July Newsletter

July Announcement

Welcome to July! We are thrilled to share that DSI is expanding with Amanda Schwartz joining us as our new Event Planner! Amanda joins Managing Director Hayley Borck and Communications Specialist Leah Saaristo. Together, we look forward to DSI's ongoing growth and success!

This month, the DSI newsletter offers a gateway to the vibrant data science community. Explore international research collaborations, discover GEMS News on AI's impact on sustainable farming, and delve into our latest research spotlight. Whether you seek knowledge expansion, peer connections, or innovation showcases, we've curated events and resources just for you.

The DSI will also like to introduce the newest members of our core team. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Abraham Ayebo, Claire Segijn, Jong-Min Kim, Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Robert Erdmann, Diba Malekpour Koupaei, Logan Spector, and Pinar Mandic. Each brings a wealth of expertise and enthusiasm for advancing data science research and education at the University of Minnesota. We eagerly anticipate their contributions as we continue to innovate and collaborate in the dynamic field of data science.

Let's make the most of this month's opportunities and continue advancing in the field of data science together!

Initiative Updates

International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) - International Research Collaboration Opportunities and Newsletter

The International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) at the University of Minnesota is excited to announce a Request for Proposals for collaborative projects with Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea. This initiative offers up to $100,000 to support travel and associated costs for UMN teams working on biosensing projects. 

Proposals are due by August 1, 2024. For more details, contact [email protected].

Visit the IIB page on the Research Computing site to stay updated on the upcoming website and newsletter.

SAIL 2024

The planning committee for SAIL 2024 is seeking panelists for the main conference sessions on October 8-9. This is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise, represent our Institute, and contribute to meaningful discussions shaping the future of AI research and leadership. 

Topics of interest to this group may include Institute Sustainability, Developing Educational Opportunities in AI Research, Overcoming AI Development Challenges, Foundational AI Research, BPC & AI, and Generative AI.

If you're interested in participating as a panelist, or if you'd like to recommend a colleague, please complete the Panelist Request Form for SAIL 2024. The form can be accessed here. AIVO is requesting submissions by early next week, if possible. 

Key Details:

• Event: Summit for AI Institutes Leadership (SAIL) 2024

• Dates: October 7-10, 2024

• Location: Pittsburgh, PA

• Panelist Opportunities: October 8-9, 2024

If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to Shawn Haag at  [email protected].

GEMS News: Using AI to Revolutionize Sustainable Farming

GEMS Informatics is leading a transformative effort in sustainable farming by collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Water Quality Certification Program and the University of Minnesota. Together, they are addressing the challenges posed by excessive fertilizer use through advanced AI and data science techniques. By analyzing ground-truth and satellite data, GEMS identifies best management practices that minimize runoff and enhance water quality across Minnesota’s agricultural landscapes.

Kevin Silverstein, Operations Manager at GEMS Informatics, highlights their approach: “We harness satellite imagery and machine learning to pinpoint sustainable farming practices like strip-till and cover cropping. These practices are crucial for mitigating environmental impact while optimizing crop productivity.”

This initiative integrates expertise from various University of Minnesota entities, including U-Spatial, Research Computing, the Data Science Initiative, the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, GEMS Informatics is driving innovation at the intersection of agriculture and technology.

For more details, check out the full video and article

Reminder: If you would like access to the DSI Spring Research Workshop Recordings/Presentations:

Access recordings of the keynote talks on the DSI MediaSpace Kaltura.

Access speaker presentations within the DSI shared file. 

K-12 Opportunity for Faculty

Interested in co-teaching GCC 3026? This unique course mentors undergraduates in science projects at Murray and offers a weekend at Wolf Ridge. Learn more. Reach out to Cheryl Olman ([email protected]) if you are interested or for more details!

Please note that while this position entails overload teaching, potential negotiation for workload credit is possible.

The DSI needs  your help!

The DSI’s internal and external partnerships working group would like to know more about your current industry engagement and what you need most from a potential industry partner! Please fill out the survey and have your voice heard!

Research Spotlight - Seed Grant Awardee

Prioritizing Tribal Data Benefits and Governance in Developing and Applying Chemical Sensors for Water Quality Monitoring

PI(s): Cara Santelli, Tianhong Cui, Chang Ge, Yao-Yi Chiang

DSI Track: Foundational

MnDRIVE Area(s): Environment
 

Clean water is essential for the health and wellbeing of human life and nature. Human activities greatly impact water quality, leading to declining human and ecosystem health, reducing food production, and exacerbating poverty. The extent of water contamination is poorly known, however, because current analytical methods for quantifying pollutants are expensive, slow, and ex situ. As a solution, we are developing an affordable chemical sensing system with integrated data management and analytics technologies to simultaneously detect and quantify multiple priority pollutants for in situ, real-time water quality monitoring and data analysis of freshwater systems. In this project, an interdisciplinary team of UMN scientists and engineers is collaborating with several tribes in Minnesota to collect data from chemical sensors and quantify priority pollutants such as nitrate and phosphate that currently threaten water quality of MN lakes and rivers. Together we will develop the framework needed for collecting, analyzing, securing, and sharing sensor data that will support the Tribes’ efforts to monitor and protect water throughout Minnesota and beyond. These innovative chemical sensing and Big Data technologies will be valuable to diverse stakeholders for making informed and timely water management decisions, preventing water pollution, and ensuring safe drinking water and healthy ecosystems.

