DDDI is thrilled to sponsor the 10th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2) being held this summer, July 17-20, at the University of Pennsylvania. IC2S2 brings together social, computational, complexity, and network scientists working at the frontiers of computational social science to explore transformative solutions for societal challenges.
- Call for Abstracts
- The deadline to submit an abstract is February 24th. IC2S2 welcomes diverse contributions that push the boundaries of computational social science.
- Call for Tutorials
- The tutorial submission deadline is January 19th. From methodological insights to disciplinary overviews, IC2S2 invites comprehensive tutorials at the intersection of the social sciences, computer science, and statistics.
For more information and up-to-date deadlines, visit the IC2S2 Conference website.
DDDI Announces new Data Science Careers Program
Coming Spring 2024!
The Data Driven Discovery Initiative (DDDI) is excited to announce the launch of its new Data Science Careers program. This new program will help students explore the wide variety of data driven careers that exist across industry, government, and non-governmental organizations. The program will offer a new panel series bringing data science professionals to Penn this Spring, and will work with Penn alumni to identify new data driven internship opportunities for Penn students, starting with a few opportunities this summer. DDDI will hold its first industry jobs panel in late February of 2024 in partnership with Penn’s College Alumni Mentoring Service (CAMS).
More Details Coming Soon
All interested students are invited to take part in these opportunities. We encourage you to visit DDDI’s website at https://web.sas.upenn.edu/data-science for updates. While only a handful of internship opportunities are likely to be available this first year, we encourage you to register your interest with us and we will keep you in mind as we grow our network of opportunities in the future.
For inquiries and further information, please contact:
Dr. Colin Twomey
411 McNeil Building
3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6286
crtwomey@sas.upenn.edu
About the Data Driven Discovery Initiative: The Data Driven Discovery Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania is dedicated to advancing research and education in data science and analytics. Through innovative projects, partnerships, and programs, we are shaping the future of data-driven innovation at Penn and around the world.
Visit our website at https://web.sas.upenn.edu/data-science
The Data Driven Discovery Initiative is hosting a panel discussion on generative AI entitled “ChatGPT turns one: How is generative AI reshaping science?”
What kinds of discoveries will generative AI enable? Penn faculty will discuss fascinating new advances in the natural and social sciences enabled by generative AI. They will consider which areas of science will be completely transformed, which will be augmented in new directions, and which will carry on as they always have, untouched by generative AI. Which new questions will be tackled that previously were only topics of speculative discussion?
Tools like ChatGPT may also change the process of doing science, from writing to reviewing to communicating findings to the public. What might the new scientific process look like?
The level of discussion will be accessible to any student in SAS.
A live stream of the discussion and a recording of the event will be made available (please see below for more information).
Panelists:
Also featuring:
Date: Thursday, November 30th, 2023
Time: 2:30 – 4pm
Location: Blank Forum (Room 250, PCPSE Building 2nd floor)
Live stream: Available via zoom.
Recording:
The Data Driven Discovery Initiative will hold its very first seminar Friday, November 10th, at noon in the SAIL Room (111 Levin Building), in partnership with MindCORE, and will feature Andrew Hein. Andrew uses modern ML methods to understand collective behaviors in animal groups, integrating lab work, field data, and theory.
If you’re a graduate student or postdoc please also consider joining for Andrew’s lunch immediately following the seminar. Email Jessica Marcus to sign up. Andrew has very broad interests and is a great person to chat with, so please do not hesitate to join.
Friday 11/10 at 12pm – DDDI + MindCORE Seminar
Title: Behavioral algorithms: searching for principles of flexible, robust behavior in the natural world
Speaker: Andrew Hein (Cornell, Dept. of Computational Biology)
Organizers: MindCORE + DDDI
Date: Friday, November 10th, 2023
Time: 12pm – 1:30pm
Location: SAIL Room (111 Levin Building)
Abstract: A dominant paradigm in the analysis of behavior is to separate “the brain” of an individual from “the environment” to which that individual is responding. Yet, in nature, many behaviors involve interactions with other organisms that are, themselves, generating dynamic and responsive behavior. The existence of such feedbacks between interacting brains significantly complicates analysis and interpretation of natural behavior, but these feedbacks are also undoubtedly important in driving the evolution of behavior and the neural computations that support it. My lab studies how organisms make decisions during ecological interactions — interactions with predators, prey, group-mates, and competitors. In this context, feedbacks abound, and the challenge for the brain is generating behaviors that are responsive while at the same time being robust and controllable. I will discuss our investigations in this area and some of the principles they are beginning to reveal.
A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage.
This Fall, DDDI is working together with the Research Data & Digital Scholarship librarians to develop two new programs at Penn. One fostering student-led data driven projects within the Penn community, and the second an AI Interest Group discussing applications and issues surrounding new advances in generative AI. Please join us for the first meeting in each series on September 26th and November 7th, respectively.
September 26th at 2pm
Speed Networking for Data Driven Research & Digital Scholarship
Meet like-minded student researchers and build a community around data and digital projects of all kinds. This is a unique opportunity to build and expand your network for professional growth and development, learn about research projects that include data and/or digital elements from the source. Refreshments will be provided. Mingle with friends and meet new ones. Led by RDDS librarian Jaj Karajgikar, for more information about this event and how to register, visit the RDDS page for the event, here. Please note that registration is required.
November 7th at 10am
AI Ethics and Sentiment Analysis
Recent developments in AI have made automated tools for sentiment analysis — the detection of positive and negative sentiment in writing and speech — capable of detecting toxic language in social media. But what are the limitations of these methods, and who gets to decide what language is toxic? Join us for a discussion on these issues led by RDDS librarian Stephen Hall. More information about the event and how to register can be found on the RDDS page for the event, here.
Photo credit: Penn Libraries’ new Research Data & Digital Scholarship Exchange (RDDSx) space.
