DATA SERVICES

Bits and Bytes

September 2025

Hello Data Enthusiast,

We hope your fall semester is off to a great start! Data Services is here to help you with your research needs throughout the semester. For our latest class listings, visit the library events calendar page, and explore the many ways we support researchers at NYU by visiting our Data Services website. We've also extended our service desk hours on the fifth floor of Bobst Library from 12PM - 5PM to 10AM - 5PM.

FORC 2025 was a Success!

Students sitting in a large classroom with three large screens and a speaker at the front of the room.

Photo Credit: NYU Data Services

The Foundations of Research Computing (FORC) Camp 2025 was a three-day data skills immersion program offered to graduate students through a collaboration among the GSAS Master’s College, the Arts & Science Office of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, and Data Services (NYU Libraries and IT). The camp highlighted the power of collective learning at NYU, bringing together 240 registrants, of whom 138 completed the full program. Through five tracks covering Python, R, generative AI, data visualization, and storytelling with data -participants engaged in coding and non-coding approaches that emphasized hands-on projects and real-world applications. Feedback was resoundingly positive! Learners left with new confidence in applying technical and analytical skills directly to dissertations, teaching, and professional work.

The camp also featured a powerful keynote by Kasia Chmielinski, Senior Advisor on Data & AI at the United Nations and Executive Director of the Data Nutrition Project. Their talk, Human Responsibility in the Age of AI, opened the program to the entire NYU community and highlighted the critical role of ethics and responsibility in the use of emerging technologies. Complementing the keynote, the FORC Fair showcased inspiring data projects across disciplines and introduced participants to NYU’s rich ecosystem of research resources in the newly launched SPARK Lab @ The Digital Studio.

FORC Camp thrived on collaboration, where graduate instructors, faculty, and Data Services staff created spaces that blended mentorship with technical fluency. Students especially valued the peer support and cross-disciplinary bonds that extended beyond the classroom. Look out for the next FORC Camp during J-term!

In Case You Missed It...

Image of the entrance of 5 Metrotech Center building in Brooklyn.

Photo Credit: NYU Dibner Library

Machine Learning Clinic at Dibner Library

For the past three weeks, students at Dibner Library have been working on a mini classification project for this semester’s Introduction to Machine Learning Clinic. The clinic is held every week on Thursdays from 1-2 PM. You can sign up for the next session on October 2nd, or find the rest of the sessions on the Dibner Library Calendar.

Upcoming Events

Research Data Lifecycle Graphic which includes the six steps of the cycle: plan, acquire, process, analyze, output, and preserve.

Image Credit: NYU Data Services

Data Services Tutorials

Did you know that Data Services has added new tutorials in the past year to its list of regular offerings? Among our recent new offerings are:

While some of these workshops have taken place, you can find more events on our calendar. Suggest a new tutorial by emailing us at data.services@nyu.edu.

NYU Data Carpentry at Dibner

In addition to tutorials, we also offer more intensive workshops. Join us for a two-day Data Carpentries workshop at Dibner Library on October 8th and 9th. Take your skills to the next level by trying out Data Cleaning with OpenRefine and Image Processing in Python. Find more details and the full schedule on the workshop page. Register soon to secure your spot!

Save the Date: NYU GIS Day 2025!

NYU GIS Day 2025, 12-4PM, Wednesday, November 19, 2025, Bobst Library
Join us as we celebrate the power of geospatial thinking, mapping, and data-driven discovery at NYU and around the world! We’ll have an afternoon of talks and hands-on learning. We’ll also be sponsoring a GIS data competition with an exciting twist!
Tentative Schedule:

12:00-12:30 PM: Check-in & Refreshments
12:30-1:00 PM: Keynote
1:00-2:00 PM: Lightning Talks
2:00-3:00 PM: Technical Showcase
3:00-4:00 PM: Competition + Voting

Mark your calendars now - more details coming soon!

Featured Data

Data in the Library

Finding longitudinal data for a study, let alone over a century’s worth of collected data, is always an uphill battle. But did you know that an excellent dataset exists for tracking climate change via rainfall measurements that covers all of India for 104 years? The India Meteorological Department developed this dataset, released in gridded latitude-longitude format, by collating data for the years 1901-2004. NYU Libraries acquired a copy of the data a few years ago and recently added it to its UltraViolet research repository for use by the university community. This dataset is a great resource for conducting climate science or studying the relationship between environment and other social or economic factors across many decades. You can find the data here along with links to published research such as this 2008 publication in Geophysical Research Letters making use of this fascinating resource.

What's New in UltraViolet

UltraViolet is part of a suite of repositories at NYU that provide a home for research materials. Data Services helps NYU researchers prepare their materials for deposit in UltraViolet to facilitate open access and long-term preservation. One of the ways that UltraViolet seeks to assist researchers is in contending with large-scale data for which it can be hard to find a home because of its size.

This month, we’re featuring a deposit from Yanyue Yuan, Associate Area Head of Interactive Media and Business (IMB) and Associate Arts Professor of Interactive Media Business at NYU Shanghai. Prof. Yuan designed a card game “Here and Now: Intergenerational Card Game” (此时此地:跨龄赋能卡牌), an open educational resource that’s meant to spark close observation, conversation, and new forms of interaction in public spaces. Its goal is “to empower players to discover, share, and celebrate their own ways of seeing and imagining,” making this perhaps the first UltraViolet deposit that encourages users to get off the computer and out into the world!

Data Services Team Spotlight: Khwaab Thareja

Photo of Khwaab Thareja from the waist up in a white shirt and black background.

Photo Credit: Khwaab Thareja

Q. What's your name, program, and year?
My name is Khwaab Thareja. I’m a 2nd-year MS student in Computer Science at NYU.

Q. What's your service area at Data Services and how long have you worked here?
I specialize in Python and machine learning support at Data Services. I joined as a Student Consultant earlier this year and have been helping students and researchers explore data analysis, visualization, and modeling ever since.

Q. What do you like most about working at Data Services?
I love the collaborative environment. We get to work with students from all disciplines, each bringing unique questions and projects. I also enjoy creating and teaching machine learning tutorials, where I get to simplify complex concepts and make them approachable for beginners. Every day feels like an opportunity to learn something new while sharing tools and techniques that make research easier.

Q. Describe your favorite data-related project that you've worked on.
One of my favorite projects has been developing and teaching hands-on machine learning workshops. I enjoy breaking down concepts like data wrangling and machine learning into practical, beginner-friendly examples. Seeing students leave with confidence to apply these skills to their own research is really rewarding.

Q. What's your favorite place to get a meal or a snack near Bobst Library?
Spring Cafe if I have time, or Naya for a quick meal, both are reliable spots depending on my schedule.

Did you miss one of our newsletters?

Don’t worry! You can always find our archive of past Bits and Bytes newsletters here. Thanks for reading! We hope to see you soon either on the 5th floor at Bobst or online.

- Your friends at Data Services

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