As the demand for data scientists worldwide continues to grow, Virginia Tech will celebrate women in the field with the annual Women in Data Science (WiDS) Blacksburg event Feb. 18-19.
Registration for this free event, which welcomes anyone with an interest in data science, closes on Friday, Feb. 14.
WiDS Blacksburg is an independent event organized by Virginia Tech as part of the WiDS Worldwide movement, which seeks to elevate women in the field of data science by inspiring, educating, and supporting female data scientists.
The immediate mission of WiDS Worldwide is to change the field of data science across the globe by elevating and empowering women to achieve 30 percent representation by 2030. Currently, women represent less than 20 percent of students and less than 10 percent of decision-makers.
The WiDS Blacksburg event will open with a networking mixer Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the atrium of the Data and Decision Sciences Building. From 5:30-7 p.m., attendees will have the opportunity to connect with other students, faculty, and professionals with an interest in data science.
On Wednesday evening, the event agenda will feature a conference format that includes a pair of keynote speakers, an expert panel targeted towards mentoring the next generation of data scientists, and a student poster session. It will take place from 5-8:45 p.m. in 220 Classroom Building.
Neeta Eapen, a former applications engineer at Oracle and current faculty member at Radford University, will provide the opening keynote address for the conference. Eapen’s research focuses on optimization challenges in computational geometry, machine learning, and transportation systems.
Meanwhile, the closing keynote address will be given by Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, the president of the American Statistical Association in 2024. Ghosh-Dastidar, who is a senior statistician and data scientist and head of the Statistics Group at RAND, will discuss making an impact with statistics and data science – specifically, the essential role of statisticians in health policy.
For up-to-date details on WiDS Blacksburg, including registration information and the full agenda, visit the event website.
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