When
SPEAKER: Nirav Merchant PhD, Dir. Bio Computing, University of Arizona
DATE: October 1, 2014
TIME: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
LOCATION: Marley Building, Room 230
ABSTRACT:
The ?data deluge? is a common occurrence for virtually every discipline. In the life science, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies have fueled this data explosion by providing relatively inexpensive capabilities to sequence whole genomes. Similarly the ability to capture images and record videos using digital cameras, super resolution microscopes all with extreme optical capabilities have out paced Moore?s law. Novel emerging technologies such as LIDAR, drones and embedded sensor networks are allowing the biologists today to produce data at an unprecedented rate.
Movements such as Opendata and data management plans mandated by funding agencies are liberating data and democratizing access to massive data sets, especially federal agencies such as NIH, NASA, NCDC and USGS.
Complementing this data democratization are advances in computational capabilities, fueled by cloud computing and significant investment by NSF to create national infrastructure (XSEDE) and institutional capabilities (UA Research Computing). These programs provide no cost access to some of the largest computational platforms in the world. Similarly the software tools and analytics capabilities are catching up to this rapidly expanding array of computational platforms.
Leveraging these amazing national and local resources to manage your own ?big data? challenges for asking bold research questions, necessitates interdisciplinary collaborations, hands-on training and technology orientation. This talk will provide a roadmap with a broad overview of exemplar communities that have successfully established their own cyberinfrastructure with these resources, and strategies for unleashing the ?data scientist? embodied in every biologist.