Biomedical Informatics

**Unwind. Breathe. Reset.** Join us for a calming **guided evening meditation** designed to help you **release stress**, **quiet the mind**, and **restore inner peace**, even if you’ve never meditated before. * **Time:** 7:00 PM–7:30 PM * **Format:** Gentle guidance + quiet time + peaceful reflection * **Perfect for:** Beginners and experienced meditators * **What to bring:** Just yourself **Come as you are. Leave feeling lighter.** * **Reserve your spot** (recommended) * **Free Event - Donations Appreciated** * **Bring a friend. First-timers welcome!** * **Arrive early to settle in. Doors open at 6:00 PM.**

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Terrors of Irish Fairylore,”** an introduction to Ireland’s strange and unsettling folkloric “Good People,” with Brittany Warman, former instructor at Ohio State University, co-founder of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, and co-author of the new book *Fairylore: A Compendium of the Fae Folk.* [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-terrors-of-irish-fairlylore2](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-terrors-of-irish-fairlylore2) .] Today it is common to think of fairies as small, childlike, sparkly creatures with glittering wings and dresses made from flower petals. But the fae of traditional Irish folklore were no such things. Amoral, capricious, even malicious when they chose to be, the too-frequently forgotten fairies of times long past would, more often than not, haunt nightmares. Join Brittany Warman, a folklorist who has earned a devoted following among Profs and Pints fans, as she explores the darker side of Irish fairylore. The figures she'll discuss include: The Leanan-Sidhe, a vampiric fairy who gives artistic inspiration in exchange for your mortal spirit. The Dullahan, a fairy with a human spine for a whip and a habit of hurtling across fields in a death coach made from human skin. The Banshee, a mournful fairy whose cry signals a death in the family to which she's attached herself. Dr. Warman also will examine the surprising impact of fairy folklore on two classics of Irish Gothic literature, Oscar Wilde's *The Picture of Dorian Gray* and Bram Stoker's *Dracula.* It’s a talk that will remind you that the relationship between the Irish and the spooky stretches well beyond Halloween. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: “The Banshee Appears,” an 1862 illustration by Robert Prowse (Wicklow Heritage / Public domain).

Do you find yourself showing up in meditation sessions wondering why your mind won’t settle down?Are you trying to figure out why your body seems to become so uncomfortable in meditation sessions? Join Marsha, non-conventional meditator, certified yoga therapist, trauma sensitive yoga facilitator, and energy and sound healing facilitator, as we show up and unpack ways of meditating that uniquely resonate with you. Whether you find comfort in standing, sitting in a chair or on a yoga mat, or lying on the floor, eyes open or closed, you are welcome to show up just as you are, as we seek peace through movement and compassionate sharing experiences, while embodying the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual benefits of meditation, energy + sound healing, and yoga therapy. **Please reserve your spot at www.piesfitnessyoga.com**. The session is offered both InStudio and OnLine. The Zoom link for the OnLine session will be emailed 15 minutes before class starts to those who are registered at www.piesfitnessyoga.com. **Sign up for sessions must be made at least 2 hours prior to class.** The address is 1322 Prince St Alexandria, VA 22314 Our entrance is located on the side of the building, parallel to West St. **Street parking is available and additional parking is located at Shiloh Baptist church, spaces 36,37,38,39.** The church is located across the street from the studio, on the corner of Duke St. and West St. Discount is available to seniors, teachers, students, emergency responders, and military. All can save by purchasing class packs.

Welcome to our new home at the historic Tivoli Theater! Please check our details for access to the space on [our website](https://www.hacdc.org/visit/). Join the discord for questions / help getting in (use channel #let-me-in) [https://discord.gg/dNjuNhNmeT](https://discord.gg/dNjuNhNmeT)

[Book Your Classes by Clicking This Link! ](https://crowndancestudio.com/group-classes/) Kick off your week from **11:00 AM to 12:00 PM wit**h focusing on the smooth, elegant foundations of Ballroom dance. This session is perfect for seniors and families looking to improve posture and balance through the Waltz, Foxtrot, and Tango in a low-pressure, welcoming environment. Price: $25 Drop-in, Membership **DOES NOT** include this class!

