Category: News

• WRF Perfect Pitch & Poster Session a Success

  

  By Robin Brooks The Washington Research Foundation (WRF) Perfect Pitch and Poster Contest was held on Tuesday, July 12th in the HUB South Ballroom. Participants from all four of the WRF-funded research institutes at the University of Washington competed in the event, which challenges contestants to improve their communication skills. All competitors conveyed their research visually through…

• Meet the 2016 Data Science for Social Good fellows

  

  By Robin Brooks Their schools, goals, specialties, countries and backgrounds vary. So what compels 16 college students to work full-time for a summer analyzing data? The eScience Institute‘s Data Science for Social Good program allows fellows the opportunity to develop new skills, learn from one another, and receive guidance from top-notch scientists on their project…

• eScience Institute’s Ed Lazowska in the news

  

  By Robin Brooks Ed Lazowska, eScience Institute founding director, has been featured recently in the press on a variety of science-related topics. Lazowska is quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Apple’s new “differential privacy” technology, as well as in the Puget Sound Business Journal on the need for expansion of UW’s computer science program. “Student interest in computer science is…

• Nascent ImageXD event successful

  

  By Robin Brooks The University of California, Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) recently hosted the inaugural ImageXD event, a topical group focused on image processing. ImageXD offered a unique opportunity for researchers who use images as a primary source of data to gather together to collaborate, problem-solve, network and learn new skills. A breakout session…

• Data Science for Social Good Program kicks off

  

  By Robin Brooks The eScience Institute’s Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) program is in full swing this summer, with fellows from eight different universities participating in four data-intensive research projects. This year’s teams are focused on urban science, with each group aiming to extract and comprehend relevant, usable information out of data from metropolitan…

• Viziometrics: a search engine for scientific images

  

  While good graphics are considered a critical component of an effective scientific paper, literature search engines have historically been text or citation based. This week the MIT Technology Review highlighted the first visual search engine for scientific diagrams – Viziometrics. The team behind this pioneering project includes Electrical Engineering Ph.D. student Po-Shen Lee, iSchool professor and…

• Sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics

  

  Data Science Fellow Steven Brunton and colleagues recently published a paper in PNAS applying machine learning to dynamical systems and control in engineering. This work involves a novel approach to discovering governing equations from data. Video abstract:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSCa78TIldg Paper [open access]:  http://www.pnas.org/content/113/15/3932.abstract

• Monarch butterfly migration cues depend on the Sun

  

  Eli Shlizerman, Data Science Fellow and Assistant Professor in Applied Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, and his biologist colleagues published a model for a sun compass used by monarch butterflies for navigation during their annual migration. Modeling data from butterfly neurons in the attennae and eyes, they identified that input cues from the Sun alone can…

• The Data Science Incubator: a unique environment for geospatial data science education

  

  Anthony Arendt, eScience Institute Data Science Fellow and Applied Physics Laboratory Senior Research Scientist, contributed an American Geophysical Union blog post about two Earth sciences projects that were part of the recently completed 2016 Winter Data Science Incubator. He notes that this program provides a novel approach to addressing the urgent challenge of offering education…

• Panama Papers Leak

  

  USA Today quoted eScience Associate Director Bill Howe  in an April 5th article about the 11.5 million documents recently leaked from a Panamanian law firm pertaining to hidden offshore accounts and business transactions. Howe notes that cloud computing as well as openly available software for translation, indexing, and data mining now make quick work of…