Thomas Hurtut
Full Professor at Computer Science Dpt. of Polytechnique Montréal
2900, boul. Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal (Québec), H3T 1J4, Canada
+1 (514) 340-4711 #7109 - Office M-3113 - thomas.hurtut [at] polymtl.ca
Affiliations:
jData laboratory, IVADO, RÉPARTI
Co-founder of Kashika Studio
2900, boul. Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal (Québec), H3T 1J4, Canada
+1 (514) 340-4711 #7109 - Office M-3113 - thomas.hurtut [at] polymtl.ca
Affiliations:
jData laboratory, IVADO, RÉPARTI
Co-founder of Kashika Studio
Interested in attending "INF8808/INF8808E - Data Visualization" in Winter or Summer 2026 ? Check course website for more details.
Short Bio
My R&D interests mostly lie in data visualization and information design. The quantity and complexity of data produced in our lives and all types of industrial activities are phenomenal. Presenting, understanding, analyzing, decision making are some of the of goals one can seek to achieve with data. A visualization can be a powerful user-centred tool in that perspective, for a lot of data-based applications and contexts. However, if a visualization is poorly designed, the user can misinterpret the data and be misled in his conclusions, hence decisions. Among the applications my students and I tackle are: help creative people to create more and new things with new tools, design visualizations of any kind of data (geolocalized, textual, budget data, etc.), image content manipulation, stylization and production (transferring colors, stylize maps, synthesize textures etc.). In other words, all kinds of algorithms and methodology to design/create/modify/analyze/render/simulate some images.
@Polytechnique, I conduct research projects and teaching in those domains.
@Kashika studio, I design interactive data visualizations.
I presently collaborate, or have collaborated recently, with the following companies or institutions: OCDE, Engie, Institut énergie Trottier, Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, Canadiens de Montréal (CH), Ministère de la Culture Québec, TMX, Synapse C, Chaire de recherche en fiscalité et finances publiques, Cinémathèque, BAnQ, Bombardier, Inria, IGN.
If you like visual things and coding + seek to do an internship, M.Sc., Ph.D. please contact me !
I am presently a professor at Polytechnique Montréal in the Computer Science department. From 2009 to mid-2014, I was a tenured assistant professor (maître de conférences) at Paris Descartes University in the Mathematics and Computer Science department. From november 2008 until july 2009, I was a post-doc at INRIA in the MAVERICK team with Joëlle Thollot. I have obtained my Ph.D. at the TélécomParisTech school and Polytechnique Montréal under the guidance of the late Francis Schmitt, Yann Gousseau and Farida Cheriet. Recently, I obtained a diploma of higher specialized studies in journalism from Université de Montréal. A long time ago, I got my Bachelor of Engineering from the CentraleSupélec school in France.
People
I have the pleasure of working with the following students:
- Manel Ben Jemaa @Polymtl
- Nino Dada Odillon @Polymtl
- Lilou Lagrede Drai @Polymtl
- Yunfan Shang @Polymtl
Former students (reverse chronological order):
- Remi Monier from ENSC
- Maki Furue from Ochanomizu University, Japan
- Satomi Hasegawa from Ochanomizu University, Japan
- Anabelle Montaudon Domenech, from X France
- Justin Caisse
- Hasti Ghader-Azad
- Qiang Xu
- Théo Lecardonnel
- Samuel Ouvrard
- Sullivan Collomb
- Louri Compain
- Morteza Asgari
- Jean-Romain Roy
- Antoine Noreau
- Jérémie Tousignant
- Philippe Bourbeau-Allard
- Javad Yaali
- François Lévesque
- Gautier Dervaux
- Marina Menghetti
- Jorge Gutierrez
- Konstantinos Lambrou-Latreille
- Jean-Philippe Corbeil
- Sandrine Viera (IVADO data journalism scholarship)
- Olivia Gélinas (IVADO data journalism scholarship)
- Justine Pépin (IVADO data journalism scholarship)
- Antoine Béland (NSERC fellowship)
- Alexandre Bléron
- Antoine Moevus
- Alexandre Chenieux
- Hossein Moussavi
- Maxime Schmitt
- Argyrios Christodoulidis
- Adrien Dessinges
- Benoît Arbelot (thesis manuscript)
- Robin Paquet
- Aude Nazaire
- Clément Guiol
- Quentin Fardet
- Thomas Jan Mahamad (thesis manuscript)
- Florent Derville
- Olivier Pinon
- Hugo Loi (thesis manuscript)
- Thomas Richaudeau
- Maya Alsheh-Ali (thesis manuscript)
- Mickaël Garnier (thesis manuscript)
- Cosmin Ludusan
- Pierre-Edouard Landes
- Legend:
- undergrad/internship
- master
- ph.d.
