Check out our latest installment of women in science with this interview with Shania Sanders, and learn about her journey from an intern to a computer programmer at NASA Langley Research Center.

At the core of scientific visualization is the representation of data graphically - through images, animations, and videos - to improve understanding and develop insight. Data visualizers develop data-driven images, maps, and visualizations from information collected by Earth-observing satellites, airborne missions, and ground measurements. Visualizations allow us to explore data, phenomena and behavior; they are particularly effective for showing large scales of time and space, and "invisible" processes (e.g. flows of energy and matter) as integral parts of the models.

This video addresses the following question: "We know that there are a number of ways that data can be visualized. Would you please describe your process for looking at the same data as represented by different graph types and how this helps inform your meaning making from the data?"

This video addresses the following question: "As you think about exploring the data that you have collected, what are the approaches that you use to organize your data and/or process your data before you make meaning from the data?"

This video addresses the following question: "We know that science is very much an iterative process. Can you describe for us your process for developing your follow-up questions after you have interpreted a set of data?"

A Data Support Specialist works with the user community to understand their science needs with the goal of providing support for NASA data and information services.  They represent the user in product development and development resources to assist with the user community's needs.  This person works directly with users to solve problems using NASA data, or to provide resources to improve understanding of the data. 

Mathematical modelers use mathematics to create models that demonstrate complex processes or solve problems. Many mathematical modelers use their skills to create and animate 3D representations of their processes with the assistance of software technology. 

Students will analyze how surface (skin) temperatures vary across a community and determine what factors contribute to this variation. Students will describe how human activity can affect the local environment. 

Students will watch a video on the Greenland Ice Sheet and answer questions.

Students watch the video Frozen Earth and answer the following questions that discuss how ice helps moderate the planet's temperature using NASA satellites.