Logistics

The Fourth Cohort of the ESDS in the Cloud course is now slated to begin on October 15, 2024 and run through November. A full class schedule can be found below. While the course traditionally supports in-person and remote participation, due to ongoing effects of Hurricane Helene, the course will begin fully remote. The course will be a significant time commitment; the team projects can be designed to accommodate and accelerate existing research projects.

Schedule

Pre-Course Preparation

September 2024

During September 2024, we will be preparing you for this course. This involves discussions with each participant, formation and initial meetings of project groups, and technical configuration to support access to course resources.

Email to confirmed participants was sent at the beginning of September. If you are interested in taking this course, but have not yet contacted the course organizers, please do so by reaching out to Denis Willett at dwillett@cicsnc.org or Garrett Graham at ggraham@cicsnc.org to express interest, ask any questions, and enroll.

The course will run from 9 AM - 3 PM ET on the days listed, with 3 - 4 PM ET occasionally reserved for team project collabortation.

Module 1 | Scientific Programming

October 15, 2024 - October 18, 2024

Module 2 | Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

October 21, 2024 - October 25, 2024

Module 3 | Data Product Development

November 4, 2024 - November 8, 2024

Module 4 | Production Data Science

November 12, 2024 - November 15, 2024

Module 5 | Product Delivery

November 18, 2024 - November 22, 2024

Course Commitment

Because each module builds on itself, we expect participants to be able to fully participate in all modules. We recognize that this is a substantial time commitment. In our experience, the compressed and intensive nature of this course is the most efficient and effective way to quickly build data science skills.

In-Person

Most classes will be held in Room 400 of the Federal Building. Some days we may have to move locations due to scheduling conflicts, but the bulk of our work will be located there. Half of this room will be setup in a lecture-style classroom and the other half arranged to support practical work in teams. Ample power strips will be provided for charging and the NCICS WiFi network will be available for connecting to cloud resources.

Please make sure you bring the following materials to class each day:

Materials:

• Laptop with working WiFi
• Charger
• Any preferred notetaking equipment
• Water

Participation

This course is designed to be primarily in-person, although we will support hybrid and remote synchronous and asynchronous access. A critical component of this course is team interactions. We highly encourage in-person participation throughout the course, especially for team activities, but recognize that other commitments may sometimes interfere. All sessions will be hosted via Zoom and available for hybrid synchronous participation. These Zoom sessions will be recorded and the recordings made available as soon as is possible. Zoom meeting information can be accessed through the calendar invitations you will have received prior to the course.

Prerequisites

To be successful in this course, you must have an advanced scientific and technical background with experience personally conducting research. Our assumption is that you will come into this course with graduate level expertise in your specific domain and the ability to ask and answer domain relevant research questions.

In addition, you should be familiar with:

• Scientific programming in at least one of the following languages: Python, R, MatLab, SAS, Fortran, or C

• Using the Terminal

• Linux or MacOS environments

• The Scientific Method

• Scientific publishing