- master+phd
- postdoc or research assistant
Data visualizations
On the data visualization side of my research topics, my students and I regularly collaborate with Quebec media and institutions to produce some interactive visualizations on various news subjects.
- Musical data visualization based on open and linked data.
- BAnQ, 2021
- This work received the prize for Open Data Innovation at Canadian Open Data Awards in 2021
- 25 ans d'accès restreint à l'eau potable au Canada
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Que vous promettent les partis ?
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Décortiquer le comportement électoral des jeunes canadiens
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Plus d'élèves, moins de profs. Survol d'une pénurie
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Portrait des pannes de métro
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Le discours sur l'état de l'Union 2019 en chiffres et analyses
- Le Devoir, 2019
- Après les élections de mi-mandat, une Union divisée
- Le Devoir, 2018
- L'assemblée nationale montre un nouveau visage
- Le Devoir, 2018
- Quel a été l'effet de l'abstention sur les élections ?
- Le Devoir, 2018
- Comment décortiquer la victoire de la CAQ
- Le Devoir, 2018
- Le débat électoral en chiffres
- Le Devoir, 2018
- Les promesses des partis sont-elles financièrement réalisables?
- Le Devoir, 2018
- Perdez-vous plus de temps que les autres dans vos déplacements?
- Le Devoir, 2018
- La carte de tous les ouragans et typhons depuis 1851
- Le Devoir, 2017
- Les pluies de l'ouragan «Irma» en une carte
- Le Devoir, 2017
- Quels sont les risques d'un voyage sur Mars
- Le Devoir, 2017
- La face cachée de l'automobile
- Le Devoir, 2016
- La Cour suprême des États-Unis réaffirme le droit à l'avortement
- Le Devoir, 2016
- La petite histoire des démissions à l'Assemblée nationale
- Le Devoir, 2016
- Des toponymes à longue portée
- Le Devoir, 2016
- Pour qui ont voté vos voisins à l'élection fédérale de 2015?
- Radio-Canada, 2015
- Combien a dépensé votre député?
- Radio-Canada, 2015
- À quoi ressemble votre nouvelle circonscription ?
- Radio-Canada, 2015
- L'histoire des partis politique
- Radio-Canada, 2015
- Aurons-nous un Noël blanc? On a fouillé jusqu'en 1955
- Radio-Canada, 2015
Scientific publications
- Territories in Crisis: Is Urban Resilience to Industrial Crises Possible? An Analysis of the Evolution of Land Use in Fukushima since 2011
- IntechOpen, Asian Studies - Current Issues and Resolutions, 2025
- How Journalists Make Maps
- IEEE VIS (Poster), 2025
- Enhancing Student Engagement through Learning Analytics: A User-Centered Dashboard for LMS Platforms
- ECEL (European Conference on e-Learning), 2025
- GenQA : A Method for Generating and Validating Question/Answer Pairs from Journalistic Data Material
- IEEE PacificVis, 2025
- Pathways Explorer: Interactive Visualization of Climate Transition Scenarios
- IEEE VIS, EnergyVis Workshop, 2024
- From Graphs to Words: A Computer-Assisted Framework for the Production of Accessible Text Descriptions
- IEEE VIS Short Paper, 2024
- CuratedDDS: A Taxonomy and a Dataset of Data-Driven Stories to Support Journalists' Inspiration
- Computation + Journalism Symposium, 2024
- A Design Language for Prototyping and Storyboarding Data-Driven Stories
- Applied Sciences, 2024
- Territoires en crise : une résilience urbaine aux crises industrielles est-elle possible ? Analyse et bilan de l'évolution de l'occupation des sols à Fukushima (2011-2023)
- Territoire en mouvement Revue de géographie et aménagement, 2024
- Waffster: Hierarchical Waffle Charts for Budget Visualization
- Information Visualization journal, 2023
- Un tableau de bord pour les étudiants: une démarche centrée utilisateur
- Colloque international en éducation, 2023
- Polydodo: a Tool for Personal Sleep Stage Analysis and Narrative Visualization
- PacificVis (Visual Data Storytelling Contest), 2022
- HFTViz: Visualization for the Exploration of High Frequency Trading Data
- Information Visualization journal, 2022
- A Design Space for Visualization Onboarding in Data-Driven Stories
- IEEE VIS, VISCOMM Workshop, 2021
- MuzLink: Connected Beeswarm Timelines for Visual Analysis of Musical Adaptations and Artist Relationships
- Information Visualization journal, 20(2-3), 170-191, 2021
- Atlas-Based Score for Automatic Glaucoma Risk Stratification
- Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 2020
- How do Taxes, Benefits and Public Spending Evolve for a Taxpayer During their Lifetime?
