Jonathan Schwabish

Biography

Jonathan Schwabish is a visiting lecturer at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research institution in Washington, D.C., and founder of the data visualization and presentation skills firm PolicyViz. At Urban, he is a researcher in the Tax and Income Supports Division and a member of the institute's communications team, where he specializes in data visualization and presentation design. His research primarily focuses on issues related to nutrition and disability policy.

Schwabish is considered a leader in the data visualization field and a leading voice for clarity and accessibility in research. He has written on various aspects of data visualization, including technical approaches to creation, design best practices and ways to communicate social science research more accessibly. He speaks widely on data visualization, open data and data use in organizations.

Schwabish teaches data visualization and presentation skills at Georgetown University and American University, as well as in public workshops and for private clients through his consulting firm, PolicyViz. He also hosts the PolicyViz Podcast, which focuses on data, open data and data visualization. He is the author of four books — Better Presentations, Elevate the Debate, Better Data Visualizations and Data Visualization in Excel — which provide practical guidance for people looking to improve how they create, present and communicate data-rich content. His forthcoming book, Thoughtful Data: A Guide to Empathy and Equity in Data Communication, co-authored with Alice Feng, is scheduled for release ​in 2026.

Academic Degrees

• PhD Syracuse University
• MA Syracuse University
• MA Johns Hopkins University
• BA University of Wisconsin, Madison