Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Bo Sun

Dr. Bo Sun is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department. She mainly teaches the courses Computer Animation and Visual Analytics (AKA Information Visualization). Her main research area is in computer graphics and data visualization. She has also done research in virtual reality, and has two grad students who use the technology as well.

Dr. Sun has a long-standing interest in cutting-edge technology, which is what motivated her to study Computer Science in the first place. That’s not the only reason she became a CS professor, though. Another big motivation for her was the lack of women in Computer Science. The vast majority of CS majors are men, and Dr. Sun wants to encourage more women to pursue a degree in CS. As a CS professor here at Rowan University, Dr. Sun strives to encourage more young women to get involved in the ever-expanding world of Computer Science.

Dr. Sun says that another fulfilling aspect of her job is seeing how passionate Rowan’s students are about Computer Science. One specific example of this is a student named Kevin Clee. Kevin is a recent Computer Science graduate who had taken two of Dr. Sun’s courses while he was studying here at Rowan. This past summer, Dr. Sun found out that Kevin was interviewed for the Rowan Blog. In his blog post, Kevin praised Dr. Sun’s Computer Animation class. He said that it was his favorite course and that Dr. Sun was very friendly.

The idea that one course or one professor could have such a large impact on a student’s education made Dr. Sun feel very inspired. It’s students like Kevin, who express a true passion for Computer Science, that give her the motivation to do well as a professor.

One of Dr. Sun’s big roles here at Rowan, aside from teaching students, is her involvement in research. One of her current research projects is about immersive analytics. Immersive analytics utilize VR technology in order to analyze Big Data. Standard data analysis methods typically operate on a 2-dimensional plane. Immersive analytics with VR allows you to visualize and explore data in 3 dimensions. This innovation allows you to examine a lot more data at once. It’s a very innovative development, and Dr. Sun is excited to be involved in it.

We hope this article helped you get to know Dr. Bo Sun a little bit better. She is a very talented professor, and we are grateful to have her here with us in the Computer Science Department. If you’re a student here at Rowan and you’re interested in researching VR, feel free to reach out to Dr. Bo Sun. She’s always happy to collaborate with students who share her interest in Computer Science.

Written by Cole Goetz  |  Posted 2022.2.15