Wisconsin Institute for Discovery

Intermediate Research Software Development with Python
2025-03-25 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-03-26 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-03-27 09:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago) | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.edu
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-03-24-uwmadison-intermedpython/it

Health Sciences Data Carpentry
2025-03-25 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-26 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-27 13:00 - 17:00 | 1248 Health Sciences Learning Center
Fundamental Data Skills Workshop. Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.edu
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-03-24-uwmadison-dc/

Harnessing the Power of Foundation Models for Healthcare and Life Sciences
2025-04-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building (Also offered online)
ML+X: Machine Learning Beyond Traditional CS Fields.
CONTACT: endemann@wisc.edu
URL: https://forms.gle/jBP4jSm8Y45vsVVF6
ONLINE: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/92639425571?pwd=[REDACTED]

Getting Started with High Throughput Computing
2025-04-08 10:30 - 12:00 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building (Also offered online)
New to high throughput computing or need a refresher?. Join our “Getting Started with High Throughput Computing” workshop, where we’ll introduce CHTC’s High Throughput Computing system, components of a job, and how to handle data. In this workshop, users will practice how to transfer data, submit jobs, and debug simple job errors. A basic understanding of the command line is recommended.
CONTACT: chtc@cs.wisc.edu
URL: https://chtc.cs.wisc.edu/events/2025/04/getting-started-htc
ONLINE: https://chtc.cs.wisc.edu/events/2025/04/getting-started-htc

SoundWaves: Developing Ideas, Part 4
2025-04-11 19:30 - 21:00 | Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Explore how trends, plans, viewpoints, projects, materials, and sounds develop. Where we are and where we might be headed in the future.

In the final chapter of the Development series, SoundWaves asks: Why are eggs so expensive? How do you create a video game? How do plants respond to climate change? How do you tell a short story in music?
Andrew Stevens Economics of Agriculture
Gary Dahl, Computer Sciences
Jack Williams, Geography
Christopher Taylor, piano, Music
Daniel Grabois, Music

SoundWaves combines scientific lectures about the world with live classical music performances. Each event revolves around a theme, exploring it first from many scientific angles and then through the lens of music. The program concludes with a live performance of music related to the evening’s theme.

This event will take place in Mead Witter Hall inside the Hamel Music Center. This is a free event, however registration is requested.

We value inclusion and access for all participants. If you would like to request reasonable accommodations to enhance your participation experience, please email https://mailto: idhub@wid.wisc.edu no later than 2 weeks prior to the event. This event is wheelchair accessible.

Full event program:

The prelude:
From Eight Etudes-Tableaux, op. 39 – Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
8. Allegro moderato (D minor)
9. Allegro moderato (D major)
Christopher Taylor, piano, Mead Witter School of Music

The lectures:
How Plants Adapt to Climate Change: Lessons from the Last Ice Age
Jack Williams, Geography, Center for Climactic Research
Eggcessive prices: How Markets Develop Prices for the Food We Eat
Andrew Stevens, Agricultural and Applied Economics
Game Experience Development
Gary Dahl, Computer Sciences
Short Stories in Sound
Daniel Grabois, Mead Witter School of Music

The performance:
Sonata no. 2 (1966) – George Walker (1922-2018)
1. Theme and variations
2. Presto
3. Adagio
4. Allegretto tranquillo
Christopher Taylor, piano, Mead Witter School of Music

Crossroads of Ideas: Toxins at the Tap
2025-04-22 19:00 - 20:00 | Discovery Building, 330 North Orchard Street, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
Navigating the Future of PFAS and Our Water Supply

Join us on Earth Day 2025 for a thought-provoking fireside chat featuring experts Hilary Dugan, Manny Teodoro, and Christy Remucal. Delve into the world of PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—often referred to as “forever chemicals.” Our distinguished panel will explore the complex challenges these contaminants pose to our environment and public health, their impact on water systems, and the urgent policy changes needed to safeguard our future. This conversation will shed light on the critical decisions and innovations required to address one of today’s most pressing environmental issues.

We value inclusion and access for all participants. If you would like to request reasonable accommodations to enhance your participation experience, please email idhub@wid.wisc.edu no later than 2 weeks prior to the event. This event is wheelchair accessible.

All Crossroads of Ideas sessions are recorded and shared post-event.

This edition of Crossroads of Ideas is taking place in conjunction with UW-Madison Earth Fest, campus-wide April 21-29, 2025.

Text Analysis in Python
2025-04-28 09:00 - 12:30
https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-04-28-uwmadison-textanalysis/

Text Analysis Workshop
2025-04-28 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-04-29 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-04-30 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-05-01 09:00 - 12:30
Practical introduction to text analysis, designed for those with Python experience. Join this workshop for a practical Introduction to Text Analysis, designed for those with Python experience (how to create functions, for loops, conditional logic, use the pandas library, etc.). The workshop covers Natural Language Processing (NLP) basics, API usage, data preparation, document/word embeddings, topic modeling, Word2Vec, Transformer models using Hugging Face, and ethical considerations. Students and researchers working in the digital humanities are especially encouraged to attend!
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.edu
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-04-28-uwmadison-textanalysis/

