March 2022
Tue. 1 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Analyzing Large Data Sets with the Julia Language
Tue. 1 Mar, 2022 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
This course will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
This course will teach participants how to use the programming language Julia to load, clean, plot, and analyze social-science data. Julia is a newer programming language with a focus on high-performance scientific computing and allows efficient manipulation of large datasets. The course will cover the basics of loading tabular data; cleaning, filtering, and joining that data; calculating descriptive statistics; and estimating statistical models.
Instructors: Matthew Wigginton Bhagat-Conway
Matthew Wigginton Bhagat-Conway is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and a consultant in the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. His research interests are in travel behavior, urban transportation, and statistical methods for transportation data analysis. He is available to assist researchers with statistics and data analysis.
Dr. Bhagat-Conway has a PhD and MA in Geography from Arizona State University, and a BA in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to graduate school, he was a software developer and project manager for Conveyal, a public transport planning consulting firm, and a fellow in the Data Science for Social Good fellowship at the University of Chicago.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $40
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 2/26/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
N3C: Orientation to the N3C Data Enclave - Session B
Tue. 1 Mar, 2022 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Join a live training session for the N3C Data Enclave. Users of all types can learn how to navigate the N3C, utilize the Enclave and resources it provides, and learn how to better achieve their analytical goals. This orientation is split into 2 sessions – Session A and Session B. These orientations are offered on a monthly basis. Session A is recommended before attending Session B.
Session B is for analysts, statisticians, data scientists, or anyone who wants to gain a broader understanding of the tools needed to work with the data.
Topics include:
- Focus on technical aspects of working with data in the secure N3C Enclave, including use of OMOP concept sets and N3C-specific tooling, such as the Concept Set Browser.
- Introduce commonly used analysis tools, such as Contour and Code Workbooks and corresponding workflows for simple analyses.
- Introduce the Enclave Knowledge Store, a mechanism for sharing and using community-developed code and data across projects.
Thu. 3 Mar, 2022
Introduction to Qualitative Data Analysis
Thu. 3 Mar, 2022 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
This online training will provide an introduction to basic qualitative data analysis. Participants will have the opportunity to practice developing and applying codes.
Topics:
- Basics of qualitative data analysis and steps in the analysis process
- transcribing, memoing, codebook development and coding
- Using computer-based analysis software
- Exploring content areas or themes
- Interpreting and communicating findings
Presenters:
MaryBeth Grewe, MPH, NC TraCS Community and Stakeholder Engagement Program Qualitative Research Specialist
Simone Frank, MPH, Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, of the NC TraCS Community and Stakeholder Engagement Program
Laura Villa Torres, PhD, Diversity & Inclusion Specialist
Fri. 4 Mar, 2022
CTSA Grand Rounds: Tomeka Suber, MD, PhD
Fri. 4 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 10:00 am
CTSA Grand Rounds: Tomeka Suber, MD, PhD - Metabolites as biomarkers and mediators of host resilience in acute lung injury
Please join us to hear Tomeka Suber, MD, PhD, a K Scholar from the University of Pittsburgh, discuss her work exploring the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by focusing on identifying metabolites that are predictive of ARDS subphenotypes. This event is co-sponsored by NC TraCS and the Marsico Lung Institute.
For any questions regarding the event, please email Susan Pusek at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds: ACP COVID
Fri. 4 Mar, 2022 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
ACP COVID: A Trial to Evaluate an Advance Care Planning Video and Communication Skills Training Intervention for Older Adults During an Evolving Pandemic (Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH; James A. Tulsky, MD; Sophia N. Zupanc, BA)
This NIH Collaboratory Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds features:
Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
James A. Tulsky, MD
Chair, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Sophia N. Zupanc, BA
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Mon. 7 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Introduction to Program Evaluation
Mon. 7 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
This one-day course will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded. The workshop begins at 9:00 a.m. and will conclude at 3:00 p.m., with a lunch break.
Course Summary:
This course provides training on evaluating public services and programs. At the end of the course, participants will understand and be able to describe program evaluation, and how it can help you understand the basics of assessing program impact. In addition, participants will be able to identify a variety of program evaluation tools, map out a basic evaluation plan that could be used in their office, and understand how to effectively present evaluation results. At the end of the course, participants will understand and be able to describe what program evaluation is, how it focuses on success understood as outcomes, short-term and long-term impact. Throughout the workshop, we will be referring to your own situation and you will be asked to apply the ideas to the program, policy, or process that you want to evaluate in your own organization. The goal of the workshop is to let you leave with a solid ‘takeaway’ of how to start your planning evaluation planning.
No prior experience is necessary. This course will not teach specific statistical or qualitative methods, but how to best determine which might be the best for measuring success as you have defined it.
Instructor: Maureen Berner
Maureen Berner first joined the School of Government in 1998. She teaches evaluation and analysis courses for MPA students and provides similar training and advising to state and local government officials throughout North Carolina. Her personal research focuses on the ability of local organizations to address food insecurity, poverty, and income inequality. She has worked with nonprofits, food banks, local governments, and state agencies. Berner was a 2014–2016 UNC Thorp Engaged Faculty Fellow, a Visiting Scholar with the University of Ghent in Belgium in the fall of 2017, and recipient of numerous academic awards. She began her career as an Evaluator for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, serving as a Presidential Management Fellow. She has conducted major evaluations for the Federal government, statewide agencies, non-profits and foundations over the past 30 years. She earned a PhD in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin; an MPP from Georgetown University; and a BA in global studies from the University of Iowa.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $35 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $95
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/4/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Wed. 9 Mar, 2022
Introduction to Lateral Thinking for UNC Health Providers
Wed. 9 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
An introduction to the method, tools, and mindset for solving complex problems in healthcare.
