2020 STEM Celebration of MLK, Jr.

January 24, 2020 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm
3630 Seamans Center (SC)

Montserrat Fuentes, UI Executive VP and Provost, will give a talk for this year's STEM Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.

Title: "Leading with Data"

Abstract: Massive amounts of data are generated and collected every day—much of it from services we use regularly, but rarely think about.  In addition to big scientific data available from satellites, astronomical instruments, and biometric devices, personal data are being collected from our Google searches; our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter interactions; our credit card purchases; and our travel activities.  This proliferation of data brings many challenges, including the potential for dangerous data security holes.  But it also brings opportunities to mitigate huge, seemingly intractable problems our world faces—things like Alzheimer’s, autism, climate change, and nuclear threats.  Through statistically sophisticated quantitative analysis, we can convert big data into knowledge that can drive decision-making and action in fields as diverse as national defense, financial hedging strategies, human health, and sports.  Ultimately, data can be leveraged to elevate the human condition.

Refreshments at 4:00 p.m.  Remarks at 4:30 p.m.

The Seamans Center is located at 103 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, IA.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences Program, and the Sloan Center for Exemplary Mentoring.