- IEEE VIS, VISCOMM Workshop, 2020
- Unit Visualizations for Visual Storytelling
- Computation + Journalism Symposium, 2020
- MusX: Online Exploring and Visualizing Graph-Based Musical Adaptations
- IEEE Int. Conf. on Data Engineering (ICDE), 2020
- On Demand Solid Texture Synthesis Using Deep 3D Networks
- Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 39, 1, 2020
- Muzlink: Three Level Connected Timelines for Artist-Centered Musical Adaptations Exploration
- IEEE VIS, Poster, 2019
- Data Visualization + Scrollytelling for Election News Stories : Challenges and Perspectives
- IEEE VIS, VISCOMM Workshop, 2019
- A Workflow for Designing Stylized Shading Effects
- Inria Research Report, 2018
- Motion-Coherent Stylization with Screen-Space Image Filters
- Expressive 2018
- Texture Generation for Expressive Rock Drawing
- Int. Cartographic Conference (ICC), 2017
- Expressive Map Design: OGC SLD/SE++ Extension for Expressive Map Styles
- Int. Cartographic Conference (ICC), 2017
- Texture Transfer Based on Texture Descriptor Variations
- Inria Research Report, 2017
- Optimal Patch Assignment for Statistically Constrained Texture Synthesis
- Intl. Conf. on Scale Space and Variational Methods (SSVM), 2017
- Programmable 2D Arrangements for Element Texture Design
- ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), to be presented at SIGGRAPH, 2017
- Local Texture-Based Color Transfer and Colorization
- Computer & Graphics, vol. 62, 2017
- Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Characterization Based on the Spatial Organization of Vascular Junctions in Fundus Images
- IEEE Intl. Symp. on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 2017
- A Multi-Scale Tensor Voting Approach for Small Retinal Vessel Segmentation in High Resolution Fundus Images
- Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 2016
- Automatic Texture Guided Color Transfer and Colorization
- Expressive (NPAR), 2016
- Map Style Formalization: Rendering Techniques Extension for Map Design
- Expressive (NPAR), 2016
- Red Lesion Detection using Dynamic Shape Features for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening
- IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, vol. 35 (4), 2016
- Descripteurs de texture pour le transfert de couleur et la colorisation automatique
- journées de l'Association Française en Informatique Graphique, 2015, (Best Paper Award)
- Analyse par ordinateur du contenu d'images artistiques: un état de l'art
- Book chapter in: À perte de vue. Les nouveaux paradigmes du visuel. Les presses du réel. 2015
- www
- Grading Cancer from Liver Histology Images using Inter and Intra Region Spatial Relations
- IEEE International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition (ICIAR), 2014
- Automatic Detection of Microaneurysms and Haemorrhages in Fundus Images using Dynamic Shape Features
- IEEE Intl. Symp. on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 2014
- Automatic Multiresolution Age-related Macular Degeneration Detection from Fundus Images
- SPIE Medical Imaging, Computer-Aided Diagnosis, 2014
- Glaucoma Detection based on Local Binary Patterns in Fundus Photographs
- SPIE Medical Imaging, Computer-Aided Diagnosis, 2014
- Comparison of the Spatial Organization in Colorectal Tumors using Second-Order Statistics and Functional ANOVA
- IEEE Intl. Symposium on Image and Signal Processing and Analysis (ISPA), 2013, (Best Paper Award)
- Discrete Texture Design Using a Programmable Approach
- SIGGRAPH Talks, 2013
- A Shape-Aware Model for Discrete Texture Synthesis
- Computer Graphics Forum (EGSR'13), vol. 32 (4), 2013
- pdf - supp
