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.
September 9, 2026
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The UW–Madison Open Awards recognize and celebrate faculty and staff who are using open practices in their work and inspiring others to do the same. The second annual UW–Madison Open Awards, sponsored by the Data Science Institute, Open Source Program Office, and the Libraries, will take place on October 29 at Morgridge Hall. You are encouraged to nominate UW–Madison faculty and staff, as individuals or teams, for the Open Awards. Nominations are due Friday, September 18. You can learn more about the Open Awards and submit nominations at the OSPO website.
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Planning for the 2027 Data Science Research Bazaar is underway, and we’d love your help. The Research Bazaar is an annual conference that fosters community around computing and data science. This year’s event will take place on March 11. Students, faculty, and staff from across campus are welcome to join the planning committee. Data science and computing expertise are not required, and we encourage people with experience or interest in learning about event planning, fundraising, and communications to participate. Planning meetings will be held approximately every two weeks. If you're interested in joining, please complete the volunteer form by Monday, September 14.
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Data Science Facilitation Moves to DSI
We are excited to announce the Data Science Hub, formerly housed in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID), became part of the Data Science Institute (DSI) as of July 1. While we are now called the DSI Facilitation Team, the core services offered by the facilitators are the same: supporting researchers in learning and applying data science and software engineering though workshops, consultations, and community building events. We look forward to finding new opportunities with the Data Science Institute while we continue to serve campus in this new structure. Checkout the feature below with information about our weekly Help Desk hours.
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Get Help With Your Data Science at DSI Help Desk
This week, the DSI Facilitation Team is inaugurating DSI Help Desk, a twice-weekly event where students, faculty, and staff can meet with a facilitator and get help with their data science projects. Help Desk is hosted:
Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30, Morgridge Hall Commons (Room 2564C)
Thursdays, 2,30-4:30, Memorial Library, Room 240
This service is free, no appointment is necessary, and all are welcome. Whether you’re struggling with a bug in your Python code or trying to choose between two modeling approaches, the facilitation team can get you pointed in the right direction.
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CAMPUS WORKSHOPS
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Sept 9 to Dec 9. The Machine Learning Marathon (MLM26) is a 13-week hackathon hosted at UW-Madison, where teams of 3-6 tackle applied AI/ML challenges with support from advisors. Participants also get cloud credits and access to hosted models. View the Challenge Showcase recording to hear about each project in detail. The MLM26 application is open to UW-Madison affiliates with a NetID and reviewed on a rolling basis.
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Sept 17, 1:30-3:30 p.m.; Zoom. The Shiny and Querychat packages let R users build custom AI-based data science tools and then share them as interactive apps. This two-hour AI Apps Customer Workshop will show R users how to build these apps and then share them on Posit Connect. More information regarding what participants can expect during the workshop can be found in the news posting!
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September 23, 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m.; Tripp Commons, Memorial Union. Interested in the intersection of water and data centers? Join Water@UW–Madison for a collaborative workshop bringing together researchers, practitioners, and students to explore emerging challenges and opportunities related to water use, environmental impacts, data center design, policy, and knowledge production within the current public debates. This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Register now.
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Have questions about anything data science-related? Come see the Data Science Facilitation Team at the DSI Help Desk on Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30, Morgridge Hall Commons (Room 2564C) and Thursdays, 2,30-4:30, Memorial Library, Room 240.
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Sept 9 to Dec 9. Many handwritten records from the 1800s and early 1900s have been scanned but never transcribed. No digital text means limited search, analysis, and accessibility. The Badger Scribe challenge asks teams to build a transcription pipeline libraries can adopt, using open-weight models on a single GPU. Scored on real collections from UW-Madison Libraries: 1830s survey notebooks, Kurrent letters, and account books.
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Sept 14, 10 a.m.; Zoom. Join Dr. Andrew Janowczyk, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Emory University for his talk on how computational pathology can advance precision medicine by enabling the development of reproducible, scalable, and rapidly deployable biomarkers from routine pathology images. This talk is part of the Machine Learning for Medical Imaging seminar series.
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Sept 16, 5-7 p.m.; Pyle Center. The event will begin with a brief presentation from the Wisconsin Policy Forum on their recent research on data centers in Wisconsin, followed by panelist insights. There will be plenty of time for audience Q&A. In addition to the policy discussion, the forum will provide complimentary appetizers, and a cash bar will be available. Register now!
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Sept 20, 5-8 p.m.; Great Hall, Memorial Union. Explore innovation at UW–Madison at the UW Entrepreneurship Kickoff! Connect with 30+ student organizations and campus initiatives across five resource zones: Get Funded, Build Something, Get Advice, Join a Community, and Study & Learn. Hear insights from successful student and alumni founders, meet potential co-founders, and enjoy free food. All majors and experience levels are welcome. RSVP here.
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Sept 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Morgridge Hall, 7th Floor. Data is the foundation of advanced discoveries and complex decision-making, yet limited access to reliable tools and specialized talent can be a barrier for researchers and practitioners across disciplines. UW–Madison’s data consultancies and services fill this gap, offering a spectrum of support ranging from free data collection consultations to deep partnerships for deploying reliable, scalable data pipelines. Whether you are in academia, industry, or government, join us to find the expertise and services you need to translate data challenges into impact.
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Monthly on Wednesdays (9/9, 10/7, 11/11 & 12/9), 9-11 a.m.; Discovery Building (Room 1145). ML+Coffee offers the perfect opportunity to discuss ongoing ML/AI projects and share knowledge across campus. Join the group monthly on Wednesdays for coffee, pastries, and ML/AI conversation. Whether you're looking for advice on applying ML/AI to your data, hoping to demo a tool or method, or interested in discussing a paper, ML+Coffee provides a supportive environment for doing so.
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September 27 - October 2; Discovery Building. Bioimaging North America’s 2026 Community Congress will be held jointly with Images 2 Knowledge (I2K). I2K brings together developers, researchers, and students from around the world working in computational image analysis. Over the years, the I2K Conference has become a flagship event for scientists eager to explore interactive tutorials and cutting-edge, open-source solutions for biological image reconstruction and analysis. Register now.
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- Assistant/Associate/Full Professor of Artificial Intelligence for Veterinary Medicine, UW–Madison
- Assistant, Associate or Full Professor, UW–Madison Department of Biochemistry
- Professor of Statistics, UW–Madison RISE-AI
- Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor – Health Services Research in Pharmacy, UW–Madison
- Assistant Professor of Communication Science - RISE EARTH, UW–Madison
- Dairy Economist, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences - Dairy Innovation Hub
- Wisconsin DNR LTE Wildlife Research Scientist Position, WDNR Office of Applied Science
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DATA VISUALIZATION OF THE WEEK
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In recent decades, 41% of global deforestation is due to removing forest areas to create grazing pastures. Nearly two-thirds of this has taken place in Brazil; meaning one-quarter of global deforestation is caused by beef production in the country. While demand for beef is growing globally, the majority of beef produced in Brazil is consumed domestically. Over the last fifty years, beef demand per-person in Brazil has doubled, and average consumption is now three times the European average. While 15% of deforestation in the country is due to international exports, the other 85% was driven by domestic demand. To provide an analogy, an area of forest five times the size of the United Kingdom has been cut down to free up land for farming. Check out Hannah Ritchie's article for more details.
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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 publication of the UW–Madison Data Science Institute.
Use our submission form to send us your news, events, opportunities and data visualizations for future issues.
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