Healthcare organizations are increasingly using cloud-based real-world evidence (RWE) platforms to power clinical research, population health analytics, and AI-driven insights. However, building these systems on AWS introduces complex governance challenges around privacy, compliance, and multi-institution collaboration. This session explores how to architect data governance into healthcare analytics platforms on AWS, focusing on practical design patterns rather than policy theory. We examine how ethical data stewardship principles such as consent, accountability, and responsible data use, can be implemented using cloud-native controls and services. The presentation walks through key architectural considerations for secure RWE platforms on AWS, including role-based access control, auditability, data minimization, and encryption, and how these capabilities support compliance requirements such as HIPAA and GDPR. Attendees will learn how federated, multi-account AWS architectures enable collaboration across institutions while preserving local data ownership and control. We will also discuss privacy-preserving analytics patterns on AWS, including approaches that support federated learning, differential privacy, and secure computation to enable AI-driven insights without exposing raw patient data. Practical implementation trade-offs such as performance, scalability, and operational complexity will be highlighted using real-world platform scenarios. Attendees will leave with actionable AWS architecture patterns and governance strategies for building secure, compliant, and scalable real-world evidence platforms that unlock innovation while maintaining patient trust.

**Sahaja Yoga teaches a unique method of meditation, rooted in ancient spiritual knowledge.** We follow a format of continuous integration of topics in our classes so that no two classes are same and so we are able to accommodate new meditators along with experienced ones. **Through Sahaja Yoga, you can achieve a state of meditation known as thoughtless awareness. In this state, you experience and enjoy the present moment without any distractions from the past or future. Your consciousness works in flow with your inner energy ([Kundalini](https://us.sahajayoga.org/the-kundalini/)).** Some of the things we go over with in our programs are how to awaken your dormant Mother energy called Kundalini. Meditation with Mantras using power of very basic mantra to bring peace within! Meditation with music, what are Chakras, how to take affirmations, what is Thoughtless Awareness and how to find the state of your Chakras. *Meditation sessions led by an experienced fellow meditator.* **Please join us to awaken the dormant energy within you and re-balance your emotional, physical and mental state of being!** **Sahaja Yoga was founded in 1970 by Shri Mataji**. She envisioned a world where people would be transformed, and lead more balanced lives. She has worked tirelessly to help people meditate and achieve greater spiritual heights through this meditation. **Cost**: Free **Parking**: Paid parking in garages and on street. Garage-40 Cordell-St.Elmo Garage, Saint Elmo Avenue, Bethesda, MD is 2 mins walking distance from meditation center. **How to reach us?** We are at **Sahaja Yoga Meditation Center** on **4901 Saint Elmo Avenue** **Bethesda, MD 20814**, *walking distance from Bethesda Metro Center* **You can learn more about this meditation** from [us.sahajayoga.org](https://us.sahajayoga.org)

Hello everyone! Who doesn't love discussing AI over mini-golf! We'll be meeting at Starr Hill Tysons Biergarten at the top of the Capital One Building. There's mini-golf, corn-hole, and beer on tap. Come have some fun! Guaranteed fun time, or else your first putt is free :) **Location:** Starr Hill Tysons Biergarten, 1805 Capital One Dr S Suite 1100, Tysons, VA 22102 **\*\* We're on the Roof! \*\*** **Overview:** Join us at AI Innovators Network for our upcoming meetup in Tysons dedicated to exploring the latest trends in Artificial Intelligence. Whether you're an AI enthusiast, a professional, or someone curious about the intersection of technology and AI, this event is perfect for networking, learning, and sharing insights. Connect with like-minded individuals from DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland as we dive deep into the opportunities and challenges of integrating AI. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation driving innovation and progress in Artificial Intelligence.

This is for those who like a somewhat less competitive game. We are at Montgomery College, Rockville. Google maps link for lot 3 https://goo.gl/maps/kKXnNoGakmcdbtaT7 Please take a moment to review the RSVP Guidelines: NO SHOWS: No Shows and Late Cancels prevent other members from playing and create organizing difficulties for the host. If you cannot attend a Meetup, please change your RSVP to No not later than 2 hours before start time. Attendees who are 30 minutes late or RSVP less than 2 hours before start are marked as a No Show and will be contacted by the host/organizer. Meetup event comments do not change your RSVP. If you would like to attend this event you must be a of minimum 2.5 level. USTA guidelines prior for signing up for the Meetup: https://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/ExperiencedGuidelines_02142011_V2pdf.pdf Singles and doubles game play flexible depending on court availability. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop the group organizers a message. See you on the courts! • What to bring Tennis Balls and Racquet, Water.