- Object Description Based on Spatial Relations between Level-Sets
- IEEE Digital Imaging Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA), 2012
- pdf - www
- Knowledge Based and Statistical Based Approaches in Biomedical Image Analysis
- SFBI, Springer LNCS Series on Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, vol. 120, 2012
- Artistic Line-Drawings Retrieval Based on the Pictorial Content
- ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, vol. 4(3), p1-23, 2011
- pdf - preprint - www
- Cartography of Mountain Rocky Areas, a Statistical Modeling and Expressive Rendering of Element Arrangements
- 25th International Cartographic Conference (ICC), 2011
- Appearance-Guided Synthesis of Element Arrangements by Example
- SIGGRAPH Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR), 2009
- pdf - www
Funded Projects
I am presently involved in the following funded projects:
- 2023-2023: a project on Accessible data visualizations, funded by IVADO and in collaboration with Radio-Canada
- 2021-2024: a project on Innovative visual narratives, funded by NSERC (Alliance Program), Prompt and Le Devoir, and in collaboration with Le Devoir
- 2019-2025: the strategic cluster RÉPARTI funded by FRQNT
- 2015-2026: an ongoing NSERC Discovery individual grant
Past projects:
- 2020-2021: two projects on Financial data visualization, funded by and in collaboration with IVADO and TMX
- 2020-2021: a project on Cultural data visualization, funded by and in collaboration with Ministère de la Culture et des Communications Québec
- 2019-2020: a project on Fiscal data visualization, funded by and in collaboration with Chaire en fiscalité et finances publiques
- 2019-2019: a project on Movie data visualization, funded by and in collaboration with Cinémathèque
- 2019-2019: a project on Data journalism, funded by IVADO and in collaboration with Le Devoir
- 2019-2019: a project on Song data visualization , funded by and in collaboration with BAnQ
- 2018-2019: a project on Textual data visualization , a NSERC Engage grant in collaboration with Le Devoir
- 2016-2019: a project on Wing design optimization, a NSERC/MITACS/CRIAQ grant in collaboration with Bombardier Aerospace
- 2016-2017: a project on Automatic classification of fundus images, a Collaborative Research and Development grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), in collaboration with DIAGNOS
- 2016-2016: a project on Wing 3D deformations, a NSERC Engage grant in collaboration with Bombardier Aerospace
- 2013-2016: MAPSTYLE, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), with IGN, INRIA and IRIT
- 2013-2016: a project on Real-time Analysis of Fundus Images, a Collaborative Research and Development grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), in collaboration with DIAGNOS
- 2011-2015: SPIRIT (principal investigator), funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR)
Teaching
- As a professor:
- - Data Visualization (in English), INF8808E course (summer 2020-ongoing)
- - Data Visualization (in French), INF8808 course (winter 2017-ongoing)
- - Multimedia Applications, INF8801A course (Fall 2016, 2018-2019)
- - Multimedia Systems and Applications, INF8801 course (Winter 2014-2016)
- - Procedural Programming with Matlab, INF1005A undergraduate course (Fall 2015-2016)
- - Computer Graphics, INF2705, undergraduate course (Fall 2014)
- As a student:
- - Biomedical Image Processing, GBM3720 undergraduate course, course designer (Summer 2008)
- - Multimedia Systems and Applications, INF6801 graduate course, practical work supervisor (Winter 2007)
- - Procedural Programming with Matlab, INF1005A undergraduate course, lecturer (Fall 2006)
