August 06, 2018
Media Contact:
Heather Thorstensen
Manager of Communications
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
hthorstensen@sigmaxi.org or 800-243-6534 ext. 216
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.―Scientists and engineers from all research backgrounds are invited to the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in California October 26–28 to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations of using large data sets known as big data.
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society will devote its 2018 Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference to the topic of Big Data and the Future of Research. Symposia will be held on big data in biology and medicine; physics and astronomy; and climate, energy, and the environment. The meeting will address how big data is used in all research disciplines and how research is changing because of big data.
Speakers blazed the path of using big data in research and will share the lessons they learned.
“The meeting will bring together researchers from many fields to collaborate, provide mentorship, share best practices, and discuss the societal benefits of their work,” said Joel Primack, Sigma Xi President.
The Student Research Conference, held during the Annual Meeting, invites high school through graduate students to present their research and participate in big data discussions to prepare for their research careers. The Society’s business meeting will precede the symposia.
Plenary Speakers
- Jeff Dean
Google
Senior Fellow in the Research Group, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Unit, and Leader of the Google Brain Project
- Steve Ritz
University of California Santa Cruz
Subsystem Scientist for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope's Camera, Professor of Physics, and Director of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics
Speakers for the Big Data in Biology and Medicine Symposium
- Dana Crawford
Institute for Computational Biology and Case Western Reserve University
Assistant Director for Population and Diversity Research; Genetic Epidemiologist
- Mark B. Gerstein
Yale University
Albert L. Williams Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and of Computer Science; Co-director of the Yale Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
- Benjamin Langmead
Johns Hopkins University
Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science
Speakers for the Big Data in Physics and Astronomy Symposium
- Fred Adams
University of Michigan
Ta-You Wu Collegiate Professor of Physics
- Frank Summers
Space Telescope Science Institute
Outreach Astrophysicist and Host of Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered Video Podcast
- Risa Wechsler
Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Cosmologist and Associate Professor of Physics
Speakers for the Big Data in Climate, Energy, and the Environment Symposium
- William Collins
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Director of the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Professor in Residence in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at University of California, Berkeley; Director of the Climate Readiness Institute
- David Reidmiller
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Director of the National Climate Assessment
Speakers for Prizes and Awards Lectures
- Tim A. Davis
2018 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation Recipient
Texas A&M University
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
- Dave Flannigan
2018 Young Investigator Award Recipient
University of Minnesota
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- Dan Rubenstein
2018 John P. McGovern Award for Science and Society Recipient
Princeton University
Professor of Zoology and Director of the Program in Environmental Studies
- Anna Marie (Ann) Skalka
2018 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement Award Recipient
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Professor Emerita and Former W.W. Smith Chair in Cancer Research
To register and learn more about the Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference:
sigmaxi.org/amsrc