As a clinician, you might see opportunities to improve healthcare on a daily basis. It can be frustrating running into the same problems without having the tools to create change. You might have an idea for a new medical device, digital tool, or process that energizes you, but you’re not sure what to do next.
During this 30-minute webinar, we will provide an overview of the method, tools, and mindset for solving complex problems called Lateral Thinking. Lateral Thinking is a non-linear, iterative systematic process that teams use to consistently arrive at creative solutions to seemingly impossible problems.
We will share case studies demonstrating how lateral thinking tools can be applied to healthcare. As designers, we communicate with quick sketches and storyboards to bring ideas to life. Any change carries risk and uncertainty, but the ability to iterate and share your visualized ideas with the intended stakeholders helps to make progress towards improved outcomes.
At the end of the webinar, we will encourage you to apply to a 6-week program titled: Design Thinking for Healthcare Providers. The program will include five 90-min practical training sessions, coaching, and custom concept illustrations from the design team at Trig.
Co-sponsored by the NC TraCS FastTraCS program and Trig, a full-service design firm.
UNC Center for Health Equity Research: 2022 Paul A. Godley Health Equity Symposium
Wed. 9 Mar, 2022 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The Paul A. Godley Health Equity Symposium brings together faculty, staff, students, and the community to:
- Highlight and encourage health equity research;
- Promote collaboration and networking; and
- Encourage strategic planning and partnerships at the UNC School of Medicine.
This symposium is named in honor of the late Dr. Paul A. Godley, Rush S. Dickson Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the UNC Department of Medicine, and Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the School of Medicine. Dr. Godley directed the program on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO) from its inception in 2001. His research and leadership sought to identify, understand and eliminate racial health disparities.
If you have any questions about the Paul A. Godley Health Equity Symposium, please contact CHER Research Assistant, Airianne Posey (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required for the symposium – you can pre-register now!
Thu. 10 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Issues Surrounding Missing Data
Thu. 10 Mar, 2022 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
This one day course will be offered IN-PERSON in Davis Library Room 219. No virtual option will be offered.
Course Summary:
In this course we will discuss methods commonly used to deal with missing data. Assumptions, assets, and disadvantages associated with each method will be covered. Included topics will be:
• Case-wise deletion
• Listwise deletion
• Mean imputation
• Hot deck
• Single value maximum likelihood
• Multiple value maximum likelihood
• Regression
• Fully conditional specification
• Data with complex sampling designs
Instructor: Chris Wiesen
Dr. Wiesen is a Senior Statistical Research Consultant at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He offers consulting services to graduate students and faculty in the UNC system. He also teaches short courses on various software packages including SAS and Stata and topics on quantitative analysis and Introduction to Survey Computing. Before the Odum Institute, he worked for a year at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, for two years visiting Duke University, and three years at the Research Triangle Institute (now Research Triangle International).
He is an expert in methods widely used in social and health sciences. Dr. Wiesen has extensive experience in statistical methods widely used in a variety of social science, public health, and medical research areas. His project experience has focused on selecting, developing, and implementing optimal analysis methods for academic and non-academic research among a variety of fields as diverse as psychology, sociology, medicine, public health, linguistics, education, and geography.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $40
- Non UNC-CH: $40
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/7/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Fri. 11 Mar, 2022
Geriatrics: Aging Biology and Potential Relevance for Clinical Practice
Fri. 11 Mar, 2022 8:00 am - 9:00 am
Aging Biology and Potential Relevance for Clinical Practice
UNC Geriatrics Weekly Division Meeting featuring James L. Kirkland, MD, PhD
Dr. Kirkland is Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic and Noaber Foundation Professor of Aging Research. His research is on the contribution of fundamental aging processes, particularly cellular senescence, to age-related and chronic diseases and development of agents and strategies for targeting fundamental aging mechanisms to treat age- and chronic disease-related conditions and morbidities.
Additional research areas include molecular and physiological mechanisms of age-related adipose tissue and metabolic dysfunction, frailty, and loss of resilience to infections and acute diseases in old age. Dr. Kirkland published the first clinical trials of senolytic drugs and is currently conducting multiple clinical trials of senolytics, including three clinical trials for COVID-19. He has more than 225 publications and holds over 20 patents.
He is Principal Investigator of the Translational Geroscience Network, which brings together 8 academic institutions to translate healthspan interventions, including senolytics and other drugs that target fundamental aging processes, from bench to bedside. He is a scientific advisory board member for several companies and academic organizations.
He is President of the American Federation for Aging Research, a past member of the National Advisory Council on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, past chair of the Biological Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America, and past member of the Clinical Trials Advisory Panel of the National Institute on Aging. He is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine, geriatrics, and endocrinology and metabolism. Dr. Kirkland is the 2020 recipient of the Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction from the American Federation for Aging Research.
Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds: Understanding a Patient’s Daily Experience Through Mobile Devices and Wearables
Fri. 11 Mar, 2022 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Understanding a Patient’s Daily Experience Through Mobile Devices and Wearables: Lessons Learned From the 8,000 Patient MIPACT Study and Implementation in the PCORI THRIVE Pragmatic Trial
This NIH Collaboratory Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds features:
Sachin Kheterpal, MD, MBA
Professor of Anesthesiology
Associate Dean for Research IT
PI for MIPACT and Co-PI for THRIVE University of Michigan
Jessica Golbus, MD
Clinical Instructor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Co-I for MIPACT
University of Michigan
Nicole Pescatore, MPH
MIPACT Clinical Research Project Manager University of Michigan
Tue. 15 Mar, 2022
N3C: Orientation to the N3C Data Enclave - Session A
Tue. 15 Mar, 2022 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Join a live training session for the N3C Data Enclave. Users of all types can learn how to navigate the N3C, utilize the Enclave and resources it provides, and learn how to better achieve their analytical goals. This orientation is split into 2 sessions – Session A and Session B. These orientations are offered on a monthly basis. Session A is recommended before attending Session B.
