial social networks. Specifically, I work on geovisualizations and node placement techniques. I recently co-authored a short paper titled “The Senators Problem: A Design Space of Node Placement Methods for Geospatial Network Visualization” which was published to the conference on Spatial Information Theory.

What is your favorite thing about research/researching?

My favorite aspect of research is the open-endedness of the research questions we explore. I often find myself in a spot where there is not much of an obvious direction to move towards. Although frustrating, it’s the most enjoyable and rewarding part of research. You try to go down multiple rabbit holes, learning so much more in the process about your initial questions. This further strengthens your understanding of the matter at hand, enabling you to write a well-rounded paper or argument about your findings.

What are your future plans and how has research influenced them?

I plan on doing the BS/MS in Computer Science and continue to work at the Friendly Cities Lab until the end of my masters. Post-graduation, I hope to be a research engineer at a startup/research focused company.