Computational learning, thinking, and doing in 21st Century Biology

Speaker: Jason Williams

Affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor

December 3, 2019 - 12:00 pm

San Juan

Writer and futurist Alvin Toffler stated: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” These words are an everyday experience in the life sciences as our discipline spans field work, clinical diagnostics, lab benches, and super computers. In this talk, we will discuss the status of computational skills in the life sciences from three perspectives: 1) The learner – What is the state of bioinformatics learning, and how can we improve our ability to teach and share computational skills?, 2) The thinker – Looking now and ahead, how might data science tools like the cloud, machine learning, and AI change the way biology is done?, and 3) The doer – Learners and thinkers must put things into practice to accomplish their goals, what are the important computational skills and tools to focus on, and how can we improve our decision making about how these are used?

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