May 19, 2023: Heather Russell: High Energy Physics and Data Science. 10:30am-11:30am. ECS 660.  Title: Data analysis at the LHC Abstract: Over ten thousand scientists are currently studying hundreds of petabytes of data collected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. On top of that, the LHC is colliding protons inside our detectors at […]

Data Services for UVic Researchers (note different time/location) Research Data are increasingly recognized as critical research outputs which, brought together across projects and disciplines, can help us to solve some of the most pressing global problems. In order to realize this lofty goal, researchers require access to data infrastructure, services, and expertise at their own […]

Please RSVP at this form. Zoom link is available upon RSVP. Video now available. Abstract: Important goals of topic models like Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) are to explore, summarize, and visualize unstructured document corpora. However, recent work has shown that some of these goals are best satisfied if a user is able to interpret and […]

Abstract: As we have come to rely on software systems in our daily lives, we have a clear expectation about the reliability of these systems. To ensure this reliability, automated software quality assurance processes have become an important part of software development. How do software engineers in the wild use these quality assurance approaches? And […]

Please RSVP at this form. Zoom link is available upon RSVP. Abstract: The roller-coaster trajectory of cryptocurrency valuations has captured global attention, often overshadowing the foundational technology that underpins it: the blockchain. In the wake of the recent crypto crash, many critics have been quick to dismiss the entire domain as mere hype and speculation. […]

Please RSVP at this form. Zoom link is available upon RSVP. NOTE: Location change to EOW 430. Abstract Ecosystems and biodiversity are increasingly being impacted by human activities. Detecting and understanding changes in biodiversity is a challenge for a couple of reasons. 1) Transcending the results of an individual study or site within a limited […]

Speaker: Steve M. Easterbrook, University of Toronto Abstract: Global climate models play a central role in climate science, drawing together broad inter-disciplinary teams to study how the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, and biosphere interact - and how their behaviours shift in response to changing levels of greenhouse gases. Yet few people outside the climate science […]

The AI gold rush has led to new AI models and systems being announced nearly every week. As with most new technologies, these systems have the potential to reduce existing accessibility problems, but may also create new ways to exclude people with disabilities. Beyond its impact on traditional accessibility practices, AI may fundamentally change the […]

Title: Augmenting k-mer sketching for (meta)genomic sequence comparisons Abstract: Over the last decade, k-mer sketching (e.g. minimizers or MinHash) to create succinct summaries of long sequences has proven effective at improving the speed of sequence comparisons. However, rigorously characterizing the accuracy of these techniques has been more difficult. In this talk, I'll touch on three […]

Title: Machine Learning in Real World Abstract: Machine learning (ML) with (deep) neural networks has gained tremendous recognition by academics and substantial industrial investments over a decade, which has led to a steady stream of advances such as enabling technologists to detect anomalies in medical images and providing high-accuracy translation between certain Pacific island and […]