/summerlab

CDAC Data and Computing Summer Lab resources

Welcome to the CDAC Summer Lab

Welcome to the Data & Computing Summer Lab! People make this program what it is, and our high hopes for this year come from our excitement in welcoming all of you to the program. Each one of you brings a unique background, perspective, and skill set to your research project.

CDAC is an interdisciplinary research center, and the impressive range of your projects manifests that multifaceted approach to data science by encompassing over twenty different domains and approaches. We can’t wait to see what you accomplish during this program, and hope to support you along the way.

What is the Data and Computing Summer Lab Program?

The Data & Computing Summer Lab is an immersive 10-week paid summer research program at the University of Chicago. Through the program, high school and undergraduate students work on data science research projects across a variety domains and applications, such as computer science, computational social sciences, biomedicine, computer vision, machine learning/AI, human-computer interaction, networks, and more.

The program is part of the of the Center for Data and Computing (CDAC), an intellectual hub and incubator for data science and artificial intelligence research at the University of Chicago.

Who is this guide for?

The primary audience for this guide is the cohort of research assistants (RA) in the current Summer Lab program, however, we want everything we create to be open and accessible to broader community. We hope this is useful to people beyond Summer Lab participants.

If you are applying to the program or have been accepted as a RA, check out the manual to see how you can prepare before arriving, what orientation and training will cover, and what to expect from the summer.

What is in this guide?

Summer Lab Team

Program Mission

The mission of the program is to foster an inclusive research environment where students from all backgrounds gain hands-on research experience and build critical computational and data science skills. It’s our goal to run a program that balances the rigors of research with a collaborative, cohort experience to train the next generation of interdisciplinary computational and data scientists.

Student Experience

This program offers you the chance to participate in research, possibly for the first time, outside of a classroom environment. This can bring its own challenges, but we hope that you make the most of this research experience. This program also uniquely offers you chances to collaborate and build friendships with fellow minds intrigued by computational puzzles. We hope you use this summer to:

  • Engage with and contribute to your cohort and cluster
  • Conduct interdisciplinary data science research
  • Collaborate with and learn from your cohort peers
  • Learn about cutting-edge research, beyond your own research project topic, in the weekly speaker series
  • Develop new computational, data science, and research skills
  • Practice discussing and presenting research findings, culminating in final video presentation

People

We have 100+ affiliated people (student researchers, mentors, co-mentoring staff, program staff, and more) involved in the program! As a research assistant you will work most directly with your mentor and their research team, including other RAs, students and postdoctoral researchers. In addition to your research team, you'll have access to the CDAC Summer Lab team as resources to support you throughout the program:

Program Director (Kyle): Program director, mentor in the program + co-coordinator for the Systems cluster group with Tyler. Direct any questions or issues to Kyle & Katie. Weekly office hours: Thursdays at 10:00am CT.

Program Admin (Katie): Direct any questions (specifically about program logistics, stipends, program dates, etc) to Katie, and any issues to Katie & Kyle. Available for check-ins and meetings either via email or Calendly.

Lab Coordinators (LC’s): Jinjin, Julia, + Tyler

Each cluster has a designated lab coordinator, but each lab coordinator is available for help with questions from any RA.

  • Lab coordinators and Kyle will each hold weekly office hours on Zoom, open to anyone.
  • Lab coordinators are also a great resource for navigating research and mentor/lab working relationships. They’re also there to answer questions you might feel silly asking - to remind you that all questions are good, and work through it with you. Ask them questions in the Slack channel #helpdesk or in a direct message.

Peer Tripods: The rule of threes! Just like the clusters provide small group facilitation within the larger cohort, peer tripods (groups of 3 students within each cluster) aim to provide even closer connection and collaboration among RAs. Your peer tripod is there to help with everything from questions you don’t want to ask your mentor but need help with; feedback on your final video presentation; and a “peer buddy”-style support system.

Peer tripod groupings will be sent out during week 2, once we’ve all gotten to meet and settle into our projects. We’ll all meet in the tripods during an “Icebreaker Social” event on Friday June 26th (see “Social Events” below for more info).

Co-Mentoring Staff: A lot of your projects are ingrained in existing research labs, and the co-mentoring staff any PhDs, postdocs, researchers, or even fellow student researchers who you’re working with.

Research Assistant (RA) Expectations

The Cohort: At the core of the Summer Lab program is the cohort: that’s you! And your fellow RAs. Cohort building occurs through various aspects of the program, such as: engaging in discussions with your cluster and peer tripod, attending talks, participating in discussions in Slack, joining program social activities, and posting and answering questions in the Slack #helpdesk channel. By participating in the program to your fullest ability and contributing to the cohort experience, each RA is expected to abide by a collegial, mutually-respectful code of conduct (as upheld in the UChicago Student Manual).

