Data Science Updates is the University of Wisconsin-Madison's resource for news, training, events, and professional opportunities in data science, brought to you by the Data Science Institute, powered by American Family Insurance, and the Data Science Hub.
February 4, 2026
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Get ready to find Meaning in the Metrics at the 7th annual Data Science Research Bazaar, hosted by the Data Science Hub on March 19, with additional events scheduled throughout March and April. This year’s Research Bazaar will highlight creative strategies for translating research into compelling formats, and participants will explore how insights can be communicated to a variety of audiences. Presentations will also address fundamental and applied data science across research fields and industries.
This event is for everyone! Whether you're a seasoned data scientist or just starting your journey, there's something for you. The Research Bazaar is open to UW–Madison and the wider community. Learn more and register by March 5.
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Registration is open for Build, Create, Share: Fostering Innovation and the Role of Open Source Hardware, a builder-focused event on March 11 at the Pyle Center. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how open hardware is being developed at UW–Madison and how openly sharing hardware can help propel academic research. This event, which is presented by the Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and the Data Science Institute, will feature speakers from the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), Imperial College London, UW–Madison, WARF, and the Madison maker community. Learn more and register by February 27.
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Love Data Week is February 9-13, and daily events are planned for students, faculty, and staff! This annual, international celebration of data invites institutions and individuals to explore how data shapes our world. The Office of Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR) and the UW-Madison Libraries proudly sponsor UW–Madison's Love Data Week, which includes a partnership with Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA). Visit the Love Data Week website to learn more and register for events (advance registration is required).
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Join radio producers Chris Hoff and Sam Hartnett for an evening experienced entirely through the ears instead of the eyes. The World According to Sound, a unique sonic celebration of the world around us, will take place on February 13 at 5:30pm in the Digital Scholarship Hub on the second floor of Memorial Library. Hoff and Harnett will set up a ring of speakers, hand out eye masks, turn off the lights, and surround you with sound. This event is open to campus and the public. Register to reserve your spot.
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February 11, 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m; 3610 Morgridge Hall. Join the Center for High Throughput Computing for their monthly Bioinformatics Cafe. This session is designed for researchers who already understand the basics of AlphaFold-style modeling and want to run AlphaFold3 on CHTC’s GPU resources — from single-protein predictions to larger, scalable structural biology workflows, without needing to manage local GPUs or large databases yourself.
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February 13, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m; 313 Center for the Humanities, 432 E. Campus Mall. As part of the Digital Scholarship Hub's Data in the Material World series, there will be a media training seminar for scholars, sponsored by the Center for Humanities, designed for faculty and graduate students. Registration is required.
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February 16, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m; 231 Memorial Library. Interested in an overview of GIS concepts and software? The Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Workshop provides attendees with the fundamentals of GIS. The workshop is 2 hours in length and will involve hands-on use of GIS software (ArcGIS Pro) in a computer lab setting.
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February 18, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.; 1145 Discovery Building. Machine Learning (ML) + Coffee is a monthly meetup for the UW community to discuss ongoing ML or artificial intelligence projects, share ideas, and find new tools and approaches. ML + Coffee offers a supportive, casual environment across a broad variety of departments. Coffee provided to keep the ideas flowing.
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Have questions about anything data science-related? Come see the Data Science Hub facilitators at Coding Meetup on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-4:30 p.m. CT. To join Coding Meetup, join data-science-hubgroup.slack.com.
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February 5, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; 1111 Genetics Biotechnology Center. Join the Center for Genomic Science Innovation (CGSI) in welcoming William Barley from the University of Illinois for his seminar titled "Collaborative Work: How Acknowledging the Labor of Interdisciplinarity Can Facilitate Science Teams." Barley plans to discuss team science, worker experiences, and the benefits of working collaboratively and interdisciplinarily.
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February 16, 11:00 a.m.; 2409 Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. Join the Machine Learning for Medical Imaging (ML4MI) Seminar Series in welcoming Ulugbek Kamilov from the UW-Madison Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for his talk "Computational Imaging: Restoration Deep Networks as Implicit Priors."
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February 17, 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.; Morgridge Hall, Seminar Room. At the CHTC Researcher Forum, you’ll learn about what we’re working on and how other users are leveraging computing resources, and you'll have the opportunity to share your feedback and your research! All CHTC users (undergraduate, graduate, postdoc, staff, PI) and those in the research computing community are invited to attend this annual event. Please RSVP by February 3rd.
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February 21, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Morgridge Hall and Discovery Building. Hosted by the Wisconsin AI Safety Initiative and UW-Madison School of Computer, Data, and Information Sciences, this one-day symposium aims to bring together interdisciplinary experts AI's real-world impacts and trajectory. There will be two sessions, themed "Where is AI today?" and "Where is AI going?" Apply to attend ahead of time with this application form.
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February 27, 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.; DeLuca Forum, Discovery Building. Visit or participate in the Data Story Slam, an informal social event where storytellers will share observations, surprises, predictions, aspirations, and other anecdotes about the ever-increasing presence of data in the world around us. Tell a short story about a futuristic vision, sing a data-related sendup of a favorite song, show off a personal discovery gleaned from app metrics, or recount a significant success or failure with your code in a supportive, inclusive space. Be a storyteller, or come to listen and encourage. This event is part of the 2026 Data Science Research Bazaar.
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DATA VISUALIZATION OF THE WEEK
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Before modern civilization, humans relied on local farms for food production for sustenance. However, with globalization and industrialization, farming has become less of a common occupation and more of a specialized field, shipping produce all across the world. Even since 1960, however, there has been a shift in farm size, with global powers such as the US, Australia, and Europe trending towards larger, more industrial farms. However, many countries, such as Mexico and India, are experiencing a decrease in farm size, perhaps correlating to an increased dependence on other country's farm outputs.
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Reposted from Our World in Data: Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.
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Data Science Updates is a collaborative effort of the Data Science Institute and Data Science Hub. This newsletter was originally created by the Data Science Hub and published as Hub Updates.
Use our submission form to send us your news, events, opportunities and data visualizations for future issues.
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