DSRI Events

Upcoming Events

HPC Workshops

DSRI is excited to offer HPC workshops for CSU students, faculty, and staff who are interested in learning more about research computing. These will also serve as introductions to using Riviera for your research needs. 

To get notified about upcoming workshops, please check out our HPC listserv or reach out to either Brandon Shanks ([email protected]) or Bill Carpenter ([email protected]). 

April 11, 2025 Python Virtual Environments: Organize Your Development Workflow

Scott Bioengineering room 101 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Scott Bioengineering room 101 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. 

BSB room 117 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. 

BSB room 117 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. 

10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Lory Student Center 312

Data Science Research Institute Past Events

October 20, 2025 DISCOVER Research Showcase

DSRI Research Showcase 

Event Description: 

The Data Science Research Institute Research Showcase on October 20 was in person at the LSC . This event featured three research projects that were funded by the DSRI DISCOVER seed grants and range from: food security, rural livelihood, and sustainability challenges in mainland Southeast Asia, habitat connectivity modeling for wildlife within the City of Fort Collins, and predicting global wildfire smoke exposure. 

This event also featured opportunities to network and learn about data science, AI, and HPC research being done across CSU departments and colleges. 

DSRI also announced the exciting development that the HPC Riviera will be moving to the Powerhouse this winter and is projected to be back online with new upgrades in January 2026!

Presentation Details: 

  • Predicting Global Wildfire Smoke Exposure
    • Jesse Burkhardt, Agriculture and Resource Economics
  • Geospatial Data and High Tech Innovation to Address Agricultural and Rural Livelihood Challenges in Mainland Southeast Asia
    • Anping Chen, Biology
  • Aligning Biodiversity Conservation and Social and Environmental Justice Initiatives Through the Development of a Landscape Connectivity Pipeline
    • Caitlin Mothes, Geospatial Centroid

Date: October 20, 2025 (4:00 = 5:00 pm) 

Location: Lory Student Center Room 372

Event Contact: Brandon Shanks ([email protected]) 

The Data Science Research Institute AI/HPC Symposium April 17, from 9:00 – 4:00 in Lory Student Center Never No Summer Ballroom was held to bring together CSU researchers, staff, and students to hear from experts in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing about their research, expertise, and vision of current and future breakthroughs. Along with presentations multiple networking sessions were held to create new collaborations and connections in data science research.

The event featured two separate sessions, the morning session; AI experts presenting cutting-edge applications and research. The afternoon session hosted guest speakers on HPC topics such as research, industry, and new technology. 

Please see the event agenda below for session details and speaker information. 

Morning Session 1: AI Topics on Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Engineering

Session Chair: V. Chandrasekar (Chandra)

9:00 – 9:10: Introduction and opening remarks: Cass Moseley, Vice President for Research

9:10 – 9:40: Presentation 1: Tegan Emerson, Senior Data Scientist and Leader of the Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science Group in the National Security Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

9:50 – 10:20: Presentation 2: Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Director of AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Professor in Engineering and Professor Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University

10:30 – 11:00: Presentation 3: Jeri Culp, Director of Data Science and Edge Solutions at HP 

11:00 – 11:15: End of Session 1: Coffee break

Morning Session 2: AI Topics of Data Science and Forest Ecology

Session Chair: Nikhil Krishnaswamy 

11:25 – 11:55: Remote Presentation 1: Yolanda Gil, Director of Al and Data Science Initiatives and Research Professor, Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California

12:05 – 12:35: Remote Presentation 2: Jingjing Liang, Associate Professor of Quantitative Forest Ecology, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University

12:35 – 12:45: Concluding Remarks

12:45 – 1:30: Networking with refreshments

Afternoon Session 1: HPC Topics of Health and Computational Information Systems

Session Chair: Bryan Willson 

1:30 – 1:40: Opening remarks: Bryan Willson, Director of CSU Energy Institute

1:40 – 2:10: Presentation 1: Penny Atkins, Associate Director of the One Utah Data Science Hub

2:20 – 2:50: Presentation 2: Thomas Hauser, NCAR Associate Director & Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) Lab Director, National Center for Atmospheric Research

3:00 – 3:10: End of Afternoon Session 1: Coffee break

Afternoon Session 2: HPC Topics on Research Computing

Session Chair: Penny Atkins

3:10 – 3:40: Remote Presentation 1: James (Jim) Wilgenbusch, Director of Research Computing, University of Minnesota

4:00: Closing remarks

The meeting will include DSRI updates, refreshments, and a special presentation by Dr. Gabrielle Allen, Director of the School of Computing at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Allen’s research spans software development for scientific communities, including the Cactus Framework, Einstein Toolkit, and Grid Application Toolkit. Her work, originally focused on simulations of black holes and neutron stars, has expanded to fields such as petroleum engineering, computational chemistry, coastal modeling, and more.

