CDSE Days spotlight importance of data science

by Cory Nealon

Those are just some of the topics to be discussed at CDSE Days, an annual conference the UB Institute for Computational and Data Sciences hosts to connect students, faculty, local professionals and others with some of the nation’s preeminent scholars of computational and data-enabled science.

The three-day, virtual event, from March 30 to April 1, consists of hands-on workshops and keynote presentations. Speakers represent organizations as varied as Intel and Microsoft to the Buffalo Sabres, the University of Toronto and UB.

“As the range of speakers and discussion topics show, the field of computational science is incredibly far-reaching,” says E. Bruce Pitman, interim director of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) and a professor in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

“Each year, we try to highlight this diversity and provide the UB community, as well as Western New York, with a forum that showcases how big data and high-performance computing are essential to scientific progress, economic competitiveness, national security, medicine and other critical issues the world is facing.”

Among the highlights on this year’s program are hands-on tutorials from:

• Sharat Chikkerur, principal data science lead for Microsoft, who will provide guidance on Azure Machine Learning, a platform for developers and data scientists to build machine learning services in the cloud and on the edge.
• Andrew Crooks, professor in the Department of Geography and a faculty member of the RENEW Institute, and Sara Metcalf, associate professor in the Department of Geography, who will provide a tutorial introducing the method of agent-based modeling.
• Rachel Oberman, artificial intelligence technical consulting software engineer at Intel, will provide instruction on how to achieve faster Python with minimal or no coding changes.

The symposium features presentations on quantum computing — how to do it and what it might be used for — and on computational and analytic methods to study epidemics. Another presentation will discuss how massive datasets and machine learning turn into recommendations that are fed to us on websites.

A roundtable session discussing the role of data in professional sports will feature Helen Drew, director of UB’s Center for the Advancement in Sport and professor of practice at the School of Law; Gerry Meehan, former general manager and senior vice president with the Buffalo Sabres; and Jason Nightingale, assistant director of scouting and director of analytics with the Buffalo Sabres.

The Institute for Computational and Data Sciences brings together faculty in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Management, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the School of Public Health and Health Professions, and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

It works directly with UB’s nationally recognized supercomputing facility, the Center for Computational Research (CCR), and provides educational programs to train data science students and professionals at different levels. The ICDS attracts new graduate students to UB and enhances research opportunities for institute-affiliated faculty members.