Appendix C — Academic Contributions and Professional Engagement

C.1 Planning and design software

In addition to the completed methods and software presented in this thesis, a large amount of exploratory planning and design work went into the development of the R packages quollr (Figure C.1) and cardinalR (Figure C.2), as well as the Shiny application menuraR (Figure C.3). This includes personal working sheets, sketches, and early conceptual diagrams that show how initial ideas gradually evolved into the implemented software tools.

Photographs of handwritten and sketched working sheets used during the early planning of the quollr R package. The pages contain rough notes that explore diagnostic ideas and evaluation strategies, illustrating the progression from initial conceptual sketches to a structured software design.
Figure C.1: Working sheets used during the planning and development of quollr, showing how early ideas evolved into a diagnostic R package.
Working sheet documenting the development of the cardinalR package. The sheets include hand-drawn cluster diagrams, mathematical notes, parameter tables, and pseudocode outlining data generation strategies. These materials show how exploratory ideas were iteratively refined into a coherent framework for simulating high-dimensional data.
Figure C.2: Working sheets used during the planning and development of cardinalR, documenting the evolution of data generation strategies into software.
Working sheet from the planning and design phase of the menuraR Shiny application. The pages show hand-drawn interface layouts, workflow diagrams, and notes linking user interactions to analytical outputs, illustrating how early conceptual designs were developed into a functional interactive visualization tool.
Figure C.3: Working sheets used in the planning and design of menuraR, showing how initial concepts were refined into a functional Shiny application.

C.2 Software names

Each software name is inspired by an animal. quollr is named after the quoll, a carnivorous, curious, and endangered marsupial from Australia. cardinalR is inspired by the North American cardinal bird. menuraR comes from Australia’s lyrebirds (Menura), famous for their elaborate courtship displays and extraordinary ability to mimic sounds.

C.3 Presentations

I presented my research work at 12^{th}-Conference of the Asian Regional Section of the International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC-ARS 2023) (Wollongon, Australia), Australian Statistical Conference (ASC 2023) (Wollongon, Australia), Bioinformatics Seminar 2024, Victorian branch of the Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society (VicANZIAM) 2024 (RMIT university, Melbourne, Australia), Faculty of BusEco Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition 2024, useR! 2024 (Salzburg, Austria), Graphics Group Presentation 2024 (Nebraska, USA), UNO Data Science Club 2024 (Omaha, USA), Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2025 (Nashville, USA), useR! 2025 (Durham, USA), Biometrics in the Bush Capital (BIBC2025) (Canberra, Australia), and Australian Statistical Conference (ASC 2025) (Perth, Western Australia) (Figure C.6).

C.4 Visiting

In July 2024, I had the privilege of visiting A/Prof Ursula Laa at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU University), accompanied by Prof Di Cook, Prof Eun-Kyung Lee, and Dr Natalia da Silva. During this visit, I engaged with academic staff, students, and fellow visitors at BOKU University, gaining valuable insights into their research and receiving constructive feedback on my work and its potential contributions to ongoing projects (Figure C.6 Vienna).

From late October to late December 2024, I visited Prof Heike Hofmann, A/Prof Susan VanderPlas, and Dr Michelle Graham at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA (UNL) (Figure C.6 Nebraska). During this time, I presented my research on high-dimensional data visualization and dimension reduction techniques, participated in the Nebraska R User Group meetings, and joined discussions with the Graphics Group, which provided rich opportunities for collaboration and learning.

These visits were invaluable for broadening my perspective, fostering meaningful exchanges with experts, and deepening my understanding of dynamic visualization and multivariate data analysis. I also explored several resources that informed my work, including research on dynamic tours for high-dimensional data, parallel coordinate plots, perceptual accuracy in visualizations, and interactive visualization tools such as langevitour and tourr.

C.5 Academic service & community engagement

During my PhD, I contributed to the academic and statistical communities through service, leadership, and outreach, supporting inclusive research and knowledge exchange. My roles include NUMBATs Seminar Organizer (Monash University, 2025), Session Chair at useR! 2024 (Salzburg) and ASC 2023 (Wollongong), Tutorial Helper for WOMBATs Tutorials (Monash University, 2022), and organizer for R-Ladies Melbourne (2023). These activities let me connect with diverse audiences, support early-career researchers, and share ideas about stats and computational methods.

C.6 Workshops

I have been part of delivering and preparing materials for workshops on Reproducible Reporting and Research with Quarto (September 2025) and Reproducible Reporting, Academic Papers, Presentations, and Theses with Quarto (July 2025), contributing to hands-on training for researchers on reproducible practices and effective research communication (Figure C.4).

A set of photographs from the Reproducible Reporting and Research with Quarto workshop held in September 2025. Images show the presenter leading sessions, participants working on laptops, and slides or screens displaying code and documents, illustrating an interactive, hands-on training environment focused on reproducible research and academic writing.
Figure C.4: Moments from delivering the Reproducible Reporting and Research with Quarto workshop in September 2025, highlighting interactive, hands-on training in reproducible research and academic writing.

C.7 Mentoring

In July 2025, I had the privilege of serving as a coach in the Monash Innovation Guarantee Postgraduate (MIG-P) program (Figure C.5). Over three inspiring weeks, I worked with a diverse cohort of master’s students as they tackled real-world, industry-defined challenges. It was an incredible experience to support their journey from exploration and ideation through to prototyping and pitching—witnessing their creativity, resilience, and ability to thrive in ambiguity.

Photographs capturing mentoring activities with master’s students in the Monash Innovation Guarantee Postgraduate (MIG-P) program in July 2025. The images show small groups of students engaged in discussion, collaborative problem solving, and creative planning around tables or whiteboards, reflecting team-based project work.
Figure C.5: Moments from mentoring master’s students in the Monash Innovation Guarantee Postgraduate (MIG-P) program (July 2025), highlighting collaboration, creativity, and team-based problem solving.

C.8 Additional contributions

I contributed to open-source software development by co-supervising the creation of the polarisR package (Yadav et al. 2025) during a Google Summer of Code project with Dr. Ursula Laa and Prof. Eun-Kyung Lee, whom I met during my visit to the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria. polarisR is a Shiny application for diagnosing 2\text{-}D NLDR layouts using the quollr implementation. It also supports comparing how the data appear in high dimensions through various tour methods, including scatter, sage, and slice.

C.9 Teaching

I have contributed to teaching a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in statistics, data analysis, and machine learning. These include Statistical Thinking ([ETC5242], 2025; [ETC2420], 2025), Introduction to Data Analysis ([ETC5510], 2024; [ETC1010], 2024), Introduction to Machine Learning ([ETC3250], 2023–2024; [ETC5250], 2023–2025), and Exploratory Data Analysis ([ETC5521], 2023).

C.10 Final thoughts

This journey has been as much about exploring the unknown as it has been about developing resilience and insight along the way. I am deeply grateful for the people, places, and lessons that have shaped both this work and the path forward.

A world map highlighting locations associated with the PhD journey. Markers indicate research visits, conferences, and academic engagements across Australia, Austria, and the United States, including Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Perth; Salzburg and Vienna; and sites in Nebraska and Tennessee. Additional images or insets show moments from conferences, collaborations, and software dissemination activities at these locations.
Figure C.6: Geographic footprint of the PhD journey, highlighting research visits, conferences, and academic engagements across Australia, Austria, and the United States. Locations include Salzburg and Vienna (Austria), Nebraska and Tennessee (USA), and Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Perth (Australia), alongside moments from conferences, collaborations, and software dissemination.