Data Science Facilitation
The Data Science Facilitators at DSI provide data science training and implement data science into research practices across campus. Formerly the Data Science Hub, this team executes a mission of community engagement and learning opportunities for campus researchers through a variety of services.
Training
Learn data science skills and tools that you can apply to your research. Our workshops, in collaboration with the UW–Madison Carpentries community, teach the fundamentals needed for researchers to reproducibly analyze, model, and gain insights from data.
Consultation
Discover campus data and computing resources. Discuss ways to enhance your research and collaborate with others on campus. Get support with your coding projects. Our Data Science Help Desk offers all this, and more. You can also schedule a 1:1 meeting with a facilitator.
Communities
Interested in joining a community of data science professionals, researchers, and practitioners? We lead several communities on campus that support the learning of data science tools, machine learning, ethics, and computational biology in ecology and evolution.
Workshops
Advance your training in data science! Learn skills and tools that you can apply to your research. Our workshops, in collaboration with the UW–Madison Carpentries community, teach the skills and tools needed for researchers to reproducibly analyze, model, and gain insights from data, such as:
- Version Control & Containerization (Git/GitHub, Docker)
- Data Analysis & Visualization (Unix shell, Python, R)
- Data Cleaning & Management (OpenRefine, SQL)
- Machine Learning (Intro to ML, Deep learning)
Upcoming workshops
Our next workshop will be in January 2027. Check back in December 2026 for registration.
Workshops archive
Thanks to the Carpentries community, all of our workshop materials are open-access and freely available for all to learn from.
More campus workshops
Many other campus organizations offer data science workshops. Visit Data Science @ UW to see more workshop opportunities.
Request a workshop
We offer custom, small-group workshops led by local Carpentries instructors. If you’d like to request a workshop for your group, please fill out our request form.
Learn to Teach & Teach to Learn
Our ability to offer numerous workshops year-round is made possible through UW–Madison’s Carpentries Community — a group of volunteers dedicated to teaching computational workshops that quickly advance researchers’ ability to reproducibly analyze, visualize, and model data. If you’re curious about helping or instructing at a workshop, visit our Carpentries Community page.
Connect with the Campus Data Science Community
Interested in joining a community of data science professionals and researchers? As part of our mission to provide year-round support to data science practitioners, we lead several communities on campus.
UW–Madison Carpentries Community
UW–Madison has a long-standing relationship with The Carpentries, a global organization of researchers who volunteer their time and effort to create workshops that teach software engineering and data analysis skills.
ML+X
ML+X is a community of practice that brings together students, researchers, and industry professionals who share an interest in using machine learning (ML) methods to advance their work (X).
EVIL Reading Group
The Ethics, Values, Information, and Law (EVIL) reading group pursues scholarship in the intersections of ethics, law, and data and information technologies. This group is hosted in collaboration with the iSchool and ML+X.
UW RSE
The UW Research Software Engineering Community (UW RSE) is a place to learn and share ideas, methods, and best practices on data and software engineering components of research across domains.
Upcoming community events
October
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October 26git, GitHub, GitLab: What’s the diff?UW Research Software Engineer Community Tutorial Event1:00 PM, 2516 Morgridge Hall
November
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November 16Large Scale Computing with CHTCUW Research Software Engineer Community Tutorial Event1:00 PM, 2516 Morgridge Hall
December
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December 14Object Oriented Programming and Modularity in Research Software EngineeringUW Research Software Engineer Community Tutorial Event1:00 PM, 2516 Morgridge Hall
Other communities
Visit the Data Science @ UW website to find more communities at UW–Madison offering related seminars, forums, discussions, and other opportunities to engage.
Data Science Help Desk
Meet with a Data Science Facilitator at the Help Desk. Ask us any and all data science-related questions! We can assist with programming and troubleshooting errors.
- No appointment needed
- Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30, Morgridge Hall, Room 2564C
- Thursdays 2:30-4:30, Memorial Library, Room 240
For a 1:1 appointment outside of these times, please fill out the form linked below to be directed to a facilitator with the expertise you need.
Announcements
There are no changes to the Help Desk schedule this week.