Lucy T. Nowell, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Dr. Nowell is a Chief Scientist responsible for leading research and managing projects for the Rich Interaction Environments and Information Analytics groups at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Most of her research centers on applying her knowledge of visual design, perceptual psychology, human-computer interaction, and information retrieval to problems of understanding and navigating in large information spaces, including digital libraries. Currently, she manages the Information Extraction Visualization project and the Glass Box Analysis project, and she provides human-computer interaction expertise to a variety of projects, including the, the NT Analytical Tools project. Other recent experience includes work with Battelle Visual Informatics (e.g., bioinformatics), the Information Synthesis Platform, the P1000 project on applying neurosciences research to information visualization design, and the NASA WebTheme project.

Dr. Nowell joined Battelle and PNNL in August 1998, after a career as a professor at Lynchburg College in Virginia, where she taught a wide variety of courses in Computer Science and Theatre. She also headed the Theatre program and later chaired the Computer Science Department. While pursuing graduate degrees at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, she worked as a Research Scientist in the Digital Libraries Research Laboratory and also interned with the Digital Libraries team at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Laboratories in Hawthorne, NY.

Dr. Nowell has a PhD and MS in Computer Science from Virginia Tech, where she maintained a dual emphasis on human-computer interaction and information storage and retrieval. Her doctoral research centered on perceptual issues in information visualization. She won the Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science Award for Scholarly Performance in Graduate Study (Distinguished Dissertation) for her dissertation. She also has a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatrical design from the University of New Orleans and the MA and BA in Theatre from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she was a Graduate Council Fellow and Alumni Honors Scholar.