Mark SubbaRao leads NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, a group tasked with visualizing NASA science results for public audiences. Before joining NASA, Mark spent 18 years at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, where he produced planetarium shows and designed museum exhibits featuring data-driven scientific visualizations. During 2019-2020 Mark served as President of the International Planetarium Society (IPS), where he spearheaded the ‘Data to Dome’’ initiative - an effort to prepare the planetarium community for the big data era. Before that he worked at the University of Chicago where he was part of a team that created the largest 3D map of the Universe, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Mark U Subbarao
(Lead)
| Email: | mark.u.subbarao@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.286.4030 |
| Org Code: | 606.4 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 606.4 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: |
Brief Bio
Current Projects
Positions/Employment
lead NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
December 2020 - Present
Space Visualization Laboratory Director
Adler Planetarium - Chicago, IL
March 2003 - December 2020
Research Scientist
University of Chicago - Chicago, IL
June 1998 - June 2008
Education
PH.D. | 1996 | THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
· PhD Thesis: Galaxy Luminosity Functions: Techniques, Environment and Evolution
· Thesis Advisor: Alexander S. Szalay
B.S. | 1989 | LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
· Major: Engineering Physics
Professional Societies
International Planetarium Society
President (2019-2020)
2012 - Present
International Astronomical Union
2018 - Present
American Astronomical Society
1996 - Present
Awards
- 2022 Deauville Green Awards, Trophée Argent, SPOT Competition: Fight and adaptation to climate change, "GISTEMP Climate Spiral"
- 2017 VIZZIE NSF/Popular Science Visualization Challange People’s Choice award in the video category for the entry Planet Nine (with Mike Brown and Patrick McPike)
- Best Visualization XSEDE 2013, The First Star (with M. Turk, S. Skillman, J. Wise and J. Oishi)
- AAM MUSE Award 2013 (Silver), Multimedia Installation, The Universe: A Walk through Space and Time
- First Place 2011 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, The Cosmic Web, Informational graphics and posters section (with M. Aragon-Calvo and J. Aguilera)
- Asteroid 170009 Subbarao is named in recognition of SubbaRao’s work on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Publications
Refereed
2018. "Effectively Coordinating Museums and Planetariums Worldwide." Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 14 (A30): 536-541 [10.1017/s1743921319005301] [Proceedings]
2015. "A Flight through the Universe." Computing in Science & Engineering 17 (6): 96-102 [10.1109/mcse.2015.118] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Comparing Short‐ and Long‐Term Learning Effects Between Stereoscopic and Two‐Dimensional Film at a Planetarium." Science Education 99 (6): 1118-1142 [10.1002/sce.21185] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "THE MULTI-OBJECT, FIBER-FED SPECTROGRAPHS FOR THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY AND THE BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY." The Astronomical Journal 146 (2): 32 [10.1088/0004-6256/146/2/32] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "Galaxies with background QSOs - I. A search for strong galactic Hα lines." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 423 (4): 3692-3708 [10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21166.x] [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "SPECTROSCOPIC DETERMINATION OF THE LOW-REDSHIFT TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA RATE FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY." The Astrophysical Journal 731 (1): 42 [10.1088/0004-637x/731/1/42] [Journal Article/Letter]
2010. "THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY QUASAR CATALOG. V. SEVENTH DATA RELEASE." The Astronomical Journal 139 (6): 2360-2373 [10.1088/0004-6256/139/6/2360] [Journal Article/Letter]
2009. "Planetary-Scale Terrain Composition." IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 15 (5): 719-733 [10.1109/tvcg.2009.43] [Journal Article/Letter]
2009. "THE SEVENTH DATA RELEASE OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 182 (2): 543-558 [10.1088/0067-0049/182/2/543] [Journal Article/Letter]
2009. "SEGUE: A SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF 240,000 STARS WITHg= 14-20." The Astronomical Journal 137 (5): 4377-4399 [10.1088/0004-6256/137/5/4377] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008. "Visualization of large scale structure from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." New Journal of Physics 10 (12): 125015 [10.1088/1367-2630/10/12/125015] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008. "A picture of the cosmos." Physics World 21 (12): 29-32 [10.1088/2058-7058/21/12/36] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008.
