Research
My research goal is to create platforms and networks where local resident groups can collect, make sense of, and disseminate environmental & social information to address issues in their communities. I use low-cost sensor technology, social computing systems, and community science frameworks to design and implement projects to document and address environmental harm. Through facilitating workshops on data storytelling and using participatory action research, I follow the priorities of participants and help build their capacity to understand and articulate their demands, infusing their lived experiences with local data.
My work spans three main lines of research:
- designing social computing systems
- activating community science data
- youth participatory action research
PUBLICATIONS
- Equity as Afterthought - Lead Service Line Replacement in Pittsburgh, PA - Abhishek Viswanathan, Chie Togami - Environmental Justice 2026
- Multi-dimensional Engagement for Richer Hyperlocal Citizen Science Data - Abhishek Viswanathan, Vasco Xu, Amy Babay, Rosta Farzan, Aaron Birdy - Communities & Technologies 2025
- An Exposure-Based Video Game (Dr. Zoo) to Reduce Needle Phobia in Children Aged 3 to 6 Years: Development and Mixed Methods Pilot Study – 2023 – Pat Healy, Celine Lu, Jennifer S Silk, Oliver Lindheim, Reagan Harper, Abhishek Viswanathan, Dmitriy Babichenko - JMIR Serious Games 2023
- The Impact of COVID-19 on Communication Network Outages – 2022 – Faris Alotibi, Alekhya Velagapudi, Akshay Madan, Kuheli Sai, Abhishek Viswanathan, Amy Babay, David Tipper, Prashant Krishnamurthy - 18th International Conference on the Design of Reliable Communication Networks (DRCN)
- Analysis of Power Consumption of the MQTT Protocol – 2017 – Abhishek Viswanathan - Master’s Thesis – D-Scholarship @ Pitt
INVITED TALKS, PRESENTATIONS
- Guest Lecture on Data Storytelling for PIA 2096: Data Visualization in R for Public Policy Capstone - 2023
- Poster Presentation at UPitt Infrastructure Sensor Collaboration (UPISC) Workshop - 2023
- AI/ML & Environmental Justice Seminar – The Air Quality Landscape in Pittsburgh – Institutions, Collaboration, and Change – Northeastern University Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute – 2022
- Panelist at Year of Data and Society – Sustaining Impacts - 2022
- Facilitator of virtual roleplaying game – “Legend of Smartopia” – Smartification of Everything Symposium - 2022
Website designed by Darya Noor Kharabi.