Events

Join us for insightful seminars that delve into the world of data and its foundational principles as well as its wide-ranging applications in data science.

Events in Data Discovery Across Departments  

2024 Critical Health and Social Sciences Conference

September 9–10, 2024

Venue: Coffman Memorial Union

Discover the future of healthcare at the 2024 Critical Health and Social Sciences Conference hosted by the University of Minnesota Medical School. Engage with experts in healthcare policy, social determinants of health, and innovative practices through thought-provoking sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Register now to secure your spot!

For more information and registration, visit  the conference website

28th Annual IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Virtual Conference

September 23rd to 27th, 2024

Venue: Virtual

The 28th Annual IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Virtual Conference is happening from September 23rd to 27th, 2024. They are seeking submissions showcasing advancements in High-Performance Computing, AI/Machine Learning, and more. 

Submission deadline: July 7, 2024. Don't miss this chance to contribute to cutting-edge computing technology! 

For details, visit the conference website.

Learn more about IEEE

Learning Resources

Request for Applications: Mothers Leading Science Program

Apply by August 6, 2024

Mothers Leading Science is a year-long transformational leadership development program for research-intensive faculty in the health sciences who are raising school-age and/or young children. This program aims to foster professional and personal growth, provide peer mentoring, integrate the dual roles of scientist and mother, develop future institutional leaders, and build a supportive network of peers. Participants benefit from dedicated programming and facilitation, peer support, networking, resilience and leadership training, an annual retreat, and ongoing evaluation—all at no cost.

The program accommodates 8-12 participants each year, with a curriculum that includes Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead™ leadership training, topical articles, book chapters, TED talks, and podcasts. It is led by Michelle Lamere, MPA, ACC, CDTLF, and Allyson Hart, MD, MS. Eligible participants must be research-intensive faculty in the health sciences with significant research time or major research grants, identify as mothers, have school-age or younger children living at home, and commit to the year-long program, including attending the retreat and at least 75% of meetings. 

Applications for the 2025 cohort are now open and must be submitted by 5:00 pm on August 6, 2024. For more information and to apply, please visit the MLS program webpage. Questions can be directed to Michelle Lamere at [email protected].

Request:

Are you interested in or already looking into a UMN specific instance of a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT for productivity or research?

Email the DSI to join our working group! [email protected]

HPC for Ag: Breaking the Compute Barrier, Upskilling Agri-Food Researchers to Utilize HPC Resources

When: Mondays 10:30 - Noon from September 16 - November 18

If you are a researcher that works in the Agri-food domain (e.g., breeder, molecular biologist, food scientist, socioeconomist), you know a little bit of programming (e.g., in R and/or Python), but you feel a little limited (e.g., some of your calculations run for days on your laptop), then you could benefit from this course. We wish to show you how to step up to the next level, improve your coding efficiency, and make use of High Performance Computing (HPC) and Cloud resources readily available to you.

TOPICS COVERED: The upcoming event will delve into several key topics, including "HPC for Ag: Breaking the Compute Barrier" and "Upskilling Agri-Food Researchers to Utilize HPC Resources." Additionally, participants will gain insights into "Intro to Cloud Computing," "HPC Basics," "Expanding HPC Skills," "Computer Science for the Agri-Food researcher," and "HPC and Cloud Concepts." Moreover, discussions will encompass "Computer Hardware and Resources" pertinent to this event, fostering a comprehensive understanding of high-performance computing and its application in agricultural research. 

Register now for the HPC for Ag Course 

Funding Opportunities and Deadlines

If you are interested in any of these or other data science related opportunities and need help organizing your submission or finding the right team please contact us, we’re here to help!

Upcoming Funding

• NSF MFAI: Mathematical Foundations in AI Deeper mathematical understanding is essential to ensuring that AI can be harnessed to meet the future needs of society and enable broad scientific discovery, while forestalling the unintended consequences of a disruptive technology. The overall goal is to establish innovative and principled design and analysis approaches for AI technology using creative yet theoretically grounded mathematical and statistical frameworks, yielding explainable and interpretable models that can enable sustainable, socially responsible, and trustworthy AI. Full proposal due: Oct. 10th, 2024
• NSF Campus Cyberinfrastructure: The Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program invests in coordinated campus-level cyberinfrastructure improvements, innovation, integration, and engineering for science applications and distributed research projects. Projects that help overcome disparities in cyber-connectivity associated with geographic location, and thereby advance the geography of innovation and enable populations based in these locales to become more nationally competitive in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and education are particularly encouraged. Deadline: Oct. 15th, 2024

Upcoming Deadlines

• NSF: Developmental Science research. Due July 30th, 2024 (and also Jan. 30th, 2025)
• NEH: The Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities. Due Sept. 12, 2024

For students:

• The NSF PACK fellowship: The PACK fellowship is a graduate student opportunity to conduct research at the University of Kiel, Germany for 3 weeks. Applicants from any science or engineering discipline are encouraged to apply now!