"Average Properties of a Large Sample ofzabs∼zemAssociated Mg
2008. "Additional Ultracool White Dwarfs Found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." The Astrophysical Journal 679 (1): 697-703 [10.1086/587160] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008. "The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 175 (2): 297-313 [10.1086/524984] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008. "Voluble: a space-time diagram of the solar system." The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2008 [10.1117/12.773176] [Proceedings]
2007. "THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY: TECHNICAL SUMMARY." The Astronomical Journal 135 (1): 338-347 [10.1088/0004-6256/135/1/338] [Journal Article/Letter]
2007. "THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY: SEARCH ALGORITHM AND FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS." The Astronomical Journal 135 (1): 348-373 [10.1088/0004-6256/135/1/348] [Journal Article/Letter]
2007. "The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 172 (2): 634-644 [10.1086/518864] [Journal Article/Letter]
2007. "The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog. IV. Fifth Data Release." The Astronomical Journal 134 (1): 102-117 [10.1086/518474] [Journal Article/Letter]
2006. "Objective Subclass Determination of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectroscopically Unclassified Objects." The Astrophysical Journal 649 (2): 678-691 [10.1086/506504] [Journal Article/Letter]
2006. "A Search for the Most Massive Galaxies: Double Trouble?." The Astronomical Journal 131 (4): 2018-2034 [10.1086/499770] [Journal Article/Letter]
2005. "Detection of the Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Large‐Scale Correlation Function of SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies." The Astrophysical Journal 633 (2): 560-574 [10.1086/466512] [Journal Article/Letter]
2002. "The Sloan Digital Sky Survey 1-Dimensional Spectroscopic Pipeline." Astronomical Data Analysis II [10.1117/12.461108] [Proceedings]
Talks, Presentations and Posters
Invited
Gordon Research Conference: Visualizing Complex Systems
August 18, 2023
Creating Visualizations for NASA's Earth Information Center
https://www.grc.org/visualization-in-science-and-education-conference/2023/
2022 SOS Users Collaborative Network Workshop
Visualization for Science Engagement and Storytelling
September 30, 2022
SOS workshop Agenda
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Northwestern University
How NASA and Northwestern Scientists Are Revealing Cosmic Mysteries with the James Web Space Telescope
September 23, 2022
Astrovisualization — The role of images in Astronomy & Space sciences
Astrovisualization at NASA
July 2, 2022
Norrköping, Sweden
https://www.kva.se/en/kalendarium/astrovisualization-the-role-of-images-in-astronomy-space-sciences
Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society
NASA Climate Science Visualizations and other resources from The Scientific Visualization Studio
June 19, 2022
Orano, ME, USA
https://mapsplanetarium.org/maps-conference-2022-guest-speakers/
LASER Boston: Climate Visions
Making NASA Climate Science Visual
May 28, 2022
Virtual
https://swissnex.org/boston/event/laser-boston-climate-visions/
Boston University Space Physics Seminar Series
Visualization Driven Science Communication
May 29, 2021
Goddard Space Flight Center Information Science and Technology Colloquium
Data Visualization for Science Communication
March 17, 2021
https://istcolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/mark-subbarao/
Other
Co-Creating Climate Futures
August 14, 2023
Organizer of a two-day pre workshop at MIT preceeding the 2023 GRC Visualization in Science and Education Conference https://sites.google.com/media.mit.edu/grcworkshop2023/home
SXSW
NASA Combines Art & Science to Connect
April 14, 2023
Panel discussion with Michael Lentz, Walt Feimer and Thalia Patrinos
https://schedule.sxsw.com/2023/events/PP127628
AGU 2023 Union Session: Data Visualization as a Communication Tool in Earth and Space Science
12, 2022
https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm22/meetingapp.cgi/Session/178288
Co-convener of session and presenter: High Impact Techniques for Visual Science Communication
IEEEVis 2023 Workshop: Viz4Climate - Workshop on High-Impact Techniques for Visual Climate Science Communication
November 17, 2022
https://ieeevis.org/year/2022/info/workshops#viz_climate
Selected Public Outreach
Space Café Podcast Michael Lentz & Mark SubbaRao - NASA's Creative Wizards, Space Storytelling, and the Art of Communicating Science
May 2023 - Present
In this episode, join Michael Lentz, the Art Director for the Conceptual Image Lab at NASA, and Mark SubbaRao, the lead at NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, as they delve into the art of communicating science and space storytelling. Learn how visualization plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between science and the general public and discover the potential of art and technology to inspire and educate people about space.
AGU Third Pod From The Sun Podcast:35-Spaceship Earth: The (visual) beauty of science
February 2023 - Present
As the Scientific Visualization lead for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Mark SubbaRao oversees the translation of NASA science into images and movies. For Mark, science visualization is a key communication tool that allows the public to interact and explore the various scientific discoveries happening at NASA and beyond. He sits down with us and talks about his beginnings as an astronomer, his “Data to Dome” approach to experiential science through his work with planetariums, and the role of visualization and the performance of communication in the future of science comprehension.
This episode was produced by Jason Rodriguez and Shane M Hanlon, and mixed by Collin Warren. Artwork by Karen Romano Young. Interview conducted by Ashely Hamer.
Grand Universe Podcast: Visualizing Scientific Data
May 2023 - Present
Join us as we talk with Dr. Mark Subbarao, Director of the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.
Conversations with Goddard: Mark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art
February 2023 - Present