Lightning Talks & Data Social Hour @ Microsoft

Lightning Talk & Data Social Hour @ Microsoft

We’re excited to bring the Greater Boston useR Group together for another in-person meetup!

Join us at the Microsoft New England Research & Development Center for an evening of short lightning talks, new ideas, and conversation with members of the Boston R community.

Lightning talks will be approximately 5–7 minutes and may cover an R project, package, visualization, workflow, research finding, technical lesson, or anything else the community may find interesting.

Interested in presenting?
Please reach out to us through Meetup to volunteer for a lightning talk. Speakers of all experience levels are encouraged to participate.

Talk lineup:
1. Donald Szlosek - Sr. Staff Biostatistician @ IDEXX Laboratories

• From Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation to Targeted Machine Learning: Modern Causal Inference with Flexible ML

2. Damie Pak - Lead Clinical Modeler @ Sanofi

• brat and it's the same but it's in R so it's not - Trying to remake Charli XCX's 360 entirely in R

3. Adam Black - Senior Data Scientist @ Formation Bio

• Graph Embedding 101

4. Tinashe Tapera - Research Software Engineer @ Harvard University

• Quarto, the Executable, Rethinking Parameterised Quarto Documents

5. Lucas Da Silva - Data Analyst @ Suffolk Construction

• An Example of a Voice-Enabled Mobile Shiny App Built for Construction
• Abstract: I will be sharing a short demo of some of the features of a mobile-first voice-enabled application built in Shiny called Vera. This Shiny app is built for the phone and would allow users on a construction jobsite to digitize their notes using their voice that can then be mapped to a plethora of applications (including schedule updates), Hopefully this can give others inspiration for how they can build mobile-friendly or voice enabled Shiny apps for specific use cases. Note: This version of Vera is currently in pre-pilot.

Talks and speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Following the presentations, we’ll have time to meet
other R users, discuss projects, exchange ideas, and connect with members of the local data community.

All are welcome, regardless of your experience, professional background, or favorite programming language. Whether you are new to R or have been using it for years, we would be happy to have you join us.

Please note that space is limited, so only register if you plan to attend.
Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Time: 5:00–7:00 PM

Location: Microsoft New England Research & Development Center
1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Floor: M Floor
A huge thank you to Microsoft for generously providing the space!