Session A is for those who want to learn about N3C, as well as how to engage with project teams and access the data.
Topics include:
- Provide a general overview of N3C, including goals, organization, and community resources such as Domain Teams and Data Liaisons.
- Introduces the 3 data tiers available and important considerations for research driven by the data harmonization process.
- Discusses resources for training and help, as well as the Data Use Request (DUR) process required for researcher access.
Wed. 16 Mar, 2022
TraCS Recruitment & Retention Program Drop-in Office Hours
Wed. 16 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
The TraCS Research Recruitment & Retention Program offers Drop-in Office Hours every third Wednesday. Get quick answers for your recruitment questions via Zoom. Our recruitment specialists can help answer brief questions, review documents, or provide resources.
Whether you need recruitment troubleshooting, have questions about MyChart, or help designing a flyer, drop-in and we can help get things started!
Developing and Maintaining a Successful Clinical Research Team
Wed. 16 Mar, 2022 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join NC TraCS and the SOM CRSO for a presentation for current and future Principal Investigators on best practices for developing and maintaining a successful clinical research team. The CRSO’s Workforce Development core will present best practices for hiring, training, and developing clinical research staff to support and enable an evolving clinical research portfolio. Zoom information will be provided after registration is completed.
Thu. 17 Mar, 2022
Semblie: Introduction and New Feature Demo
Thu. 17 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Inclusive Science Program Series - Semblie: Introduction and New Feature Demo
Join a live training session for Semblie, a free platform for developing digital health interventions. Semblie was specifically designed with the needs of public health researchers and practitioners in mind. This web-based platform makes it easy to create interactive decision aids and tailored health education tools. This session will introduce the Semblie platform and the types of content that can be designed. We will also demo the new drag-and-drop feature for designing slides in Semblie.
This session is for anyone interested in using Semblie for public health interventions or research. No prior experience with Semblie is required for this session. For more information about Semblie, please visit here.
Semblie was developed by RTI International with funding from NC TraCS.
Presenters:
Laura Wagner
MPH, Health Behavior / Health Education, University of North Carolina
BA, Cognitive Science, University of Virginia
Laura Wagner, a research public health analyst with RTI's Center for Communication Science, has over a decade of professional experience in health
communication and public health research. Her expertise includes patient-centered outcomes, cancer prevention and care, digital and social media
strategy, and virtual and augmented reality. She is skilled at both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including the design, conduct, and
analysis of surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, behavioral measures, and web analytics.
Juliana Hoover
BA, Linguistics, Duke University
Juliana Hoover is a public health analyst in RTI's Center for Communication Science. She has experience supporting both quantitative
and qualitative health communication studies, including interviews, focus groups, surveys, text analysis, literature reviews, and
usability testing studies. She has supported projects for a range of clients including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For any questions regarding this event, please email Laura Villa-Torres at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
UNC NRP Education Session: Informatics-Ready Cohorts: Creating Ideal Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria for Data-Driven Recruitment
Thu. 17 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
If you’ve ever used the Carolina Data Warehouse to define a patient cohort for recruitment or analysis, you’ve been asked to provide inclusion/exclusion criteria for your population of interest. In this talk, you’ll get some tips for ensuring that your criteria is “informatics ready,” and will result in the most accurately defined cohort for your research.
Objectives:
- Attendees will learn how to craft inclusion/exclusion criteria for cohorts that can be readily translated into code by an analyst.
- Attendees will learn which selection criteria are most readily available/analyzable in electronic health record databases
CompMed: Modeling for medicine: Case studies in glioblastoma and Covid-19
Thu. 17 Mar, 2022 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Zoom or in-person Pagano Room ground floor Lineberger
This seminar is sponsored by UNC Computational Medicine Program. Refreshments will be served.
David Odde is the Medtronic Professor of Engineering in Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Trained as a chemical engineer at the University of Minnesota and Rutgers University, Odde joined the newly created Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1999 where he is a professor and Associate Director for Strategic Research Initiatives in the Institute for Engineering in Medicine. In his research, Odde’s group builds computer models of cellular and molecular self-assembly and force-generation-dissipation dynamics and tests the models experimentally using digital microscopic imaging of living cells ex vivo and in engineered microenvironments. His group seeks to bring an engineering approach that uses physics-based modeling and analysis to understand, predict, and control disease outcomes (oddelab.umn.edu).
Dr. Odde is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is the Director of the Physical Sciences in Oncology Center at the University of Minnesota (psoc.umn.edu), which is focused on modeling the mechanics of cancer cell migration in biologically relevant contexts.
Meeting ID: 931 0694 7286
Passcode: Seminar
Introduction to Qualitative Data Analysis
Thu. 17 Mar, 2022 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
This online training will provide an introduction to basic qualitative data analysis. Participants will have the opportunity to practice developing and applying codes.