Peer Mentoring: We’re all here to learn, and sometimes the best way to do that is by asking and answering questions of your peers. There are many resources for asking questions -- lab coordinator office hours + Slack messages; your cluster Slack channel. The space explicitly open for peer-answered questions is the #helpdesk Slack channel, where both RAs and Summer Lab team members are encouraged to ask and answer questions.

Attendance: All RAs are expected to complete the full ten weeks of the program. If for any reason you need to request time off, please discuss the situation with your mentor(s), Kyle, and Katie. Mentors have final say over adjusted schedules, and any scheduling agreements should be addressed in the Learning Agreement document. There are two weekly, required meetings for all RAs: a standup meeting on Mondays at 10:00-10:30am CT, and a speaker series talk on Wednesdays at 11:00am-12:00pm CT. All other meetings are optional, but encouraged, unless otherwise noted.

Time: Each RA is expected to contribute a full-time schedule (37.5 hrs/wk) to their research project. RAs are not required to log or document hours worked (unless using Workday).

COVID-19 Policy: In the context of the global coronavirus pandemic, we understand that unexpected challenges may arise during the course of the program. The health and safety of our community is our priority. Should any circumstance arise that compromises your ability to participate in the program, please discuss with your mentor, Kyle, and Katie as soon as possible to develop a plan going forward.

Anti-Harassment Statement: The Summer Lab program has a zero tolerance policy regarding harassment of any form. In remote work circumstances, this applies particularly to cyberbullying. It is important to consider that nuance can get lost in remote communications, so please be extra careful of how you communicate with others, in particular with your peers. Instances of harassment should be reported directly to Kyle and Katie.

Remote Resources + Working From Home

UChicago Accounts: Everyone should have either a permanent or temporary UChicago CNet ID. Your CNet will allow you to access any University servers or information pertaining to your project (if applicable). If you have any troubles with your account, please contact Bob Bartlett.

Remote Tech & Hardware: The #cs_techstaff Slack channel is where you can ask Bob, or any other CS Techstaff member, questions about your remote setup. Feel free to ask questions there, or over email (contact info here).

Security & Privacy: Better safe than sorry! It’s especially important while working from home or accessing potentially sensitive data sets or University information that you make sure your research environment is secure and safe. Additionally, be careful about how you share files, whether over Google Drive, Slack, email, or Box.

Communication Channels

Zoom: you can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it. We will use Zoom for all video conference meetings and events. If you are a UChicago student, please register your Zoom account with ITS. We recommend you download the desktop app for easiest use. Some Zoom best practices:

  • Stay on mute whenever possible.
  • Remove your video in larger calls (i.e. Wednesday speaker series) if your connection is iffy, or if you would generally prefer to have it off.
  • Check privacy and security settings for each meeting, and always require a password.

Slack: the central platform for quick communication, addressing questions and cohort-wide announcements/updates. You have all been invited to the CDAC Summer Lab slack workspace. When you’ve accepted and joined, please set up your profile with the following: name/preferred name; cluster; time zone; pronouns; (optional) photo/graphic. Feel free to write an intro message in the #announcements channel, too.

Nothing’s sadder than a silent Slack channel, so make this workspace your own and use it to your benefit! We encourage you to share insights, questions, and articles in your cluster channel, and use the other public channels to share and interact with your cohort. Some Slack best practices:

  • When you want to be sure people reply to your message in a channel, use “@channel” or “@(name)” to make sure they get a notification.
  • You can control your notification preferences by muting channels.
  • Download the desktop app, and if you’d like, the phone app (Apple/Android) (helpful for notifications while you’re away from your computer).

Time Zones

We’re in a global program this summer, and students are participating from multiple time zones. We’ve taken into account these different time zones as best we can when crafting program schedules and will do our best to accommodate RAs in zones with +-8 hours difference. However, everyone’s flexibility and communication will be needed to help make this as smooth as possible. If for any reason your time zone makes it infeasible for you to participate in a required activity, please let Katie know.

First Time (+ Returning) Researcher Best Practices

Unstructured time

  • If this is your first time working on research, one of the biggest initial hurdles can be figuring out how to structure and best use your time. One suggestion is to make concrete, realistic timelines and deadlines for both small and big tasks. You can set these initially in your learning agreement with your mentor, but change them as things in the project change (and they will!). Also use the stand up meetings to check in with your progress, and adjust/adapt accordingly.

Asking questions

  • Asking questions and saying “I don’t know” can be powerful motivators, but also hard to admit. You have lots of places to ask questions and lots of people to ask questions of: lab coordinators (on Slack + in office hours), mentor(s), co-mentoring staff, and even your peers (in clusters and peer tripods). Asking questions is the stuff of research, and it’s good to get comfortable with it early on.

