The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Washington State University, in cooperation with the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), will host the Data Science and Image Analysis Conference of the Pacific Northwest in Pullman, Washington, February 29th and March 1st, 2020. As part of the conference's mission to increase diversity in STEM, please visit the Student Proposals page for information on submitting a presentation proposal or applying for a travel award for students, postdocs, and early career researchers, as provided for by a National Science Foundation (NSF) conference grant. The organizers strongly encourage women and members of underrepresented groups to apply.

The conference will promote close collaborations on current and ongoing areas of research through a highly interactive and open format. The first day will have professionals from industry, government, and academia in the fields of data science and image analysis come together, along with students and post-doctoral researchers, to collaborate on open problems through short talks, in-depth group discussions, and breakout sessions. The second day will consist of professional development activities for students and junior researchers, with a special focus on women and members of underrepresented groups, and will feature presentations, with direct feedback provided from professionals. The conference will provide a unique opportunity for students and junior researchers to participate and will encourage future collaborations among all levels of researchers. Possible topics include topological data analysis, bioinformatics, learning from remote sensing data, financial & economic prediction, image segmentation and filtering in biomedical imaging, hyperspectral imaging, pattern recognition, shape analysis, image reconstruction, and more.

The ever-increasing demand for managing and analyzing “big data” in nearly every sector of society, from finance and security to health care and social media, has led to a wide range of applications across numerous fields of research. Similarly, image analysis techniques have continued to be developed and incorporated into a multitude of disciplines, such as biomedical imaging, machine learning, and computer vision. Since many important societal outcomes are dependent on these fields, the conference hopes to make a broad impact by widely sharing the progress made on the open problems discussed.

With the demand for experts in these areas growing rapidly, the conference also seeks to increase the number of researchers entering STEM fields, especially women and members of underrepresented groups, by offering professional development and introductory workshops. These shall serve as a practical and theoretical introduction to these disciplines, and panel discussions will provide timely career advice. And organizations, such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will be on-site to speak with students interested in pursuing careers in data science and image analysis.

Organizing Committee:

• Laramie Paxton, Chair, Washington State University
• Viktoria Taroudaki, Co-chair, Eastern Washington University
• Justin Marks, Co-chair, Biola University
• Charles Moore, Co-chair, Washington State University

Please contact the organizers at datascienceconference@gmail.com with any questions.

A very special thank you to the conference sponsors:

• Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University
• Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
• National Science Foundation (NSF)

Inclusion Statements

In an effort to make the conference accessible to all attendees, we ask for your cooperation in being fragrance-free. Please refrain from using fragranced personal care products–such as perfumes, colognes, perfumed lotions, etc.–on the day of the event. We thank you in advance for your efforts to support your colleagues. If we can support your inclusion at the conference in any way, please contact us at datascienceconference@gmail.com with any questions or requests for disability-related accommodations. We are committed to doing all that we can to support your full participation.

*It is the policy of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) that all participants in AWM activities will enjoy a welcoming environment that is free from all forms of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. As a professional organization, the AWM is committed to fostering an atmosphere that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas. In pursuit of that ideal, the AWM is committed to the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment for all AWM members and participants in AWM-sponsored events, regardless of gender, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or religious belief, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities, veteran status, or any other reason not related to scientific merit. Harassment, sexual or otherwise, is a form of misconduct that undermines the integrity of AWM activities.