Topics:
- Basics of qualitative data analysis and steps in the analysis process
- transcribing, memoing, codebook development and coding
- Using computer-based analysis software
- Exploring content areas or themes
- Interpreting and communicating findings
Presenters:
MaryBeth Grewe, MPH, NC TraCS Community and Stakeholder Engagement Program Qualitative Research Specialist
Laura Villa Torres, PhD, Diversity & Inclusion Specialist
Fri. 18 Mar, 2022
Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds: Better Data on Ivermectin Is Finally Here
Fri. 18 Mar, 2022 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Better Data on Ivermectin Is Finally Here: Results from the TOGETHER Trial (Edward Mills, PhD, FRCP; Craig Rayner, PharmD)
This NIH Collaboratory Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds features:
Edward Mills PhD, FRCP
Professor, McMaster University
Craig Rayner, PharmD
Adjunct Associate Professor, Monash University
Mon. 21 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Logistic Regression Day 1
Mon. 21 Mar, 2022 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day (3/21 and 3/23) course will be offered IN-PERSON only.
Course Summary:
This course teaches students when and how to use logistic regression models. This type of regression is used to estimate the odds or probability that an event with two categories will occur, e.g., whether individuals with characteristics of interest are likely to develop an illness, pay a debt, pass a class, have a car accident, or benefit from treatment. At the end of the course, students will be able to fit models, estimate and interpret results in terms of probabilities, odds, and logit coefficients using Stata. To achieve this end, students will learn to perform diagnostic tests: multicollinearity, discrimination, residuals, influential observations. Moreover, the class will cover how to do the following:
• Report standardized and unstandardized effects
• Compare the effect of coefficients in the model
• Interpret and graph interaction effects
Requirements:
1. Students must know how to model and interpret ordinary least square (OLS) regressions
2. Know how to use the basic Stata functions, i.e., enter and save data, create variables, use command window, and do file.
Instructor: Eugenia Conde
Dr. Conde is a Statistical Consultant at The H. W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She provides consultations to students and faculty on research methods and statistics. Her Ph.D. is in sociology with a concentration in demography and medical sociology. In addition, she holds an MSPH in epidemiology. Before working at the Odum Institute, she worked at Rutgers University and at Duke University as a statistical consultant for graduate students and as a statistician for researchers from different disciplines, including political science, economics, psychology, sociology, and public health.
She is co-authoring a statistics book with Dr. Dudley L. Poston and Dr. Layton Field, Applied Regression Models in the Social Sciences (Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). Her research interests include social inequalities, research methods, and statistics with a focus on missing data and methodologies to study people of color.
Registration Fees
- $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/18/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Tue. 22 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: An Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning Using R - Day 1
Tue. 22 Mar, 2022 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day (3/22/2022 and 3/24/2022) course will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Statistical machine learning and data mining is an interdisciplinary research area which is closely related to statistics, computer sciences, engineering, and bioinformatics. Many statistical machine learning and data mining techniques and algorithms are very useful for various scientific areas. This short course will provide an overview of statistical machine learning and data mining techniques with applications to the analysis of real data. Supervised learning techniques will be covered, including penalized regression such as LASSO and its variants, support vector machines. The main emphasis will be on the analysis of real data sets from various scientific fields. The techniques discussed will be demonstrated in R.
This course is intended for researchers who have some knowledge of statistics and want to be introduced to statistical machine learning and data mining, or practitioners who would like to apply statistical machine learning techniques to their problems.
Outline (R exercises will be included):
• Fundamentals of Statistical Learning
• Training versus Test error rates
• Supervised versus Unsupervised Methods
• Bias/Variance tradeoff
• Linear regression and penalized regression
• Ridge Regression
• Lasso
• Further Extensions (if time permits)
• Cross-validation
• Classification techniques
• Logistic regression and penalized logistic regression
• Nearest Neighbors Classification
• Support Vector Machines
Prerequisite:
Participants should be familiar with linear regression and basic statistical and probability concepts, as well as some familiarity with R programming.
Instructor: Yufeng Liu
Yufeng Liu is currently a professor in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Department of Biostatistics, and Department of Genetics at UNC-Chapel Hill. His current research interests include statistical machine learning, high dimensional data analysis, personalized medicine, and bioinformatics. He has taught statistical machine learning courses multiple times at UNC, as well as short courses on this subject at Joint Statistical Meetings, ENAR, FDA, and Biostatistics Summer Institutes at the University of Washington.
Dr. Liu received the CAREER Award from National Science Foundation in 2008, and Ruth and Phillip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement in 2010, and the inaugural Leo Breiman Junior Award in 2017. He is currently an elected fellow at American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), and an elected member of International Statistical Institute.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $40
- Non UNC-CH: $40
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/19/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Wed. 23 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Logistic Regression Day 2
Wed. 23 Mar, 2022 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day (3/21 and 3/23) course will be offered IN-PERSON only.
Course Summary:
This course teaches students when and how to use logistic regression models. This type of regression is used to estimate the odds or probability that an event with two categories will occur, e.g., whether individuals with characteristics of interest are likely to develop an illness, pay a debt, pass a class, have a car accident, or benefit from treatment. At the end of the course, students will be able to fit models, estimate and interpret results in terms of probabilities, odds, and logit coefficients using Stata. To achieve this end, students will learn to perform diagnostic tests: multicollinearity, discrimination, residuals, influential observations. Moreover, the class will cover how to do the following:
• Report standardized and unstandardized effects
• Compare the effect of coefficients in the model
• Interpret and graph interaction effects
Requirements:
1. Students must know how to model and interpret ordinary least square (OLS) regressions
2. Know how to use the basic Stata functions, i.e., enter and save data, create variables, use command window, and do file.
Instructor: Eugenia Conde
Dr. Conde is a Statistical Consultant at The H. W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She provides consultations to students and faculty on research methods and statistics. Her Ph.D. is in sociology with a concentration in demography and medical sociology. In addition, she holds an MSPH in epidemiology. Before working at the Odum Institute, she worked at Rutgers University and at Duke University as a statistical consultant for graduate students and as a statistician for researchers from different disciplines, including political science, economics, psychology, sociology, and public health.