Screen fatigue

  • Take breaks! We’re not used to spending this much time in front of screens, even though we rely on technology to help us connect and work. Even 10 minutes away from your laptop -- reading a book (yes, an actual book), taking a walk around the block, or doing some stretches -- can be quick and effective ways to press the reset button and avoid burnout.

Surveys

Occasionally, we’ll send out a short survey for students to provide feedback about the programming, speaker series, ideas for social events, and more. We want this program to benefit you while you’re in it, so all feedback is encouraged and welcome, even outside of these surveys.

Summer Schedule Overview

Google Calendar

All meeting details and Zoom links are provided on the “CDAC Summer Lab” Google Calendar, which is shared with all students and mentors. If you have a Gmail address that you’d prefer the calendar is shared with, please let Katie know.

Recurring & One-Time Schedule

Each RA’s schedule will differ slightly, depending on the demands of their research project. We’ve limited but concentrated the events and programs that are required (most weekly, some one offs), but have an increased the number of optional plug-ins for students to ask questions, discuss in groups, and socialize.

Weekly Required Schedule

  • Mondays: Cluster Stand Up Meeting | 10:00-10:30am* CT, Zoom

    • Small group check-in. Stand ups are an opportunity to talk through your tasks and challenges for the week, and bounce ideas and questions off your peers and lab coordinator in a low-stress environment.
    • * Monday stand ups will occasionally run longer for presentations/announcements.

  • Wednesdays + Fridays: Written Stand Up (asynchronous) | Slack cluster channel

    • 1-2 sentences providing an update on project work. This can be done at any time, so long as we see it posted that day.

  • Wednesdays: Speaker Series | 11:00am-12:00pm CT, Zoom 30-60 min of various talks and panels from cutting-edge researchers.

    • (occasionally) 10-15 min small group discussions in clusters in Zoom breakout rooms.
    • To accommodate folks for whom the time difference is difficult, we’ll record each talk and share afterwards so they’re accessible to everyone.

Program-Long Required Schedule

  • (HOLD) June 23 - June 26, 9:00am-1:00pm: Carpentries Workshop | Zoom

    • See “Workshops” below for more info.
    • Workshop topics:
      • June 23rd: Python
      • June 24th: Unix
      • June 25th: Git
      • June 26th: Databases/SQL
      • There will be two groups offered for each topic, one at an intermediate level and one at an advanced level. We’ll send a survey during week 1 where you can self-select the level that would be most beneficial to you.

  • Friday June 26: Icebreaker Social | Time TBD, Zoom

    • Meet with your cluster for some icebreakers, and then meet & greet with the entire cohort!

  • Monday of Week 5 (Cohort A) / Week 6 (Cohort B): Midpoint Lightning Talk | 10:00-11:00am, Zoom

    • 3-5 minute overview of research project development. No presentation materials (i.e. slide deck) needed, but optional.

  • Week 5 (Cohort A) / Week 6 (Cohort B): Midpoint Check-in | (exact dates TBC)

    • RA and a member of the Summer Lab team meet to discuss progress, challenges, and goals, using the Learning Agreement for reference.

  • Friday of Week 10 (Cohort A) / Week 11 (Cohort B): Final Video Symposium | 10:00am-12:00pm CT, Zoom

    • Cohort-wide viewing and presentation of students’ final videos.

  • Week 10 (Cohort A) / Week 11 (Cohort B): Final Check-in | (exact dates TBC)

    • RA + member of the Summer Lab team (+ optional mentor(s)) meet to discuss RA’s progress over the summer and achievements on the project.

Optional Weekly Programming

  • Office Hours (OH)

  • NB: Week 1 + 2 office hours will be different from weeks 3+. Confirmed OH times (for weeks 3+) will be posted on the Google Calendar & in Slack.

    • Julia Hanson | Tuesdays, time TBC, Zoom
    • Tyler Skluzacek | Wednesdays, time TBC, Zoom
    • Kyle Chard | Thursdays, 10:00am-11:00am CT, Zoom
    • Jinjin Zhao | Fridays, time TBC, Zoom

  • Wednesdays: Post-talk teatime discussion | 12:00-12:30pm CT, Zoom

    • Open Zoom room to discuss that week’s speaker series.

  • Social Events

    • Announced during the program, integrating student feedback and interest. Example event: virtual trivia!

Workshops

  • Carpentries Workshop (week 2) | Details TBC 6/12
  • The goal of this “on-ramp” workshop is to help make sure everyone is on the same page re: essential software (and possibly some data) carpentry tools before diving into research projects.
  • Lessons include: Python programming + Unix shell + Version control with Git + Databases/SQL (+ more)
  • We’ll run two concurrent workshops with differently tailored lesson plans. During week 1, you will be able to self-select which workshop best addresses your skill set.

