The University of Nevada, Reno’s new Data Science Initiative strives to expand and improve the understanding of data science, representing the evolution from “big data” of the past decade.

“Data science is a contemporary buzzword and it aims to harness vast data resources to drive decision-making and innovation across academic and industrial sectors,” Juli Petereit, director of the Nevada Bioinformatics Center, said. "By integrating computer science, statistics, mathematics and domain-specific expertise, data science tackles real-world challenges in diverse fields like pharmaceuticals, business, social science, healthcare, finance and research.”

The University’s Data Science Initiative launched a climate survey last fall, gathering feedback and suggestions to help tailor the program and plan a conference.

Experts, researchers and students will gather on March 7 and 8, 2024, in the Joe Crowley Student Union for the inaugural Data Science Conference.

"Our goal is to create a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange and highlight the diverse and impactful data science programs available on our campus,” Petereit said. “Ultimately, data science empowers the extraction of actionable insights from complex datasets, facilitating informed decision-making and fostering cross-disciplinary innovation.”

The conference features two full days of activities. The first conference day, March 7, will include internationally renowned keynote speakers, faculty lightning talks, two-panel discussions, a showcase of academic programs and networking session with poster presentations. On March 8, an array of workshops will be offered including R, Python, Introduction to Research Computing, Amazon SageMaker and more.

The two keynote speakers are Bridget Algee-Hewitt and Tshaka Cunningham.

Algee-Hewitt is a computational biologist and anthropologist. Her keynote will challenge the divisive, binary discourse in research, advocating ‘bilingual’ conversations: quant vs qual, science vs social, numbers vs letters. Through a series of case studies, she will demonstrate how rigorous data science and broad humanistic thinking can come together to address questions that have gone unresolved under single-voice approaches.

Cunningham, a molecular biologist, stands up for diversity in genomics. His keynote will focus on boosting diversity in genomics research, particularly involving underrepresented minorities in precision medicine. Successful strategies for diversity and inclusion in population genomics studies will be shared, alongside innovative community engagement approaches.

"The presentations and topics offered at the conference all spurred from feedback on the Data Science survey and from the outreach work through the Data Science Initiative,” Josh Baker, Associate Vice President for Research, said. “This very first Data Science Conference is a wonderful opportunity for our campus and research community to learn even more about data science.”

The conference is free to attend. The registration fee is funded by the Nevada INBRE Data Science Initiative, backed by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and by sponsors including Amazon Web Services and IBM.

The deadline to register for the Data Science Conference is Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Sign up for one or more of the training events, workshops and roundtables by by Friday, March 1. Conference registration is not a requirement to participate in the workshops.

In addition to the campus conference, the Initiative is offering student travel grants to support participation in conferences nationwide. Award information, application and dates are available online.

If you have any questions, email datascienceinitiative@unr.edu.