The Data Science Conference will be held at the ÐÔ°®ÎåÉ«Ìì, Reno for the second time with the goal of learning about the latest trends surrounding data science and to connect leaders such as students and researchers.
“After the incredible success of last year’s conference with over 300 participants, we’re back,” Juli Petereit, director of the Nevada Bioinformatics Center, said. “We hope attendees leave inspired, equipped with new knowledge, and with expanded professional networks. It's a space to share ideas, discuss challenges, and discover solutions that drive innovation in data science.”
This year, the conference kicks off on Feb. 18 at the Joe Crowley Student Union, with sessions and workshops taking place through Feb. 20.
Three full days will give participants the opportunity to attend panel discussions, workshops, poster sessions, keynote and lightning talks and network with others.
The conference will feature a variety of interactive sessions, including a Python crash course, a hands-on workshop on mastering UNIX and command-line skills, and an introduction to version control with GitHub. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with Amazon Web Services, learn how to create automated and reproducible data pipelines with Nextflow, and participate in a panel discussion exploring diverse career paths in data science.
Reflecting on last year’s conference Petereit noted, “Interactive sessions, such as hands-on workshops and Q & A panels, were the most engaging for participants. The poster sessions sparked meaningful conversations, and attendees valued the practical takeaways they could apply from the workshops.”
Aside the many sessions, there will also be keynote speakers. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, Martin Krzywinski, a staff scientist at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, will be presenting, “Data speaks for itself, but what is it saying? Crafting visual explanations of complex ideas,” in which he will share his experiences in bringing together science and art visualization. In addition, he will be running a workshop, “Explain Visually, Explain Well.”
The other keynote speaker is Snehit Prabhu, a chief data scientist at the Stanford Cancer Institute. On Wednesday, Feb. 19, he will present, “How data & AI are transforming cancer detection, prevention, and treatment,” in which he will discuss the journey of cutting-edge cancer treatments and the role that enterprise data ecosystems play in helping make progress.
Additionally, Ankita Shukla, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the ÐÔ°®ÎåÉ«Ìì, Reno, will be the plenary speaker during Wednesday’s conference, focusing on AI for science and social good, specifically looking at human health and wildlife conservation.
All events are free to attend, and are supported by the Data Science Initiative, backed by a Nevada INBRE supplemental award (GM103440) for building data science capacity, and the Research & Innovation division.
If you are interested in attending, the deadline to register is on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, by 11:59 p.m.
If you would like to help with the Data Science Initiative at the University, taking this assists in assessing the current comprehension of data science at the institution in order to improve future data science events.
Please email datascienceinitiative@unr.edu with any questions.
