Periodically the RTG program sponsors special topics courses in order help undergraduate students develop skills and further explore topics that align with the RTG program goals.

Python for Data Mining (Winter 2015)

Two graduate students in the RTG, Nick Ulle and Clark Fitzgerald, taught a successful course in "Python for Data Mining", which had almost 100 participants.  This course was taught under the supervision of Professor Duncan Temple Lang and was co-sponsored by the UC Davis Data Science Initiative.

• Course material: https://github.com/nick-ulle/2015-python
• Link to lectures: http://dsi.ucdavis.edu/PythonMiniCourse/

Environmental Data Analysis (Fall 2015)

RTG faculty member Prof. P. Burman and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Joshua Patrick led a special topics course on environmental data analysis.  The goal of this course was to develop statistical and computational skills for the extraction of useful information from spatio-temporal data sets on pollution, which are publicly available. In such an endeavor, they wished to:

• explore why it is important to analyze data sets on environmental pollution,
• download data sets from EPA or Cal Air Resources Board,
• decide the issues/questions to be addressed, and
• proceed with data analysis in order to address these issues.