- - Procedural Programming with Matlab, INF1005A undergraduate course, practical work supervisor (Fall 2005)
Outside Polytechnique Montréal:
- - a 1-day workshop on data visualization design, Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs (10/2023)
- - a crash course on data visualization design for Service Canada (12/2022 and 01/2023)
- - a talk "Is dataviz design a science or an art ?" @ TimeWorld conference (05/2022), discussed here
- - a crash course on data visualization design, DigiFab (02/2022)
- - a crash course on data visualization design, Hydro Québec (10/2021)
- - a 3-days workshop on data visualization, with Antoine Béland, Workshop en visualisation de données, IVADO (09/2021)
- - a crash course on data visualization design + team coaching, Atelier de résolutions de problèmes (ARPI), IVADO (08/2021)
- - a crash course on data visualization design, DigiFab (06/2021)
- - a crash course on data visualization design, NEXT AI (06/2020)
- - a 5-days workshop on data visualization, with Antoine Béland, IVADO (Winter 2020)
- - a crash course on data visualization design, Carrefour des données IVADO (10/2019)
- - a 4-days workshop on data visualization, with Antoine Béland, IVADO (Fall 2018)
- - a crash course on data visualization design, Cooperathon (Fall 2018)
At Paris Descartes University (2009-2013), I used to teach in the Statistics and Business Intelligence Dpt. of IUT STID:
- - Business Intelligence, lecturer (Fall 2013)
- - OOP with Java, lecturer (Fall 2009-2013) see the animated project page !
- - XHTML/CSS, lecturer (Spring 2010, Spring 2011)
- - Relational Databases, lecturer (Winter 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2013)
Research and Administrative Duties
Committees:
- - Fund committees: FRQNT "Relève professorale" (2021), IVADO PhD Grant (2019), FQRNT "Projet de recherche en équipe" (2012), NSERC Discovery Grant (2016)
- - Academic position juries: Polytechnique/TransMedTech (2019), University of Caen (2012), Paris Descartes (2011)
- - Poly's GI DESS/M.Sc. admission: 2018-present
- - Poly's GIGL Research committee: 2018-present
- - Poly's GIGL Graduate Studies committee: 2016-2018
- - Poly's GIGL Outreach committee: 2014-2016
- - Poly's best thesis manuscript committee: 2014
Student's jurys:
- - PhD juries: Maryam Khani (2023/10), Maxence Hébert-Lavoie (2023), Félix Harvey (2021/04), Nicolas Gonthier (2021/03), Mohamed Mhiri (2018/11), Fantin Girard (2018/05), Samira Ebrahimi Kahou (2016/07), Jocelyn Benoit (2016), Catherine Sauvaget (2011)
- - PhD Comprehensive exam juries: Gabriel Lepetit-Aimon (2019/09), Soufiane Lamghari (2019/05), Nizar El Zarif (2017/02), Pierre-Luc Saint-Charles (2015/02)
- - MSc juries: Mitra Lashkari (2023/08), Rémi Nahon (2021/12), François Léonard (2021/08), Raphaël Royer-Rivard (2021/02), Youri Peskine (2020/08), Nasim Sharbatdar (2020/08), Alexandre Pineault (2019/12), Maude Carrier (2018/12), Clément Playout (2018/08), Edoukou Philippe Armel N'techobo (2016/07), François-Xavier Derue (2016/04), Thanh Vân Phan (2015/07), Anis Benyoub (2015/11), David Ménard (2014/04)
Reviews etc.:
- - Journals: Guest Editor@Journal of Applied Science (2023), ACM SIGGRAPH (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019), ACM SIGGRAPH Asia (2013, 2016), TVCJ (2016), EG (2013), Pacific Graphics (2011-2012), ACM TOG (2011), Computer&Graphics (2012, 2018, 2019), IEEE PAMI (2010), IJPRAI (2008-2009), INS Information Sciences (2008)
- - Conferences: ICPRAI (2020), EG (2020), ACM NPAR/Expressive (2010-2013, 2018, 2019), IEEE WOSSPA (2013), IEEE ISSPA (2012), IEEE NEWCAS (2012), IEEE ROSE (2011)