WID Seminar Series - Schloss Visual Reasoning Lab
2025-04-29 13:00 - 14:15 | 3rd Floor Orchard View Room, Discovery Building (Also offered online)
Perceptual Semantics for Visual and Haptic Communication. Join us for our final WID Seminar of the year with:
Kushin Mukherjee and Anna Chinni from the Schloss Visual Reasoning Lab as they present "Perceptual Semantics for Visual and Haptic Communication." Special introduction by Claudia Solís-Lemus, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology. Light refreshments served.
CONTACT: 316-4325, lredeagle@wisc.edu
ONLINE: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96326864622

Sci-prov
2025-04-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Discovery Building, 330 North Orchard Street, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
Science Meets Improv Comedy

Join the Illuminating Discovery Hub and Amalgam Improv for an evening fusing science and spontaneous improv comedy like no other at Sci-Prov!
Sci-prov combines science and improv in creative, funny, and never before seen ways. Scientists Laura Hernandez and Leslie Holland will present their work in short, digestible presentations followed by brief Q&A, all of which can become fodder for the improv scenes. The improv scenes are created on the fly & unique to each show.
Light refreshments and cash bar available. Tickets are free and registration is requested to ensure adequate seating.

Parking: The closest parking ramps to the Discovery building are Lot 80 (Union South), lot 20 (Medical Science Center), and Lot 17 (Engineering/Camp Randall). Additional surface lots are also available. Please see the campus parking and transportation map for complete options.

Bus: The closest bus stop westbound is University & North Orchard (A, C, D, F, J, O, R), and eastbound is Campus at Babcock (A, C, F J, R). Free campus route 80 also stops at University & North Orchard

We value inclusion and access for all participants. If you would like to request reasonable accommodations to enhance your participation experience, please email idhub@wid.wisc.edu no later than 2 weeks prior to the event. This event is wheelchair accessible.

Generative AI From Multiple Perspectives
2025-05-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building (Also offered online)
ML+X: Machine Learning Beyond Traditional CS Fields.
CONTACT: endemann@wisc.edu
URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepL9Gzq3brXGRdKO8_OqVr5hmX4oTHD31tjfLl_Uvur8ONiA/viewform?usp=sharing
ONLINE: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/92639425571?pwd=[REDACTED]

ML+Coffee: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) & SQLDeps
2025-05-07 09:00 - 11:00 | 1145 Discovery Building
CONTACT: endemann@wisc.edu
URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepL9Gzq3brXGRdKO8_OqVr5hmX4oTHD31tjfLl_Uvur8ONiA/viewform?usp=sharing

Intro to Deep Learning with Keras
2025-05-19 09:00 - 12:30 | Discovery Building, 330 North Orchard Street, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-05-19-uwmadison-DeepLearningKeras/

Intro to Deep Learning with Keras
2025-05-19 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-05-20 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-05-21 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-05-22 09:00 - 12:30 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building
Hands-on introduction to the first steps in deep learning. This introduction covers the basics of deep learning in a practical and hands-on manner, so that upon completion, you will be able to train your first neural network and understand what next steps to take to improve the model. We start with explaining the basic concepts of neural networks, and then go through the different steps of a deep learning workflow.
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.edu
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-05-19-uwmadison-DeepLearningKeras/

UW Research Software Engineering (RSE) Community town hall
2025-05-27 09:00 - 10:30 | Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, DeLuca Forum
Join the community and connect with others interested in Research Software Engineering (RSE) at the first UW RSE community town hall.
The goal of the UW RSE community is to share ideas, methods, and best practices to improve the way we do and share research. The UW RSE community is open to anyone at UW–Madison engaged in, or interested in, research software engineering.
CONTACT: rbemowski@wisc.edu

REU/Undergrad only Data Carpentry
2025-06-02 09:00 - 12:30, 2025-06-03 09:00 - 12:30 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building
Fundamental Data Skills Workshop. Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.edu
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-06-02-uwmadison-reudc/

REU / Undergrad Only - Data Carpentry
2025-06-02 09:00 - 12:30 | Discovery Building, 330 North Orchard Street, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-06-02-uwmadison-reudc/

Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners’ existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.

Geospatial Data Carpentry Workshop
2025-06-02 13:00 - 17:00 | Orchard View Room, Discovery Building
Fundamental Data Skills Workshop. The goal of this workshop is to provide an introduction to core geospatial data concepts and dive into working with raster/vector data, including how to open, work with, and plot vector and raster-format spatial data in R. Additional topics include working with spatial metadata (extent and coordinate reference systems), reprojecting spatial data, and working with raster time series data. This lesson assumes you have some knowledge of R.
CONTACT: facilitator@datascience.wisc.ed
URL: https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-06-02-uwmadison-dc-geospatial/

Geospatial Data Carpentry Workshop
2025-06-02 13:00 - 17:00 | Discovery Building, 330 North Orchard Street, Madison, WI, 53715, United States
https://uw-madison-datascience.github.io/2025-06-02-uwmadison-dc-geospatial/

The goal of this workshop is to provide an introduction to core geospatial data concepts and dive into working with raster/vector data, including how to open, work with, and plot vector and raster-format spatial data in R. Additional topics include working with spatial metadata (extent and coordinate reference systems), reprojecting spatial data, and working with raster time series data. This lesson assumes you have some knowledge of R. If you’ve never used R before, or need a refresher, start with our Introduction to R for Geospatial Data lesson webpage.
