Frank Elavsky

Much to my absolute shock and surprise, I received an email just over two weeks ago that the project I led as the final stage of my thesis work, Skeleton, won best paper at IEEE VIS.

The click-baity idea I am stewing on here is basically this: do people actually really hate learning about other people?

This guide has come about from a simple problem: notebooks that I inherited for teaching Introduction to Data Science in python to undergraduate students all now have generative AI turned on by default in Google Colab.

Skeleton being used to build a navigation structure over a line chart.

Well, it’s official: my thesis is finally accepted, published, and done.

I’ve heard great arguments for rejecting AI for environmental reasons (water, climate, energy) and for ethical reasons (like the theft of all digitizable intellectual property).

[EDIT: 07/2026] This blog post was originally written when I first submitted my thesis for review with my committee, prior to my defense.

Greetings!

(This post is a part of my new mantra moving to Cal Poly SLO: “move SLO and repair things,” which is in direct tension with the mantra from the tech industry “move fast and break things” as well as a play on the abbreviation of San Luis Obispo, where I wi…

I cast a wide net this job market season.

Obviously, my advice here is intended towards students who are graduating even though it is written towards myself.

Check out my introduction video here: And please, go and view the whole course online over at the Open Visualization Academy.