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Tableau Software named Abeeshan Selvabaskaran one of the top three winners in their inaugural 2020 data visualization competition for students, Iron Viz: Student Edition. Tableau made the announcement January 19.
A first year student in the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications at the University of Toronto, Selvabaskaran’s winning visualization Mapping Extinction with Climate Change depicts the relationship between human activity and endangered species.
He created the interactive visualization in Tableau, an interactive software toolkit used for data analytics and visualization.
Selvabaskaran’s piece allows the user to interact with the effect of anthropogenic impacts such as climate change and habitat destruction on different classes of animals. Users can also see how those changes have evolved over time.
Interactive data visualization Mapping Extinction with Climate Change created by Abeeshan Selvabaskaran was one the top three winners in Tableau’s inaugural student data vis competition Iron Viz: Student Edition.
The judges described Selvabaskaran’s entry as a beautifully designed visualization. "The dark background in conjunction with the four main colours representing the classes of species, combined with the excellent font selection makes for a really outstanding viewing experience," the judges said. "It had a good use of images to create an artistic and modern looking dashboard layout and background."
Submissions were judged on creativity, analysis, beauty and design, and overall best practices. Winners received Tableau merchandise and a $500 software certification training package.
Abeeshan Selvabaskaran, Year I graduate student in the BMC program
Selvabaskaran says that his goal is to create visuals that educate and inspire. “I try to be as versatile as I can with the tools I use, whether that be through illustration software or interactive visualizations in Tableau.”
Currently, the graduate student is studying anatomy and learning to create anatomical illustrations. He says he looks forward to expanding his knowledge of 3D-modelling methods and technology. "My passion lies in 3D-animation and XR (extended reality) technologies and I can't wait to be part of the future in interactive healthcare education."