Clusters

  • Think of this as our version of “staying apart, together.” Especially since we’re remote, and we’re a big group, we wanted to find a way to facilitate small group collaboration, discussion, and connection -- hence, clusters! Each cluster is a group of 8-10 students who are all working on projects related to an umbrella theme. NB: each of your projects is interdisciplinary by nature, so if you’re wondering why you’re in one cluster and not another - or, more importantly, if your original cluster assignment isn’t working out - let us know and we can reshuffle the deck.

Here are the four cluster groups:

  • Applied Machine Learning + AI (Applied ML/AI): Advancing the new frontier of artificial intelligence & machine learning methods for real-world impact.
  • Lab Coordinator: Jinjin Zhao
  • Computational Social Sciences (CSS): Applying computational analysis to various aspects of society to derive otherwise unforeseen insights.
  • Lab Coordinator: Tyler Skluzacek
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Meeting at the intersection of humans and technology.
  • Lab Coordinator: Julia Hanson
  • Systems (Sys): Developing the highly performant, secure, and heterogeneous computing systems of the future.
  • Lab Coordinator: Tyler Skluzacek (+ Kyle Chard as co-coordinator)

In each cluster, you’ll also be part of a peer tripod, or a group of you and two other RAs who are working on similar projects, and are encouraged to collaborate on project questions and discussions. Each cluster will also have a speaker series talk devoted to that subject, and students will have the opportunity to introduce speakers talking on that topic.

Presentations

One of the most rewarding yet difficult aspects of the research lifecycle is communicating your research. Crafting a narrative about your project -- from its motivating questions to its methods and findings -- requires you to contextualize your project within larger questions in computational and data science. It’s also good practice to learn how to talk about intricately technical topics to audiences who aren’t content experts within your field.

Over the course of the program, you’ll work towards a final 2-3 minute video presentation. Unlike in past years where we asked students to do presentations in person, this year we’re going digital -- both to avoid any mid-presentation wifi failures but also so that you can take the opportunity to produce something you’re proud of and can share widely. We’ll provide more instructions and resources in week 3 (thanks to the CDAC Communications Director, Rob Mitchum).

On your final day in the program, we’ll have a “Symposium” where we watch each others’ final video presentations. You’ll have a chance to do a practice run in a Monday morning stand up meeting (week 5 + 6). We encourage you to leverage and work with your peer tripod and cluster group to get feedback and inspiration for your videos!

Speaker Series

Each Wednesday, we’ll host a talk or panel featuring researchers, professors, students, and industry representatives on the front lines of cutting-edge data science and artificial intelligence research. Each talk will be followed by Q&A, and some with small-group discussions. Students will have multiple opportunities to submit questions during each talk, introduce speakers, and even moderate panels. As mentioned above, all talks will be recorded and shared after the fact, so that anyone who can’t attend (because of time zone differences or conflicts) can still hear the talk.

NB: We will hold a talk on June 17th during week 1 of the program, before Cohort B has begun (on June 22nd). Cohort B RAs are still of course welcome and encouraged to attend this talk, even if they haven’t yet started.

Talk topics for this summer include:

  • Lab Coordinator Intros: How to make the most of your summer research program
  • CDAC + CS Intros: Hear firsthand about the expanding efforts around CS and data science at UChicago
  • COVID-19 + Data: What role can data science play in meeting the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • Faculty Panel: Hear professors talk about their unique path to academia, and ask them questions outside of a classroom context.
  • Human-Computer Interaction: What do the boundary-pushing frontiers of HCI research look like? In security, robotics, and wearables?
  • Industry Panel: What does data science look like in industry and government vs. academia? How do you pursue a career in data science industries? Followed by a workshop with UChicago Career Development.
  • PhD Panel: Hear from CS PhD students and CDAC Graduate Fellows about their path into academia and recommendations for pursuing higher education in various interdisciplinary computational fields.
  • Image Analysis + AI: What are the unique challenges of image analysis across domains/applications such as public policy and archaeology?
  • AI + Science: How is AI as an emerging field being defined by current cutting-edge research? What are the unique challenges to this field in its myriad real-world applications?
  • National Labs: How are National Labs such as Argonne National Lab and Fermilab pushing the boundaries of computational power and scientific discovery?
  • Applied Data Science: Data science methodologies advance through interdisciplinary collaboration across domains and approaches. What does data science research look like across fields such as spatial data, medicine, and econ/business?

Stipends

In recognition and support of your participation in the program, you have been awarded a stipend. All stipends have been processed, and should be arriving either as a check or a direct deposit/wire transfer. Once you have received your stipend, please email Katie to confirm. If you have any questions regarding your stipend situation, please notify Katie as well.

Social Events

While a remote program makes it trickier to put the “play” in “work hard, play hard”, it won’t stop us from offering some online social activities. The cohort experience is built both through project collaboration and work and through connections and fun with games. Stay tuned for more info on social event details throughout the program -- we’ll roll them out as the weeks go on, hopefully with your input.