‘Datapalooza’: Day of Data Science at U.Va. to be Held Friday

The University of Virginia’s Data Science Institute and the Office of the Vice President for Research will host “Datapalooza” on Sept. 18 at Newcomb Hall, an event showcasing initiatives, research, resources, services and outreach at the University centered around the compilation and analysis of large data sets.

Datapalooza will feature speakers, panels, presentations and an open resource fair, all dealing with the so-called “big data” revolution.

The free event, open to the U.Va. community and the public, will provide an opportunity to understand and experience the range of units, departments, centers and other organizations that use large data sets and offer data resources to faculty, students and researchers.

“We are excited to highlight the wide range of collaborative data science activities by faculty, students and other researchers across Grounds, and to facilitate opportunities for more networking and collaboration,” said Don Brown, director of the Data Science Institute and professor of systems and information engineering. “We also want to introduce people working at the frontiers of data science to the University at large. Data science is interdisciplinary with insights that can speak to any field of investigation.”

Part of the event is the kickoff of this year’s Distinguished Lecture Series in Data Science. Linda Abraham, co-founder of comScore, a leading Internet technology company that provides digital measurement and analytics to industries worldwide, will give her talk, “Data + Entrepreneur = Datapreneur?,” at 3:45 p.m. in Minor Hall, room 125.

To register for Datapalooza, see the full schedule and learn about the speakers and panelists, click here.

The day’s events begin at 8:30 a.m. with on-site registration (online pre-registration is preferred by the organizers) and a continental breakfast in Newcomb Hall. At 9:15 a.m. Stanford University English professor Mark Algee-Hewitt will present the keynote address, “Read-Write-Respond: Data, Affect and Narrative.”

The Data Science Institute’s Centers of Excellence Panel, featuring the directors of the institute’s five centers, will hold a session at 10:30 a.m, followed at 11:30 by a session highlighting data research across Grounds, featuring presentations from 10 schools.

A Research Highlights Mix and Mingle will be held at 12:30 p.m., while exhibitors present at an Open Resource Fair. At 1 p.m., U.Va.’s Career and Professional Development office will host a Data in Industry panel discussion. At 2 p.m., panelists will spotlight U.Va.’s computing infrastructure – specifically, the Rivanna and Ivy computer clusters.

At 2:30, U.Va.’s Presidential Fellows in Data Science will present and discuss their research. After Abraham’s 3:45 lecture, Datapalooza will conclude with a 4:30 p.m. reception in the Minor Hall lobby.