Data Science in the News

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Lab leads effort to model proteins tied to cancer

Oct. 31, 2019 - 
Computational scientists, biophysicists and statisticians from LLNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory(LANL) are leading a massive multi-institutional collaboration that has developed a machine learning-based simulation for next-generation supercomputers capable of modeling protein interactions and mutations that play a role in many forms of cancer. Read more at LLNL News.

Successful simulation and visualization coupling proves the power of Sierra

Oct. 22, 2019 - 
As the first National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) production supercomputer backed by GPU- (graphics processing unit) accelerated architecture, Sierra’s acquisition required a fundamental shift in how scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) program their codes to take advantage of the GPUs. The majority of Sierra’s computational power—95 percent of its 125...

Cindy Gonzales forges a new career in data science

Sept. 25, 2019 - 
Through LLNL’s Data Science Immersion Program, Gonzales is now among the Lab’s newest data scientists. For two and a half years, she juggled a demanding workload—coordinating Computing’s Scholar Program, interning with data scientists, learning from mentors, supporting LLNL’s Data Science Institute, and attending college part time—while also having her first child. Read more at LLNL Computing...

Collaboration drives data science workshop

Sept. 12, 2019 - 
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) Data Science Institute (DSI) hosted its second annual workshop on July 23–24, 2019. Co-sponsored by the University of California (UC) system, the event drew more than 200 participants to Garré Winery in Livermore. A common theme ran throughout both days: Collaboration is always welcome. Indeed, feedback from last year’s workshop inspired a...

New open-air facility will be testing ground for autonomous drones, vehicles and robots

July 25, 2019 - 
LLNL’s new OS-150 Robotics Laboratory is an outdoor, 8,000 square-foot enclosure that will serve as a proving ground for the autonomous drones, vehicles and robots of the future. Informally known as the "drone pen," the 50-foot-tall rectangular enclosure, located directly across from one of the Lab’s main engineering buildings, is allowing operators to pilot their drones safely and...

Protecting image classification in artificial intelligence

July 8, 2019 - 
To address vulnerability concerns in image classification, a new subfield of machine learning has emerged called adversarial machine learning, which focuses on the security of machine learning algorithms. Thomas Hogan, a doctoral student of mathematics at UC Davis, spent his summer investigating this new area of research during the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical Sciences Graduate...

NFL comes to Lab to hear latest on TBI research

June 5, 2019 - 
Officials from the National Football League visited LLNL to hear how the Department of Energy’s national laboratories are using high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to advance scientific understanding of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Read more at LLNL News.

Speech generation: siblings collaborate on machine learning hackathon project

May 28, 2019 - 
The first recording that brothers Sam and Joe Eklund, along with their colleague Travis Chambers, played for the audience was a validation. “I endorse Travis as president of the United States of America,” the audio clip played, in a voice resembling Barack Obama’s. The second, in the same voice, was a declaration: “Ice is back, our brand new invention” (from the song “Ice Ice Baby” by...

Machine learning on a mission

April 11, 2019 - 
Machine learning uses computers to learn from data and make predictions about the environment. As the world generates more data, interpretation becomes more difficult. A smart machine—one that adapts to new information on the fly—can speed up processing and analysis times and improve its accuracy in identification and prediction tasks. Although commercial and consumer applications of ML are...

Multi-institutional meeting centers on making the 'impossible' possible in cancer research

March 22, 2019 - 
Computer scientists, biomedical engineers, cancer biologists and bioinformaticians from eight Department of Energy national laboratories, health-related government agencies and universities converged at LLNL March 6-7 to discuss ongoing efforts to advance cancer research through computation, identify existing challenges and brainstorm future multidisciplinary projects. Read more at LLNL News...

Going deep: Lab employees get an introduction to world of machine learning, neural networks

Feb. 1, 2019 - 
Deep learning is one of the most popular and widely used machine learning methods due to its success with autonomous vehicles, speech recognition and image classification, to name a few emergent technologies. But what exactly is deep learning, and how can it best be applied to Lab projects? LLNL employees discovered the answers during a recent "Deep Learning 101" course, which introduced the...

Playing video games may help researchers find personalized medical treatment for sepsis

Dec. 18, 2018 - 
A deep learning approach originally designed to teach computers how to play video games better than humans could aid in developing personalized medical treatment for sepsis, a disease that causes about 300,000 deaths per year and for which there is no known cure. LLNL, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Vermont, is exploring how deep reinforcement learning can discover...

DSI kicks off 'bull sessions' for data science enthusiasts

Oct. 18, 2018 - 
In upholding its mission of centralizing data science activity at LLNL, the DSI launched an informal event series on July 25, 2018. The new “bull sessions” are intended to facilitate networking, brainstorming, and problem-solving among data scientists and engineers across the Lab. Dan Faissol, a member of DSI’s Data Science Council, states, “We hope these bull sessions will also serve as a...

Data science workshop embraces multidisciplinary community

Aug. 28, 2018 - 
Since launching in early 2018, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) Data Science Institute (DSI) has hit the ground running with a series of seminars, collaborative sessions, reading groups and other activities for the LLNL data science community. On August 7–8, 2018, the DSI hosted its inaugural offsite workshop, which was co-sponsored by the University of California (UC). More...

Researchers developing deep learning system to advance nuclear nonproliferation analysis

Aug. 21, 2018 - 
Artificial neural networks are all around us, deeply embedded in routine functions on the internet. They help online merchants make personalized shopping recommendations, enable social media sites to recognize faces in photos and assist email programs in filtering out spam. Neural networks also have the potential to play a critical role in national security, helping nonproliferation analysts...

New Data Science Institute supports explosive growth of data science

March 8, 2018 - 
The Data Science Institute (DSI) is a new multidisciplinary entity supporting growth in this field both across Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) programs and among the external data science community. The DSI is designed to facilitate mission-driven data science through a cohesive vision, increased collaboration, and targeted outreach and recruiting. The DSI is led by Michael...