What we’re about
Charlottesville Data Science is a community for data scientists, machine learning practitioners, and all professionals, students, researchers, and enthusiasts working with data in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. Charlottesville is a growing data and technology hub, with the University of Virginia, including the UVA School of Data Science, established companies like S&P Global, Elder Research, and GA-CCRi, and a dynamic ecosystem of homegrown startups. Let's connect these dots to share ideas, learn from each other, and grow the local tech community.
Our members include researchers and tech professionals with decades of experience, novices who have yet to write their first line of code, and everyone in between. If you're interested in learning more about cutting-edge work happening with data science, machine learning, AI, and related technologies in Charlottesville, you're in the right place, and you'll find a welcoming, supportive community of like-minded folks.
In addition to our Meetup group, please consider joining our Substack mailing list. It's the primary place we share community announcements and event updates with our members:
Have an idea for a future Charlottesville Data Science event? Fill out our Call for Proposals form and a member of our organizing team will get back to you!
Need to get in touch with the Charlottesville Data Science organizing team? You can reach us at organizers@cvilleds.org.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- Code and the Art of Modeling Exoplanet AtmospheresVault Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Please join Charlottesville Data Science for our first event since PyData Virginia 2025! Arthur Adams, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at the University of Virginia, will present the talk Code and the Art of Modeling Exoplanet Atmospheres. We'll be gathering in person at Vault Virginia on the Downtown Mall.
→ Are you signed up for the Charlottesville Data Science Substack? If not, please consider subscribing at https://news.cvilleds.org. It's free, and it's the primary way we share announcements and event updates with the data science, AI, and machine learning community in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. ←
About the talk
With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, major advances are being made in astronomy — especially in the characterization of extrasolar planets (“exoplanets”). With this rapid influx of unprecedented data, there has been an excitement in revisiting how we develop and adapt software, including machine learning and AI, to do science. In this talk, Arthur will provide a look at some tools in Python that many researchers currently use to model exoplanet atmospheres, discuss how he and his colleagues build collaborations to do more effective scientific inquiry, and offer a perspective on what tools are often under-appreciated to scaffold their push toward an increasingly ML/AI-supported field of research. He also wants to learn from the wider data science community how we can further improve our efforts!
The talk is intended as an overview and does not require much previous knowledge. However, it may be most engaging for those who:
- Have a working knowledge of common Python design principles and software packages such as pandas and xarray, and
- Are interested in a modestly technical look at current data analysis practices in exoplanet astronomy.
Extensive subject-matter knowledge is not needed; in fact, one of Arthur's goals is to expose these ideas to and get feedback from a wider audience with enthusiasm for science!
Arthur will also give a sneak peek of an early build of Potluck, an experimental project that models atmospheres, which is inspired by the ideas and challenges in the exoplanet modeling community. This code will be publicly available (as many in our field are) to all who are interested.
How to find us
Please enter the building using the side door on 3rd Street SE, right across 3rd Street from the Front Porch Music School, then take the stairs or elevator to the first floor. We'll be gathering in the Great Hall and Gallery area.