She is co-authoring a statistics book with Dr. Dudley L. Poston and Dr. Layton Field, Applied Regression Models in the Social Sciences (Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). Her research interests include social inequalities, research methods, and statistics with a focus on missing data and methodologies to study people of color.
Registration Fees
- $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/18/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
DAHS: How did they get all that money from IES?
Wed. 23 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 12:50 pm
The Department of Allied Health Sciences and the Office of Research and Scholarship are hosting the research forum Writing Skills Development Program: How did they get all that money from IES?
Event Description:
Learn about the grant proposal requirements for the Institute of Education Sciences with tips for how to get funded. Dr. Costa is an intervention scientist with the UNC-CH School of Medicine. Over her 15-year research career, she has secured IES funding for multiple projects aimed at improving the written expression for children in pre-K through 8th grade.
Presenter:
Lara Costa, PhD
Research Project Director
DAHS
Faculty, staff, PhD students & post-docs: Join us for presentation and discussion!
Questions? Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
CTSA Grand Rounds: Marquis Hawkins, PhD
Wed. 23 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
CTSA Grand Rounds: Marquis Hawkins, PhD - The impact of sleeping and waking behaviors on maternal health during pregnancy
Please join us to hear Marquis Hawkins, PhD, a K scholar from the University of Pittsburgh, discuss his work on sleep health characteristics and gestational weight gain.
For any questions regarding the event, please email Susan Pusek at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
FPG Distinguished Speaker Series: Addressing Sociopolitical Determinants of Health to Prevent Developmental Disabilities
Wed. 23 Mar, 2022 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is pleased to welcome Harolyn Belcheras as the third speaker in our 2021-2022 distinguished speaker series, Examining Equity and Diversity in the Field of Developmental Disabilities.
Addressing Sociopolitical Determinants of Health to Prevent Developmental Disabilities
In this talk, Belcher will define and discuss social and political factors related to optimal child development and the prevention of developmental disabilities. The emerging demographic characteristics of the United States and the current and potential healthcare workforce will be reviewed, as it relates to the provision of healthcare for children and youth with developmental disabilities. Research priorities and efforts to bring evidence-based interventions to scale will also be examined.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the social and political determinants of health
- List preventable causes of developmental disabilities
- Discuss equity-based strategies to reduce and prevent developmental disabilities
Harolyn M.E. Belcher, MD, MHS, is a vice president and chief diversity officer, director of the Office for Health Equity Inclusion and Diversity, and senior director of the Center for Diversity in Public Health Leadership Training at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is a double-boarded Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician who is a professor of Pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Belcher is jointly appointed in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Belcher was the former director of research for the Family Center – a community-based mental health center that provides evidence-based mental health treatment focusing on children with a history of abuse and neglect and exposure to parental risk factors, poverty, racism, and community and domestic violence. Dr. Belcher is co-chair of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Baltimore City Social Determinants of Health Taskforce. She currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) Board on Children, Youth, and Families and the NAS Forum on Child –Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health.
Thu. 24 Mar, 2022
SENAHD: Big Data, Precision Medicine, Research & Resilience in Southeast Indian Country
Thu. 24 Mar, 2022 8:15 am - 3:30 pm
Join leading Indigenous health leaders and scientists as they discuss the ethical use of Native genetic, microbiome, biological, and cultural data. A one-day virtual symposium featuring a renowned Indigenous keynote speaker, leading Native scientists and health experts, conversation with Tribal leaders, and a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) event for graduate and undergraduate students.
You'll learn:
- How a global movement toward data sovereignty is impacting health, science, ancient and ancestral social data, and research
- Ethical approaches for working with Southeast tribal communities within a cultural and political context
- Best practices for community-engaged research
- Research needs and data sufficiency issues in Southeast Indian Country
Organizers:
Based at UNC-Chapel Hill, Southeast Native American Health Data (SENAHD) is an initiative to bring information and programming to tribal communities, researchers, and health professionals in the Southeast about the ethical use of Indigenous genetic, microbiome, biological, and cultural data in collaboration with the Native BioData Consortium, the first 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institute led by Indigenous scientists and tribal members in the United States.UNC Chapel Hill partners:
- UNC American Indian Center
- Odum Institute for Research in Social Science
- Kenan-Flagler Business School, Whole Community Health: Rural Innovation
Can’t attend live? Register! We will send you the recording afterward.
Odum Institute: An Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning Using R - Day 2
Thu. 24 Mar, 2022 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day (3/22/2022 and 3/24/2022) course will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Statistical machine learning and data mining is an interdisciplinary research area which is closely related to statistics, computer sciences, engineering, and bioinformatics. Many statistical machine learning and data mining techniques and algorithms are very useful for various scientific areas. This short course will provide an overview of statistical machine learning and data mining techniques with applications to the analysis of real data. Supervised learning techniques will be covered, including penalized regression such as LASSO and its variants, support vector machines. The main emphasis will be on the analysis of real data sets from various scientific fields. The techniques discussed will be demonstrated in R.
This course is intended for researchers who have some knowledge of statistics and want to be introduced to statistical machine learning and data mining, or practitioners who would like to apply statistical machine learning techniques to their problems.
Outline (R exercises will be included):
• Fundamentals of Statistical Learning
• Training versus Test error rates
• Supervised versus Unsupervised Methods
• Bias/Variance tradeoff
• Linear regression and penalized regression
• Ridge Regression
• Lasso
• Further Extensions (if time permits)
• Cross-validation
• Classification techniques
• Logistic regression and penalized logistic regression
• Nearest Neighbors Classification
• Support Vector Machines
Prerequisite:
Participants should be familiar with linear regression and basic statistical and probability concepts, as well as some familiarity with R programming.
