Leilani Battle

Leilani Battle is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, with a joint appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). Her research focuses on human-centered systems for large-scale data exploration, aiming to make database and data science tools more intuitive for non-experts. She holds a PhD from MIT (2017), and joined UMD in 2018.

Educational Background: BS in Computer Engineering (University of Washington, 2011), MS (MIT, 2013), and PhD (MIT, 2017).

Research Interests: Developing systems to reduce latency in data exploration, improving data visualization tools, and studying human-computer interactions in data science. Notable projects include ForeCache and work on optimizing collaborative systems between visualization and database management.

Awards: Recognized as one of MIT Technology Review’s top innovators under 35 (2020), and recipient of the 2019 ORAU Powe Award for her project on interactive data exploration optimization. She has advised over a dozen students across undergraduate, master’s, and PhD levels.