This is a valuable opportunity to learn about cutting-edge computing research and connect with colleagues from UWYO.

The April 19 DSRI affiliate meeting featured a agenda packed with exciting data science presentations. Kicking off the presentations DSRI was pleased to welcome John O’Meara (Deputy Director and Chief Scientist) from the Keck Observatory who discussed the various opportunities for data related research from Keck.

Following this, we hosted presenters from each of the DSRI DISCOVER seed grant awardees and teams who discussed their projects and goals.

Agenda

  • Welcome
  • DSRI Updates
  • Keck Observatory Research Spotlight
  • DSRI DISCOVER seed grant project overviews
  • Networking and refreshments

The meeting was held in person on April 19th from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. in LSC room 324 followed by refreshments.  Please reach out to Brandon Shanks with any questions.

The February 23 DSRI affiliate meeting featured guest speakers Adam Kiehl and David Kott who discussed Large Language Learning Models applied to Veterinary Health Records. Additionally, Bill Carpenter presented a short DSRI workshop titled: HPC and Reproducible Data Science – A cross disciplinary approach to virtual environments, containerization, and data science tools. 

Agenda: 

  • DSRI Updates – Kirby
  • Application of LLMs to Veterinary Health Records – Kiehl and Kott
  • HPC Reproducible Data Science – Carpenter
  • Networking and Refreshments

The Spring 2024 undergraduate poster session featured 11 different poster presenters and over 50+ student attendees. The posters presented at the event can be viewed on our Undergraduate Poster Session page here. 

Thank you to all our presenters and everyone who stopped by!

If you are interested in participating in undergraduate research or the next poster session in the fall, please reach out to Brandon Shanks ([email protected]). 

  • Welcome and refreshments
  • DSRI updates
  • Undergraduate poster session (Jan 25)
  • Leisl Carr-Childers: Digital Humanities
  • Timothy Amidon: AlertWest / Wildfire Technology Center Initiatives
  • DSRI seed grant RFP announcement: DSRI DISCOVER (Data Science Integration of Collaborative and Versatile Research)
  • Closing
  • Networking

The next affiliate meeting is on October 27th, 2023 at 4:00 pm in the Scott Bioengineering Building room 101. 

Agenda: 

• Welcome (Christa Johnson, Interim VPR)
• DSRI updates (Kirby)
• DSCI education program (Simon Tavener, Interim Dean)
• Riveria (Carpenter)
• Seed grants (Kirby)
• Report on undergraduate research (Chandra)
• Closing Remarks (Kirby)

Please stop by and get connected with DSRI and the DSRI affiliates across campus!

We would like to invite you to attend our Faculty Poster Presentation this upcoming Friday, September 1st. At this event, faculty will present research projects to you – many of these projects are looking to hire undergraduate researchers. The DSRI also has funds for 10-15 undergraduate student researchers that find projects through this event.

Event Details:
• Date: Friday, September 1st
• Time: 4 PM
• Location: Scott Bioengineering Atrium

This event is a fantastic way to:
• Gain insights into academic and research initiatives within our department.
• Network with faculty and fellow students.
• Explore potential research or academic opportunities you might want to be a part of.

Refreshments will be provided, and we highly encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to connect with our academic community.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. We look forward to seeing you there!

A poster describing the details of the poster session

We are pleased to extend you the invitation to the unveiling of the new Data Science Research Institute HPC, Riviera. This event marks a significant milestone in the DSRI’s commitment to advancing research in data science at CSU.

Date: Thursday, August 31
Location: Weber Room 201
Time: 10:30 – 11:00 a.m.

The event will begin with a brief introduction to Riviera by DSRI director, Michael Kirby and DSRI system administrator, Bill Carpenter with light refreshments after.

We look forward to your attendance and joining in celebration for this exciting new chapter for data science at CSU. For any inquiries or special accommodations, please do not hesitate to contact Brandon Shanks at [email protected].

The Workshop: Come discuss your research questions and expertise needs to help form new collaborations, questions, and ideas. Come learn about thinking trans-disciplinary.

Location: Lory Student Center Room 324

The Agenda: (all interactive sessions)

8:30 – 9:00 AM Breakfast Pastries

9:00 – 9:20 AM Get to know each other

9:20 – 10:20 AM Question exploration

10:30 – 11:00 AM Collaboration exploration

11:00 – 11:45 AM Refining questions and collaborations

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM Final reflection

12:00 – 1:00 PM Lunch and Networking

Date: May 19th
Time: 8:15 AM – 4 PM
Location: Tamasag Event Center 
4825 W County Rd 52 E, Bellvue, CO 8051

AGENDA: 

8:15 Pastries and coffee

8:30 – 9:00 Introductions:  Alan Rudolph, Dean McLean, Dean Tavener 

9:00 – 9:15 Welcome and Overview: Michael Kirby

9:15 – 10:30 3×15 Minute Presentations: Brian Munsky, Shrideep Pallikara, Robert Paton

