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8-Week Seminar: Using Data Science to understand COVID-19

Registration now open for Summer +DataScience sessions; no prior experience necessary

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Having delivered over 70 in-person learning experiences to the Duke community in the past two years, +Data Science will now offer its summer 2020 seminar series virtually, beginning June 30, via Zoom.

The eight-week COVID+DS series will be an opportunity for faculty, students, and staff to learn about data science from leading experts at Duke as they work with direct applications to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Data science continues to play a foundational role across nearly all fields of study at Duke,” said Lawrence Carin, vice president for Research. “Offering our summer program virtually will bring together our community of faculty and students in an unprecedented way to enable those who could benefit from incorporating data science into their research. We are excited to meet online starting next week to employ data science across Duke at all levels tailored to our community’s needs, level of expertise, and interests.”

Key Elements of the Analytical Toolbox for Understanding COVID-Related Data, the first seminar offered in the series, will provide an introduction to the emerging field of data science using the R software language, including data analysis and visualization, with a particular focus on its utility for insights in COVID-19.

“The ability to make rapid, data-driven decisions is a key component for prioritizing COVID-19 research, treatments, and public health initiatives,” said Matthew Hirschey, associate professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition and Pharmacology & Cancer Biology. “Attendees will be provided with COVID-19 dataset examples and introduced to R packages and code used to examine data. Particular attention will be paid to code interpretation and data provenance methods by learning to generate reproducible data output files.”

Registration Information

Registration is required for each online seminar. No prior knowledge of data science or computer programming is assumed; laptops are required. All registrants will receive an e-mail with a link and meeting information the day before each registered session. Register for a session here.