Instructor: Yufeng Liu
Yufeng Liu is currently a professor in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Department of Biostatistics, and Department of Genetics at UNC-Chapel Hill. His current research interests include statistical machine learning, high dimensional data analysis, personalized medicine, and bioinformatics. He has taught statistical machine learning courses multiple times at UNC, as well as short courses on this subject at Joint Statistical Meetings, ENAR, FDA, and Biostatistics Summer Institutes at the University of Washington.
Dr. Liu received the CAREER Award from National Science Foundation in 2008, and Ruth and Phillip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement in 2010, and the inaugural Leo Breiman Junior Award in 2017. He is currently an elected fellow at American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), and an elected member of International Statistical Institute.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $20 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $40
- Non UNC-CH: $40
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/19/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Fri. 25 Mar, 2022
NC A&T: 2nd Annual Health Equity Virtual Symposium
Fri. 25 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 4:15 pm
You are invited to attend the 2nd Annual Health Equity Virtual Symposium. Below, you will find an agenda full of engaging poster presentations and panel discussions.
This event is co-hosted by North Carolina A&T State University, the Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences and the North Carolina Diabetes Research Center (NCDRC).
| 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. |
|
| 9:00 - 9:10 a.m. |
Interim Dean, Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences NCDRC Enrichment Core Director |
| 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. |
Moderator: Dr. Alvin Keyes, Psychology Speakers: Terence “TC” Muhammad has been a community activist and organizer for over two decades. His experience spans voter mobilization campaigns, issue advocacy, and coalition building in African American communities, faith communities, on college campuses, and among civil rights and progressive organizations. Dr. AdeLola Adeyemo’s background is in Clinical Exercise Physiology, and she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago and Auburn University where she examined cellular mechanisms underlying racial disparity in endothelial dysfunction related to hypertension and diabetes. Dr. Adeyemo is currently a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Salt Lake City Veterans’ Affairs Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Centers where she explores mechanisms of inflammatory mediated vascular dysfunction in aging (funding from NIH-NIA R01). Dr. Helyne Frederick is Clinical Associate Professor at UNC Chapel Hill School of Education where she directs the undergraduate program in Human Development and Family Studies. Dr. Frederick’s program of research examines both familial and extra-familial factors associated with sexual health for adolescents and young adults, particularly Black and Caribbean youth |
| 10:10 - 11 a.m. |
Authors: Samaria Bivens, Meeshay Williams-Wheeler, Ph.D., CFLE and Phoebe Butler-Ajibade, EdD Faculty Mentor: Ramine Alexander, Ph.D., MPH Affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University Citizen-Science Community-Engaged Research to Address Systemic Barriers to Wellbeing Authors: Anderson Bean, PhD; Stephanie Teixeira-Poit, Phd; Tobin Walton, Phd; Lee’ Anthony Calhoun; Geraldine Cundiff; Kendall Dawson; Ty’Teria Sharper Affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University |
| 11 - 11:15 a.m. |
|
| 11:15 - 12 p.m. |
Authors: Kayliah Robinson and Thais Rivas Affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University Utilizing Community Based Approaches to Recruit a Community Taskforce to Engage in the Reach and Development of a Childhood Obesity Treatment Program Authors: Clovis Suttles, Phoebe Butler-Ajibade, EdD, and Meeshay Williams-Wheeler, Ph.D., CFLE Affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University |
| 12 - 12:30 p.m. |
|
| 12:30 - 1 p.m. |
Speaker: Taylor B. Hogue PhD(c) Affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University |
| 1 - 1:45 p.m. |
Kailyn Price; Alum, North Carolina A&T State University, 2020 (Biology); PhD student at George Washington University, Neuroscience Kennedy Reid, NC A&T Class of 2023 (Economics; Law) Cole Riley, NC A&T Class of 2022 (Political Science) Moderator: Dr. Davi Thornton, PhD; Speech/Health Communication @ North Carolina A&T State University |
| 1:45 - 2:30 p.m. |
Speakers: Dr. Jennifer Mendoza Beasley, NC A&T State University Dr. Nina Smith, North Carolina Central University Dr. Catherine Scott-Little, UNC- Greensboro |
| 2:30 - 3 p.m. |
Speakers: Dr. Deana Lacy McQuitty, CCC-SLP Dr. DaKysha Moore, MS, MHS |
| 3 - 3:45 p.m. |
Speakers: Alexis Powell, MPH Community Health Educator I, Guilford County Government Magdalene S. Tukov, Adult Nurse Practitioner, Cone Health Shewana Hairston McSwain, Try Healthy "SNAP-ED" Coordinator |
| 3:45 - 4:15 p.m. |
Speakers: Dr. Jeannette Wade Dr. Yvonne Ford Dr. TJ Exford Dr. Marc Cook Dr. Ramine Alexander |
CTSA Grand Rounds: Mona Mashayekhi, MD, PhD
Fri. 25 Mar, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
CTSA Grand Rounds: Mona Mashayekhi, MD, PhD - The contribution of adipose tissue and systemic inflammation to cardiovascular diseases in obesity
Please join us to hear Mona Mashayekhi, MD, PhD, a K scholar from Vanderbilt University, discuss her work to characterize the anti-inflammatory potential of newer anti-diabetic agents.
