Agenda

Schedule April 28:

4:00-4:10 Welcome by WiDS co-ambassador Iulia Voina

4:10-4:40 Keynote talk: "Application of Data on Products: 5 ways data is used today" Ishita Ganotra (Facebook)

Intro and Q&A moderation led by Emma Lasky (Dept. of Statistics, Planning Committee Member)

4:40-5:10 Lightning talks on data science research by Virginia Tech students:

  • "Differential Expression Analysis and Modeling of T Cell Differentiation Pathways," Elizabeth Duncan (Undergraduate, Mathematics and Statistics)

  • "Self-Supervised Learning of Contextual Embeddings for Link Prediction in Heterogeneous Networks," Ping Wang (Graduate student, Computer Science)

  • "Molecular Docking for Amyloid Beta Inhibition," Hailey Olsen (Undergraduate, Biochemistry)

  • "Connecting Critical Infrastructure through Explainable and Network-based Machine Learning Models," Anika Tabassum (Graduate student, Computer Science)

5:10-5:55 Career panel moderated by WiDS co-ambassadors Carrie Choi and Alyza Keo

  • Anne Berres (Oak Ridge National Lab)

  • Sara Amin (Walmart/Sam's Club)

  • Eileen Vidrine (US Air Force)

5:55-6:00 Wrapup by Miranda Manka (Dept. of Statistics, Planning Committee Member)


Schedule April 29:

4:00-4:10 Welcome by Rylee Sweeney (CMDA Program, Planning Committee Member)

4:10-4:40 Birds-of-a-feather discussions:

  • Uncertainty in Data Science (facilitated by Aimee Maurais, graduate student at MIT and VT alum)

  • Algorithmic Bias and Data Science in Healthcare (facilitated by Anne Brown, Department of Biochemistry at VT)

  • Graduate Programs in Data Science (facilitated by Tom Woteki, Department of Statistics and Director of Academy of Data Science)

  • Human Roles in Data Science (facilitated by Leanna House, Department of Statistics at VT)

  • Working with Survey Data and Strategies for Reproducibility and Documenting Data Science Workflows (shared discussion room, facilitated by Miranda Manka and Emma Lasky, Department of Statistics)

  • "Data Science in Engineering with a focus on Smart Cities/Internet of Things" (facilitated by Rodrigo Sarlo, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

  • Finding Your First Data Science Job (facilitated by Iulia Voina, Department of Statistics)

4:45-5:45 Tutorial talk: "Common Data Visualization Mistakes" Michelle Maraj (Lyft)

Intro and Q&A moderation led by Christina Tran (Dept. of Physics and CMDA, Planning Committee Member)

5:45-6:00 Overview of WiDS global resources, student organizations at Virginia Tech for students getting into data science, and closing remarks by Rylee Sweeney (CMDA Program, Planning Committee Member)