10:30 – 10:45 Seed Grant Discussion: Christa Johnson

10:45 – 11:00 Undergraduate Research Faculty Posters: Michael Kirby

11:15 – 11:30 DSRI Events and Website Update: Brandon Shanks

11:30 – 12:00 Development Discussion 1: Doug Colby

12:00 – 1:00: Lunch

1:00 – 1:45 HPC Riviera: Bill Carpenter

1:45 – 2:15 Data Repository: John Belisle, Greg Ebel, Candace Mathiason   

2:15 – 2:45 Meta-Science Experiment: Mayla Boguslav & Jeni Cross

2:45 – 3:00 Final Thoughts / Closing: Peter Jan van Leeuwen

3:00 – 4:00: Appetizers and Conversation

We’re pleased to have a great lineup of faculty speakers, and the talks will be followed by a networking reception. Presenters include:

  • Chuck Anderson, Computer Science, “Cascade Neural Networks for Better Interpretability”
  • Andee Kaplan, Statistics, talk title TBD
  • Nikhil Krishnaswamy, Computer Science, “A Generalized Method for Automated Loanword Detection”
  • Patti Davies, Occupational Therapy, and Bill Gavin, Music
  • Therapy, talk title TBD
  • James Liu, Mathematics, “Groundwater anomaly detection and algorithms for optimal transport”
  • Dawn Duval, Clinical Sciences/Flint Animal Cancer Center, talk title TBD
  • Corey Broeckling, Analytical Resources/Agricultural Biology, “Informatics opportunities and challenges in mass spectrometry-based ‘omics research”
  • Peter Jan van Leeuwen, Atmospheric Science, talk title TBD

Dr. Matt Hepburn is an infectious disease physician who has served in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps since 1996. He has had a distinguished career in military medicine treating patients and leading innovations to improve the health of those serving in the Department of Defense. With his expertise in operational medicine, research and response, Dr. Hepburn served in the White House and the Pentagon during the H1N1 and Avian Influenza pandemics; helping to develop policy in detection and treatment during outbreaks. During his tenure at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Dr. Hepburn expanded diagnostic and therapeutic countermeasures, including mRNA vaccines delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic and predictive analytical tools for enhanced medical outcomes.  Dr. Hepburn led Operation Warp Speed to hasten the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines.

On Oct. 1, Dr. Hepburn joined the Office of Science and Technology Policy and will manage the “American Pandemic Preparedness” agenda across the HHS’s various agencies.

Veiw the video recording on the OVPR YouTube Channel.

Join us for a series of rapid-fire talks on developing new private sector partnerships related to data science. You won’t want to miss the expert speakers from both private sector and CSU, including:

Tegan Emerson, PhD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: “Perspectives on Academia-Industry Collaborations”

Jeri Culp, Director of Data Science and Edge Solutions, Hewlett Packard: “HP Data Science Research”

Nate Sanders, the CEO & Cofounder of Artifact.io

Steve Simske, PhD, CSU/Systems Engineering: “Collaborations, CSU Faculty and Private Sector”

Margaret Cheney, PhD, CSU/Mathematics: “Connecting Students to Labs and Companies”

Greg Arnold, PhD, Matrix Research: “Contractor Collaboration”

Emily King, PhD, CSU/Mathematics: “The Power of ‘Simple’ Models in Data Analysis”

Nathaniel Blanchard, PhD, CSU/Computer Science: “Computer Vision @ CSU”

Elly Farnell, PhD, Amazon Web Services: “Industry-Academy Partnership Models”

David Paterson, PhD, CSU/Research Translation & Commercialization

This seminar is dedicated to undergraduates interested in research opportunities in Data Science, featuring speakers who are actively hiring undergraduate students. Free and open to the public, but RSVPs are appreciated. Those wishing to attend virtually must register to receive the Zoom link.

This event will feature speakers who are looking to hire or mentor undergraduates, including:

Tegan Emerson, PhD, Data Scientist and Mathematician, Data Science at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
“Research Opportunities in Data Science at PNNL”

Wen Zhou, PhD, Associate Professor, Statistics, Colorado State University
“Clustering Data with Complex Structures”

Sangmi Pallickara, PhD, Associate Professor, Computer Science, Colorado State University
“Diving Into Big Data: What it is and Why it Matters.”

Susan Huse, PhD, Data Science and Analytics Team Lead for Zoetis Incubator of Northern Colorado
“Data Science in Early Medical R&D: Zoetis, Inc.”

Haonan Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University
“AI in Weather Radars”

Elly Farnell, PhD, Research Scientist II, Amazon Web Services
“Data Science Internships and Careers at Amazon”

Watch the DSRI Collaborative Research Acceleration Seminar