For any questions regarding the event, please email Susan Pusek at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds: A Telehealth-Delivered Pragmatic Trial of Mindfulness for Persons with Chronic Low Back Pain
Fri. 25 Mar, 2022 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
A Telehealth-Delivered Pragmatic Trial of Mindfulness for Persons with Chronic Low Back Pain (Natalia Morone, MD, MS)
This NIH Collaboratory Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds features:
Natalia E. Morone, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Medicine
Boston University/Boston Medical Center
Mon. 28 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Google Earth Engine for Urban Studies - Day 1
Mon. 28 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day course (3/28/22 and 3/30/22) will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Urbanization has been a fundamental trend of the past two centuries and a key force shaping the development of the modern world. While urbanization in rapidly growing nations is helping lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, it is also creating immense societal challenges by increasing greenhouse-gas emissions, destabilizing fragile ecosystems and creating new demands on public services and infrastructure that pose significant challenges on the environment. Despite the importance of understanding the drivers of urban growth, we are still unable to quantify the magnitude and pace of urbanization in a consistent manner at a high resolution and global scale.
The revolution in geospatial data has transformed how we study cities. Since the 1970s, terrestrial Earth observation data have been continuously collected in various spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions. As improved satellite imagery becomes available, new remote-sensing methods and machine-learning approaches have been developed to convert terrestrial Earth-observation data into meaningful information about the nature and pace of change of urban landscapes and human settlements. But until recently, most remote sensing studies focused on local settings. Mapping land cover at a national or regional scale is challenging because of the lack of high-resolution global imagery, the heterogeneous and complex spectral characteristics of land, the small and fragmented spatial configuration of many cities, and importantly, computational constrains (for storage and processing). Emerging cloud-based computational platforms now allow for scaling analysis across space and time. Google Earth Engine (GEE) is one platform that leverages cloud-computing services to achieve planetary-scale utility. GEE leverages cloud-computational services for planetary-scale analysis and consists of petabytes of geospatial and tabular data, including a full archive of Landsat, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1, and MODIS, together with a JavaScript, Python based API (GEE API), and algorithms for supervised image classification.
This hands-on course will focus on the use of Google Earth Engine (GEE) for urban research applications. It will demonstrate how free and open-source satellite imagery – including electro-optical (EO) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery – can be utilized to map urban areas and urbanization trends and patterns, across space and time, and to perform a qualitative analysis of the impacts of urban expansion on the landscape. In addition to analyzing existing classification schemes of urban areas to understand how cities expand and evolve, the course will provide a brief introduction to concepts in Remote Sensing Machine Learning, with a focus on supervised pixel-based image classification. Students will learn how to automatically map built-up land cover based on publicly available satellite imagery (e.g., Landsat and Sentinel). In addition, the course will demonstrate recent innovations in the use of remotely sensed nighttime light observations to understand variations in economic activity within and between cities – all utilizing data and tools that are available in GEE. The course will include PowerPoint slides, group hands-on coding (in JavaScript) and short exercises. Prior coding knowledge is not required.
Instructor: Ran Goldblatt
Ran Goldblatt, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientist of New Light Technologies Inc. and is a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing expert. His work focuses on the complex interrelations between the physical and social environment and on utilizing geospatial data analysis for a more sustainable urban development.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $35 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $95
- Non UNC-CH: $145
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/25/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Heels Care Network: Mental Health, Alcohol, and Drugs: How Do They Connect?
Mon. 28 Mar, 2022 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
This semester UNC-Chapel Hill is offering monthly virtual mental health seminars addressing the intersection of mental health with related topics such as faith, addition/substance use, intimate partner violence, and vulnerable populations.
The second seminar, Mental Health, Alcohol, and Drugs: How Do They Connect?, will be offered on Monday, March 28, from 3:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
The conversation will be framed by a diverse panel of experts discussing the role that alcohol and drugs play in mental health.
Attendees will have the opportunity to listen, learn, and contribute thoughts and questions during the event. The seminar will be recorded for viewing by those who cannot attend.
Tue. 29 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Usability Testing in Survey Research - Day 1
Tue. 29 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
This two-day (3/29 AND 3/31) course will be offered via Zoom only and will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Usability testing in survey research allows in-depth evaluation of how respondents and interviewers interact with questionnaires, particularly web and mobile surveys. A respondent may understand the survey question and response options but may be unable to select their answer accurately on the small screen of a smartphone. Although there is a growing body of literature on best practices for web surveys and mobile devices, not all design guidelines work equally well for all surveys and all survey populations. In addition, it is clear that the capabilities of computerized surveys are constantly emerging. Examples are the use of images, videos, maps and GPS, interactive features, and mobile devices. As a result, it is critical for researchers to have the necessary tools to evaluate, test, and modify surveys to incorporate user-centered design in an iterative method as part of the survey pretesting process.
Instructors: Emily Geisen and Jennifer Romano
Emily Geisen is a Senior Experience Management scientist at Qualtrics. She manages a team of 10 Project Managers in Qualtrics’ Sample Science and Delivery unit. She specializes in improving data quality and reducing respondent burden in web surveys by employing best practices in questionnaire design, visual design, and user experience.
Jennifer Romano is a Staff UX Researcher and Manager at Google, an instructor at UC Berkeley Extension, an instructor at the University of Maryland, and a UXR Coach. She specializes in efficient applications of research methods to ensure scientific rigor is not compromised while working fast to gain actionable results.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $65
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $90
- Non UNC-CH: $90
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/26/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
N3C: Orientation to the N3C Data Enclave - Session B
Tue. 29 Mar, 2022 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Join a live training session for the N3C Data Enclave. Users of all types can learn how to navigate the N3C, utilize the Enclave and resources it provides, and learn how to better achieve their analytical goals. This orientation is split into 2 sessions – Session A and Session B. These orientations are offered on a monthly basis. Session A is recommended before attending Session B.
Session B is for analysts, statisticians, data scientists, or anyone who wants to gain a broader understanding of the tools needed to work with the data.
