About

Clio Andris is an associate professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. She directs the Friendly Cities Lab and conducts research on mathematical models of social networks, social flows, and interpersonal relationships, applied to issues of urban planning, visualization, transportation, and geography. Her lab is a member of the Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization (CSPAV) and the Information Visualization Lab. She received a PhD from MIT in 2011 in Urban Information Systems, where she was an NDSEG fellow and a member of the Senseable City Lab. She held postdoctoral positions at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology and at the Santa Fe Institute. Prior to Georgia Tech, she was a faculty member in the Department of Geography at Penn State, and her lab was an affiliate of the GeoVISTA Center. She won an NSF CAREER award in 2021.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Data science
• Sociology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Geography
• Computer Security
• Data Mining
• Medicine
• Demography
• Cartography
• World Wide Web
• Criminology
• Engineering
• Environmental health
• Law

Selected publications

• Communicating the Economic Impact of Science Funding Cuts Changes Attitudes and Motivates Action

  2026-03-06

  articleOpen access

  In the United States, recent cuts to federal science funding have widespread negative consequences for research, healthcare, and the economy. Scalable behavioral interventions that communicate the impact of science funding cuts could support informed policy-related decisions and bridge partisan divides. In two preregistered psychological experiments (N=5,342) with politically-representative samples of U.S. adults, we tested novel text, quiz, and map-based interventions that illustrated economic losses associated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding cuts. Across the political spectrum, the interventions robustly and reliably decreased approval of funding cuts, and increased perceived knowledge and negative local impact. Interactive interventions featuring quizzes and maps selectively motivated further action (e.g., contacting congressional representatives, sharing information). We scaled these interventions via a public website (https://scienceimpacts.org/); a third study analyzing naturalistic user data (N=24,028) revealed converging evidence of effectiveness. Overall, scalable interventions that interactively communicated economic impact changed attitudes and motivated action to support science funding.

  PublisherDOI

• Communicating the Economic Impact of Science Funding Cuts Changes Attitudes and Motivates Action

  PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · 2026-03-06

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In the United States, recent cuts to federal science funding have widespread negative consequences for research, healthcare, and the economy. Scalable behavioral interventions that communicate the impact of science funding cuts could support informed policy-related decisions and bridge partisan divides. In two preregistered psychological experiments (N=5,342) with politically-representative samples of U.S. adults, we tested novel text, quiz, and map-based interventions that illustrated economic losses associated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding cuts. Across the political spectrum, the interventions robustly and reliably decreased approval of funding cuts, and increased perceived knowledge and negative local impact. Interactive interventions featuring quizzes and maps selectively motivated further action (e.g., contacting congressional representatives, sharing information). We scaled these interventions via a public website (https://scienceimpacts.org/); a third study analyzing naturalistic user data (N=24,028) revealed converging evidence of effectiveness. Overall, scalable interventions that interactively communicated economic impact changed attitudes and motivated action to support science funding.

  Publisher

• The Relationship Between the Human Needs of Places and Economic Conditions in America's 21 Largest Cities

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Exploropleth: exploratory analysis of data binning methods in choropleth maps

  Cartography and Geographic Information Science · 2025-09-23

  articleSenior author

  When creating choropleth maps, mapmakers often bin (i.e. group, classify) quantitative data values into groups to help show that certain areas fall within a similar range of values. For instance, a mapmaker may divide counties into groups of high, middle, and low life expectancy (measured in years). It is well known that different binning methods (e.g. natural breaks, quantiles) yield different groupings, meaning the same data can be presented differently depending on how it is divided into bins. To help guide a wide variety of users, we present a new, open-source, web-based, geospatial visualization tool, Exploropleth, that lets users interact with a catalog of established data binning methods, and subsequently compare, customize, and export custom maps. This tool advances the state of the art by providing multiple binning methods in one view and supporting administrative unit reclassification on-the-fly. We interviewed 16 cartographers and geographic information systems (GIS) experts from 13 government organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs), and federal agencies who identified opportunities to integrate Exploropleth into their existing mapmaking workflow, and found that the tool has the potential to educate students as well as mapmakers with varying levels of experience. Exploropleth is open-source and publicly available at https://exploropleth.github.io.

  PublisherDOI

• NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment

  Nature Human Behaviour · 2025-06-02 · 3 citations

  letter
  PublisherDOI

• An Emergent Design Study Methodology for Education: Reflections on the Robin System for Visualizing U.S. Migration Data

  2025-11-03

  article

  The design study methodology is a standard approach for visualization researchers to build useful tools for domain experts in a specific field. While designing solely for domain experts is sometimes necessary, the standard methodology ignores the role that experts often play as educators in their field, especially when the data at hand may be of interest to broader audiences. In this paper, we discuss the iterative design process of the Robin visualization system for U.S. migration data, which was designed as an educational tool and communication aid. We also reflect on the differences between our approach and that of a traditional design study, and we outline opportunities for future work in designing visualization systems with both educator and student stakeholders. We believe that our work has the potential to promote further discussion about how to design visualization tools for education and communication.

