About
Researcher at the intersection of visual analytics, visual perception, and human-robot interaction.
I am Kai M. Blum, a PhD candidate at Clausthal University of Technology and a research associate at the Human-Centered Engineering Hub of Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. My PhD research focuses on interactive visual analytics and visual perception. I also contribute to human-robot interaction research at the HCE Hub.
In visual analytics, I build interactive systems for pitfall analysis — studying misleaders and their impact on viewers. I investigate how misleading visualizations shape interpretation and how interactive techniques help people recognize and respond to visualization pitfalls.
In human-robot interaction, my focus is on guidance and personalization for users — designing systems that adapt to individual needs and support people in their interaction with social robots.
Across both areas, I aim to bridge technical methods with human interpretability: tools should not only work well, but help people understand what they see and interact with technology in meaningful ways.
Education
- PhD Candidate (in progress) — Clausthal University of Technology
since 2022
Visual Analytics, Visual Perception & Misleading Visualizations - M.Sc. Computer Science — Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
2019 – 2022
Master thesis: A Heuristic Approach based on Composition Operators for Finding Linear Projections of High-Dimensional Data that Show Class Separation - B.Eng. Electrical Engineering & Information Technology — Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
2014 – 2019
Dual study program with Robert Bosch GmbH