Topics include:
- Focus on technical aspects of working with data in the secure N3C Enclave, including use of OMOP concept sets and N3C-specific tooling, such as the Concept Set Browser.
- Introduce commonly used analysis tools, such as Contour and Code Workbooks and corresponding workflows for simple analyses.
- Introduce the Enclave Knowledge Store, a mechanism for sharing and using community-developed code and data across projects.
Wed. 30 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Google Earth Engine for Urban Studies - Day 2
Wed. 30 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
This two-day course (3/28/22 and 3/30/22) will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Urbanization has been a fundamental trend of the past two centuries and a key force shaping the development of the modern world. While urbanization in rapidly growing nations is helping lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, it is also creating immense societal challenges by increasing greenhouse-gas emissions, destabilizing fragile ecosystems and creating new demands on public services and infrastructure that pose significant challenges on the environment. Despite the importance of understanding the drivers of urban growth, we are still unable to quantify the magnitude and pace of urbanization in a consistent manner at a high resolution and global scale.
The revolution in geospatial data has transformed how we study cities. Since the 1970s, terrestrial Earth observation data have been continuously collected in various spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions. As improved satellite imagery becomes available, new remote-sensing methods and machine-learning approaches have been developed to convert terrestrial Earth-observation data into meaningful information about the nature and pace of change of urban landscapes and human settlements. But until recently, most remote sensing studies focused on local settings. Mapping land cover at a national or regional scale is challenging because of the lack of high-resolution global imagery, the heterogeneous and complex spectral characteristics of land, the small and fragmented spatial configuration of many cities, and importantly, computational constrains (for storage and processing). Emerging cloud-based computational platforms now allow for scaling analysis across space and time. Google Earth Engine (GEE) is one platform that leverages cloud-computing services to achieve planetary-scale utility. GEE leverages cloud-computational services for planetary-scale analysis and consists of petabytes of geospatial and tabular data, including a full archive of Landsat, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1, and MODIS, together with a JavaScript, Python based API (GEE API), and algorithms for supervised image classification.
This hands-on course will focus on the use of Google Earth Engine (GEE) for urban research applications. It will demonstrate how free and open-source satellite imagery – including electro-optical (EO) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery – can be utilized to map urban areas and urbanization trends and patterns, across space and time, and to perform a qualitative analysis of the impacts of urban expansion on the landscape. In addition to analyzing existing classification schemes of urban areas to understand how cities expand and evolve, the course will provide a brief introduction to concepts in Remote Sensing Machine Learning, with a focus on supervised pixel-based image classification. Students will learn how to automatically map built-up land cover based on publicly available satellite imagery (e.g., Landsat and Sentinel). In addition, the course will demonstrate recent innovations in the use of remotely sensed nighttime light observations to understand variations in economic activity within and between cities – all utilizing data and tools that are available in GEE. The course will include PowerPoint slides, group hands-on coding (in JavaScript) and short exercises. Prior coding knowledge is not required.
Instructor: Ran Goldblatt
Ran Goldblatt, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientist of New Light Technologies Inc. and is a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing expert. His work focuses on the complex interrelations between the physical and social environment and on utilizing geospatial data analysis for a more sustainable urban development.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $0, with a $35 deposit to hold your spot (deposit is refundable upon your attendance for at least 66% of the course)
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $95
- Non UNC-CH: $145
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/25/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thu. 31 Mar, 2022
Odum Institute: Usability Testing in Survey Research - Day 2
Thu. 31 Mar, 2022 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
This two-day (3/29 AND 3/31) course will be offered via Zoom only and will not be recorded.
Course Summary:
Usability testing in survey research allows in-depth evaluation of how respondents and interviewers interact with questionnaires, particularly web and mobile surveys. A respondent may understand the survey question and response options but may be unable to select their answer accurately on the small screen of a smartphone. Although there is a growing body of literature on best practices for web surveys and mobile devices, not all design guidelines work equally well for all surveys and all survey populations. In addition, it is clear that the capabilities of computerized surveys are constantly emerging. Examples are the use of images, videos, maps and GPS, interactive features, and mobile devices. As a result, it is critical for researchers to have the necessary tools to evaluate, test, and modify surveys to incorporate user-centered design in an iterative method as part of the survey pretesting process.
Instructors: Emily Geisen and Jennifer Romano
Emily Geisen is a Senior Experience Management scientist at Qualtrics. She manages a team of 10 Project Managers in Qualtrics’ Sample Science and Delivery unit. She specializes in improving data quality and reducing respondent burden in web surveys by employing best practices in questionnaire design, visual design, and user experience.
Jennifer Romano is a Staff UX Researcher and Manager at Google, an instructor at UC Berkeley Extension, an instructor at the University of Maryland, and a UXR Coach. She specializes in efficient applications of research methods to ensure scientific rigor is not compromised while working fast to gain actionable results.
Registration Fees
- UNC-CH Students: $65
- UNC-CH Faculty/Staff/Postdoc: $90
- Non UNC-CH: $90
Additional Course Registration
- Registration will close at 12:01 am on 3/26/2022. Once registration closes, no late registrations will be accepted, no exceptions.
- Cancellation/ Refund Policy: A full refund will be given to those who cancel their registration no later than 10 days prior to the course. If you cancel within 10 days prior to the class, no refund will be given. Please allow 30 days to receive your refund.
- Zoom link for this course will be sent prior to the course. Registration must be made at least 3 days prior to the course date to receive the Zoom link.
- For questions regarding the status of this class, please contact Jill Stevens at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Contact Us
Brinkhous-Bullitt, 2nd floor
160 N. Medical Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
919.966.6022
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