John Alexis Guerra Gomez
(he/him/his)
Associate Teaching Professor
Research interests
- Visual analytics
- Accessibility
- Big data
- Human-computer interaction
- Web development
Education
- PhD in Computer Science, University of Maryland
- MS in Mathematical Computing, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira – Colombia
- BS in Computer Science, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira – Colombia
Biography
John Alexis Guerra Gómez is an associate teaching professor at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University's Silicon Valley campus.
During his undergraduate years studying computer science at the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Guerra Gómez developed his love for computers and passion for solving problems through research. In 2003, Guerra Gómez worked with a group of classmates to cofound DUTO, a startup that helps blind students “see” shapes with their hands. After ten years, the system was implemented in three schools in Colombia. While he was serving as chief development officer at DUTO and completing his graduate degree, Guerra Gómez lectured at the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira until 2007.
Guerra Gómez was a 2008 recipient of the Fulbright Science and Technology Scholarship, which allowed him to achieve his dream of becoming a scientist by completing his doctorate at the University of Maryland. He joined UMD’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab, working under Catherine Plaisant and Ben Shneiderman – both pioneers of the information visualization and user interface design fields.
After receiving his doctorate in 2013, Guerra Gómez moved to San Jose to work for PARC, a Xerox company, where he helped catch fraud and abuse in the medical system through network visualization. He then moved on to Yahoo Labs as an information visualization research scientist where he worked closely with Flickr to provide better interfaces for navigating photo repositories and presenting photo statistics. Guerra Gómez then moved back to Colombia where he was an assistant professor at Los Andes University, and was part of the visual computing research group, IMAGINE. During that time, Guerra Gómez was hired as a remote lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he taught the data visualization course in the Master’s in Data Science program. While at UC Berkeley, he worked to redesign the master’s curriculum.
Recent publications
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Towards Reusable and Reactive Widgets for Information Visualization Research and Dissemination
Citation: John A. Guerra-Gomez. (2024). Towards Reusable and Reactive Widgets for Information Visualization Research and Dissemination IEEE VIS, 316-320. https://doi.org/10.1109/VIS55277.2024.00071 -
Guitar Improvisation Preparation and Practice: A Digital-Assisted Approach Integrating Set Theory and Mechanical Gesture Exploration
Citation: Leon Salcedo, Maria Fernanda Zuniga-Zabala, John A. Guerra-Gomez. (2023). Guitar Improvisation Preparation and Practice: A Digital-Assisted Approach Integrating Set Theory and Mechanical Gesture Exploration ArtsIT (1), 166-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55319-6_12 -
Extracting and visualizing a new classification system for Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics. A visual analytics framework case study
Citation: Pierre Raimbaud, Jaime Camilo Espitia Castillo, John A. Guerra-Gomez. (2024). Extracting and visualizing a new classification system for Colombia's National Administrative Department of Statistics. A visual analytics framework case study CoRR, abs/2401.15994. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.15994 -
Digital Proxemics: Designing Social and Collaborative Interaction in Virtual Environments
Citation: Julie R. Williamson, Joseph O'Hagan, John Alexis Guerra Gómez, John H. Williamson, Pablo César, David A. Shamma. (2022). Digital Proxemics: Designing Social and Collaborative Interaction in Virtual Environments CHI, 423:1-423:12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517594 -
Lessons Learned Building Low-Cost DIY Tactile Graphics and Conducting a Tactile Drawing Club in Colombia During COVID-19
Citation: Maria Fernanda Zuniga-Zabala, John Alexis Guerra Gómez. (2022). Lessons Learned Building Low-Cost DIY Tactile Graphics and Conducting a Tactile Drawing Club in Colombia During COVID-19 CHI Extended Abstracts, 30:1-30:10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3503559 -
A State-of-the-Art Survey of Tasks for Tree Design and Evaluation With a Curated Task Dataset
Citation: Aditeya Pandey, Uzma Haque Syeda, Chaitya Shah, John A. Guerra-Gomez, Michelle A. Borkin. (2022). A State-of-the-Art Survey of Tasks for Tree Design and Evaluation With a Curated Task Dataset IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph., 28, 3563-3584. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2021.3064037