  PublisherDOI

• Mapping a Movement: Exploring a Proposed Police Training Facility in Atlanta and the Stop Cop City Movement through Online Maps

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2025-04-29

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  In 2021, the City of Atlanta and Atlanta Police Foundation launched plans to build a large police training facility in the South River Forest in unincorporated DeKalb County, GA. Residents of Atlanta and DeKalb County, environmental activists, police and prison abolitionists, and other activists and concerned individuals formed the movement in opposition to the facility, known as the Stop Cop City / Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. Social media and digital maps became common tools for communicating information about the facility and the movement. Here, we examine online maps about the facility and the opposition movement, originating from grassroots organizations, the City of Atlanta, news media outlets, the Atlanta Police Foundation, and individuals. We gather and examine 32 publicly available maps collected through the Google Search API, Twitter (now X), Instagram and reddit. Using a framework of critical cartography, we conduct a content analysis of these maps to identify the mapping technologies and techniques (data, cartographic elements, styles) used by different stakeholders and roles that maps and mapping technologies can play in social movements. We examine the extent to which these maps provide data to confirm or contradict concerns raised by grassroots organizations and local residents about the facility. We find that stakeholders and mapmakers use geospatial tools in different ways and likely have varied access to mapping technologies. We argue that documenting the use of maps to communicate information about a contentious project can help enumerate community positions and perspectives, and we advocate for accessible mapmaking tools. We conclude by discussing the implications of accessibility of mapping technology and posting maps to social media, and share example map images that extend the geographic information systems (GIS) techniques seen in the retrieved maps.

  PublisherDOI

• Robin: An Interactive Visualization System and Instructional Tool to Democratize United States Domestic Migration Data

  Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Migration scholars in the United States (U.S.) study how migration patterns within the country relate to characteristics of migrant origins and destinations, such as political leanings or educational attainment. However, few tools exist for experts to visualize these relationships and easily share insights with students or other interested members of the general public. This data thus remains largely inaccessible to potentially interested non-experts. In this work, we present a system called Robin for visualizing U.S. county-to-county migration data in conjunction with other county-level attributes, designed to be used by experts as a communication aid or by non-experts as an exploratory tool. User studies with migration domain experts and non-experts show promising results in our efforts to support and engage both user groups.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mapping a Movement: Exploring a Proposed Police Training Facility in Atlanta and its Opposition Movement through Online Maps

  Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2025-10-16

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In 2021, the City of Atlanta and Atlanta Police Foundation launched joint plans to build a large police training facility in the South River Forest in unincorporated DeKalb County, GA. At this time, residents of Atlanta and DeKalb County, environmental activists, police and prison abolitionists, and other activists and concerned individuals formed the movement in opposition to the facility, known as the Stop Cop City / Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. Social media and digital maps became common tools for communicating information about the facility and the movement. In this work, we examine online maps about the facility and the opposition movement, originating from grassroots organizations, the City of Atlanta, news media outlets, the Atlanta Police Foundation, and individuals. We gather and examine 32 publicly available maps collected through the Google Search API, Twitter (now X), Instagram and reddit. Then, using a framework of critical cartography, we conduct a content analysis of these maps to identify the mapping technologies and techniques (data, cartographic elements, styles) used by different stakeholders in the construction of the facility and roles that maps and mapping technologies can play in social movements. Finally, we examine the extent to which these maps provide data to confirm or dispute concerns raised by grassroots organizations and local residents about the facility. We argue that documenting the use of maps to communicate information about a contentious project can help enumerate positions and perspectives about community issues. We find that the different uses of (and varied access to) geo-spatial technologies is uneven across stakeholders and mapmakers and advocate for accessible mapmaking tools. We conclude by discussing the implications of accessibility of mapping technology and posting maps to social media, and share example map images that extend the geographic information systems (GIS) techniques seen in the retrieved maps.

  PublisherDOI

• Social Infrastructure, Opportunities, and Barriers to Socializing in Savannah, Georgia

  Southeastern geographer · 2025-07-01

  articleSenior author

  "Social infrastructure, also known as third places or points of interest (POIs), fosters community health and enhances social well-being. Building and maintaining social infrastructure can help planners care for their residents and visitors. This paper explores social infrastructure, opportunities, and barriers to socializing in Savannah, Georgia, through a community survey conducted in collaboration with the City of Savannah. The study investigates POIs that facilitate socialization, accessibility across neighborhoods, locations that are perceived negatively for social life, and envisioned improvements. This data was collected through intercept surveys at various community events, yielding 178 responses. Survey data were analyzed qualitatively and spatially, using frequency counts, qualitative coding, and GIS mapping techniques. The results reveal popular social hubs, accessibility challenges, and recommendations for improvement. This research further illustrates the importance of equitable access to social spaces, providing data-driven examples that highlight gaps in infrastructure. The study contributes to understanding the role of social infrastructure in promoting community well-being and offers valuable insights for urban planning and community development initiatives."

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: A Research and Educational Framework for Incorporating Spatial Heterogeneity into Social Network Analysis

  NSF · $492k · 2021–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Xi Liu

  11 shared

• Mason A. Porter

  11 shared

• Caglar Koylu

  University of Iowa

  10 shared

• Joshua S. Weitz

  University of Maryland, College Park

  9 shared

• Sohrab Rahimi

  6 shared

• Colin A. Chapman

  George Washington University

  6 shared

• Stephen J. Beckett

  University of Maryland, College Park

  6 shared

• Daniel DellaPosta

  Pennsylvania State University

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Computer Science

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  2000

• B.S., Computer Science

  University of California, Berkeley

  1995

Awards & honors

• NSF CAREER Award (2021)