Congratulations to Himabindu Lakkaraju on receiving this year's J.P. Morgan Faculty Award for her team's work on the practical and ethical risks of explainable AI!
To drink or not to drink? Listen to the latest HDSR Podcast episode to find out what the data tells us about how consuming alcohol affects our health.
View the list of exciting data science-related events taking place at Harvard in the coming months!
Harvard is hiring! Check out the list of recently posted full-time job opportunities and postdoctoral opportunities below.
All the best,
The Harvard Data Science Initiative
Latest HDSR Podcast
To Drink or Not to Drink: Can Data Help Us Decide?
Episode 20 of the Harvard Data Science Review Podcast
The effects of drinking is a constant news headline. Every month or so, there seems to be a new study released that weighs the benefits and risks of drinking alcohol. Is some level of alcohol good for your health or should everyone completely avoid drinking? On today’s episode we invited two experts with differing views on alcohol consumption to help us examine the data and decide.
Episode Guests:
Emmanuela Gakidou, Professor of Health Metrics Sciences and Senior Director of Organizational Development and Training at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
Eric Rimm, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Director of the Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.
A new study co-authored by HDSI Faculty Affiliate Faisal Mahmood and researchers from the Mahmood Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital reveals a proof-of-concept model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to combine multiple types of data from different sources to predict patient outcomes for 14 different types of cancer.
Trust in Science Workshop 2022
Vaccine Hesitancy: Between Mistrust and Miracle
Thursday, September 8 and Friday, September 9
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST and 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST
Location: Cambridge and Allston
Hosted by the Program on Science, Technology and Society (STS) at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Data Science Initiative
The Trust in Science Workshop 2022, "Vaccine Hesitancy: Between Miracle and Mistrust" will be hosted in-person at Harvard University on September 8 and 9, 2022. This year’s workshop explores the ways in which research on issues related to trust in science can illuminate the concerns that led to vaccine hesitancy, and vice versa. The event will include a mix of panel discussions and hands-on engagement with groups that have been funded through the Harvard Trust in Science Project since it was established in 2020.
Thursday, September 8 Locatin: Science Center A, Cambridge
Keynote by Professor Melissa Leach, Director of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University
Vaccine anxieties: (re)situating science and trust in a world of epidemics, exclusions and inequalities
Friday, September 9 Location: Science and Engineering Complex, Allston
Beginner Workshop: Intro to Git + GitHub with R + RStudio
Thursday, August 18, 2022 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Hosted by The R User Group at Harvard Data Science Initiative
Join R User Group for a virtual beginner workshop with Nicole A. Swartwood and Christian Testa to learn how to leverage Git and GitHub for your R programming adventures and how to track changes and collaborate with peers on your code. Everyone is welcome. Register via the link below.
Data + Donuts is a learning and discussion group that offers a welcoming space to engage critically with issues of data and society. Every few weeks during the academic year, we invite researchers and practitioners to facilitate conversations around their area of expertise – and share donuts!
This event’s speakers Whitney Airgood-Obrycki (Senior Research Associate) and Sophia Wedeen (Research Analyst) work on research related to affordable rental housing at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
Reimagining the Role of Business in the Public Square: Multistakeholder Engagement on ESG Commitments, Metrics, and Accountability
Thursday, September 15, 2022 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM EST
Location: Harvard Business School Campus
Hosted by HLS Center on the Legal Profession, HBS Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society, HKS Center for Public Leadership, and HDSI
How can business leaders, governments, and other key stakeholders work collaboratively to make measurable, sustainable, and accountable progress on ESG goals and commitments?
Join an in-person, interdisciplinary event, Reimagining the Role of Business in the Public Square. The event has no attendence fees, will take place in-person, and will be open to the public. In attendence will be a global audience of leaders from business, government and public policy, academia, law, civil society, the media, and other key stakeholders.
This event is dedicated to facilitating an exchange of ideas among leaders from business, public policy, law, academia and civil society about practical, principled, and effective ideas to make meaningful progress on ESG commitments, metrics, and accountability.
Programming + Pizza is a peer-to-peer mentoring group where those interested in programming tools and computational research can build skills and community. Every event highlights one interesting coding project (listed on our website), but attendees are free to work on whatever they like – including pizza!
At this session of Programming + Pizza, the Research & Data Services team will talk about the ways they can help you with your data and computationally-driven projects. After their presentation, attendees will have plenty of time to work on the projects of your choice.
Leading Smart Policy Design: A Multisectoral Approach to Economic Decisions
Meeting Dates: September 20, 2022 – October 11, 2022
Application Deadline: Monday, August 29, 2022
Hosted by Harvard Kennedy School Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) and Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education
From September 20 to October 11, 2022, Evidence for Policy Design and Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education will offer Leading Smart Policy Design, a program designed for leaders working on policies or programs that address social and economic problems around the world.
This online program features interactive lectures, case studies, and small group sessions in which participants will address a specific design challenge facing their organization and gain insights from faculty, teaching fellows, and peers.
New for this year, the program will highlight faculty research on gender equity, health, microfinance, environmental economics, education, labor market policies, and social protection systems strengthening. Applications are currently being accepted, and both individuals and teams are invited to apply.
2022 Distinguished Lecture Series in Statistical Sciences: Xihong Lin
Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30
3:30 – 4:30 PM EST Location: Triovest Auditorium, Toronto, Ontario
Hosted by CANSSI Ontario
Congratulations to Professor Xihong Lin, who has been awarded the prestigious Distinguished Lectureship in Statistical Science (DLSS) from the Ontario Regional Centre of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI). The lecture consists of one general lecture and one more specialized lecture by an internationally prominent statistical scientist.
Xihong Lin is a Professor and the former Chair of the Department of Biostatistics, Coordinating Director of the Program in Quantitative Genomics at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of the Department of Statistics at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, and Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
Lecture Titles:
September 29: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Statistician’s Reflection
September 30: Ensemble Methods for Testing a Global Null Hypothesis
Dr. Timnit Gebru, a star AI researcher, was forced out of Google when she raised concerns about bias in the company’s large language models. Now tech companies must rethink their AI ethics.
Experts describe the challenges and opportunities for applying data science, machine learning and AI to healthcare research and patient care.
Featured Graduate Research Opportunity
Graduate Research in Science and Technology Studies (GRiSTS) 2022: Call for Proposals
Abstract Submission Deadline: August 29, 2022, 5:00 PM EST
Conference Dates: October 13 – October 15, 2022
Hosted by the Program on Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at Harvard Kennedy School
Applications for the 2022 GRiSTS Conference are now open. Please submit abstracts (up to 350 words) by Monday, August 29. Note that students are responsible for their own transportation to and accommodations during the event.
The GRiSTS conference invites students from any discipline to discuss the relations of S&T with policy, politics and governance in modern societies. Through sharing their work, students from universities across the Northeast connect to a growing network of STS research and mentoring in areas of shared intellectual interest and practical concern. Fostering these connections will allow young researchers to better appreciate their own academic contributions and professional roles, as well as build inclusive, yet critical, understandings of S&T in global society.
Interested in reading more about data science projects and news at Harvard? Check out our blog for features, top stories, and what we are learning now in the world of data.
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