Event Date and Time

Thursday, Apr 6, 2023

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Event Location

Online & Northrop, Best Buy Theater

FREE and Open to the Public (Registration Requested)

Professional captioning provided
This event will be recorded

Institute for Advanced Study, Northrop, and University Honors Program Present

Saonli Basu: Professor, Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Mark Fiecas: Assistant Professor, Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Moderated by Michael Corey: Geospatial, Technical, and Data Lead, Mapping Prejudice

Experts in statistical and computational tools for analyzing big data, Professors Saonli Basu and Mark Fiecas speak about how they guide researchers studying the developing brain. While much of their work involves specialized skills and technical knowledge, Professors Basu and Fiecas will speak in layman’s terms about the role of big data in brain research and how it informs our understanding of the human experience, specifically about our perceptions around the changing cognitive and behavioral patterns we live through—and witness in others—as we age from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

Accessibility

The Institute for Advanced Study is committed to making its events accessible to everyone. All Spotlight Series events are professionally captioned. Some accommodation requests may take us time to arrange, so please make requests for this event by Tuesday, March 21, 2023. If you are registering after this date, please reach out to us so we can explore available options. Questions/requests, contact Abby Travis, [email protected]

About the Presenters

Professor Saonli Basu develops statistical models for the genetic mapping of complex traits. A faculty member in Biostatistics at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Professor Basu is particularly interested in longitudinal studies of how genes and environment interact. She has developed and applied her methods to a variety of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, kidney allograft rejection, substance abuse, venous thrombosis, and graft-versus-host disease post hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Assistant Professor Mark Fiecas studies the structure and function of the human brain through imaging technology. A faculty member in Biostatistics at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Professor Fiecas is particularly interested in studying the functional connectivity of the human brain and the genetic underpinnings of brain phenotypes. Together with Professor Basu, Fiecas co-leads the analytics core of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

Michael Corey is the Geospatial, Technical, and Data Lead / Associate Director for Mapping Prejudice. Michael is in charge of developing and maintaining Mapping Prejudice’s technical workflows, which use crowdsourcing to identify racially restrictive housing covenants on properties in Minnesota and beyond. Before transitioning to public history, Michael spent 20 years as a journalist and data journalist at the Star Tribune, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Des Moines Register. His journalism spanned zoning and segregation, mortgage disparities, the U.S.-Mexico border fence system, human-induced earthquakes, and sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. He is also a graduate student in the University of Minnesota’s Heritage Studies and Public History program.

About the Spotlight Series

The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study, Northrop, and University Honors Program to present lectures, panel discussions, exhibits, and other events throughout the academic year around timely topics of interest. The six-part 2022-23 series will focus on how data—their collection, analysis, and the research questions that rely on them—connect to the deeply personal lived experiences of individual human beings and to the human condition at large. Events are Thursdays 3:30-5:00 pm CT and may be attended in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater or online via Zoom. Q&A sessions will follow each event.

Image Credit: Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain

Spotlight Series: Big Data and the Human Experience of the Developing Brain

Institute for Advanced Study

Contact

Affiliation

UMN Campuses

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Spotlight Series: Big Data and the Human Experience of the Developing Brain

Institute for Advanced Study

Connect

Contact

Affiliation

UMN Campuses