Winter Course in Research Computing and Data Science
Elise Hellwig
Hi all,
Sharing a winter quarter course opportunity for graduate students interested in research computing and data science:
BCB 298: Computing skills for researchers
IOR: C. Titus Brown, ctb...@ucdavis.edu
WQ 2025/2026, Wed 1-4pm
2 credits. CRN 13402
Cross listed as
STS 298: Computing skills for researchers
IOR: Carl Stahmer, csta...@ucdavis.edu
WQ 2025/2026, Wed 1-4pm
2 credits. CRN TBA
This course is for graduate students from all programs and graduate groups who wish to hone their skills in computational areas related to research, coding, and scripting/automation. Students will learn and practice skills in:
* Research data analysis;
* Research software coding and open source software development;
* Automating research computing pipelines;
Specific topics include (but are not limited to!): scripting in R/Python, automated workflows with snakemake, reproducible and collaborative approaches to data science with notebooks and GitHub, analyzing spreadsheet data at scale, writing and releasing open source tools, and conducting large scale analysis on remote computers. Help with graphing and summarizing data as well as statistical consulting will also be available. The primary scientific focus will be on interpreting sequencing data from genomes, transcriptomes, and metagenomes, but other questions are welcome!
This 2 credit course will take place on Wednesdays from 1-4pm in the DataLab in the Shields Library. The course will be graded S/U. Remote attendance is not available at this time.
Students should plan to bring their own data, code, and research projects. Each week will consist of individual and group engagement on topics of mutual interest; each student should plan to give a 15 minute presentation on their project once in the quarter. This will be a largely self-directed independent study course. No specific technical expertise is required - we will work with you where you’re at to help you get to where you want to be!
This course is intended for 2nd year students onwards, ideally for those who have already taken their QE and are actively involved in analyzing their own research data. Students interested in building specific data science skills for their resume are also welcome!
We will have an open house on Dec 10th from 2-4pm in Shields 360 (the DataLab classroom) for people who would like to know more; a zoom link is available upon request.
Permission of instructor required to enroll. Enrollment will be limited. Please fill out this form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfedjmal4hBGGz7S8qWSZTIFFy0Hao5VJfzREUfCaD8aVECYw/viewform?usp=publish-editor) if interested. Reach out to Titus Brown at ctb...@ucdavis.edu with any questions!
Best,