🗒️ **Details** Grafana 13 just dropped at GrafanaCON 2026 and we're not wasting any time. Join us at [Clare & Don's Beach Shack](https://clareanddons.com/) in Falls Church, VA for a free hands-on meetup where we dig into what's actually new, what it means for your stack, and where observability is heading. If you work in DevOps, SRE, or platform engineering in the DMV, this is your people. Whether you've been running Grafana for years or you're just getting started, you'll leave with something useful. *** 📋 **Agenda** 🎉 **5:30 — Food & Introductions** Come hungry. We're at Clare & Don's, so you already know the vibes are good. Grab a bite, meet the people around you, and get settled in before the talks kick off. 🎙️ **6:00 – 6:30 — Tech Talk: Grafana 13 & AI in Observability** Grafana Assistant is now built into the platform and it changes a lot. We're breaking down what's new in Grafana 13, how AI is reshaping the way teams monitor and troubleshoot, and what this looks like in practice. Expect real talk from Grafana Labs engineers, not a sales pitch. **Speakers:** Rob Santos, Senior Solutions Engineer @ Grafana Labs Vishal Nakra, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering @ Grafana Labs 💬 **6:30 — Networking & Open Q&A** Bring your questions, your war stories, and your opinions. This is the part where the good conversations happen. 🎁 **Don't forget** — we're doing a Grafana swag raffle on the way out. 🔚 **7:30 — Wrap Up** *** **Spots are free but limited — grab yours before they're gone.** We look forward to seeing you there! Speaker info and talk abstracts: Rob Santos, Senior Solutions Engineer @ Grafana Labs

Join us for all or part of our weekly program to practice and study the dharma together - In-Person or Online. All experience levels welcome. Schedule was: 10:00 am - 10:30 am Chenrezig practice\* 10:30 am - 10:45 am Break 10:45 am - 11:30 am Silent Meditation *Two 20min sessions with a 5min break* 11:30 am - 12:00 pm Study & Discussion \*Chenrezig practice is led via video by HH the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa. The practice is recited in Tibetan with English subtitles. For text and information go to: [https://www.kibi-edu.org/news/chenrezig-sadhana-now-available-for-download/](https://www.kibi-edu.org/news/chenrezig-sadhana-now-available-for-download/) **In-Person** Fellowship Hall at the [Unitarian Universalist Congregation](https://www.uucr.org/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExa0ZQVFBCdmJ3MzNOWEJoRwEeSoPXSHNPf_pRRTPn-UbSRXubgBfGor06l14v9_Z1cMfvxShmdngQDTcV-ao_aem_4x2F8VhluNx_5QC2unwCkw) of Rockville (UUCR), 100 Welsh Park Drive, Rockville, MD 20850 ([[https://www.uucr.org/](https://www.uucr.org/) **Online via Zoom** (for Zoom information, click on the relevant tile for that Sunday’s meeting): [https://bodhipath.org/centers/dc/#events](https://bodhipath.org/centers/dc/#events) BodhiPath Washington DC is supported by donation.

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“How AI Alters Thinking,”** on dealing with artificial intelligence’s capacity to change and undermine our thought processes, with Eli Alshanetsky, assistant professor of philosophy at Temple University, principal investigator at its Cognitive Integrity Lab, and author of an upcoming book on AI and freedom of thought. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-how-ai-alters](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-how-ai-alters) .] Doctors who give bad advice can be sued for malpractice. Teachers belong to a profession with set standards. When artificial intelligence guides you, however, that guidance comes with a disclaimer: Use at your own risk. Every day millions of people take that risk, and usually AI seems genuinely helpful. But even if AI gives us good answers, might its use over time do bad things to how we think? Explore the relationship between AI and our own minds with Eli Alshanetsky, whose Cognitive Integrity Lab studies how artificial intelligence changes how we think, learn, and build trust. Author of *Articulating a Thought* and the upcoming book F*reedom of Thought in the Age of AI*, he’s on the cutting edge of efforts to answer AI-related questions such as: How can we tell when work is truly our own? How can technology support rather than replace authorship and reflection? What does trust mean when AI mediates our relationships with others and with our own thoughts? To set up his discussion of potential consequences of AI, he’ll describe how social media’s impact on society serves as a preview. Social media didn’t just give people what they wanted to click on, it actually changed what they regarded as click-worthy. It broke attention spans and fueled radicalization across millions of very different people. It left us with people who doom-scroll for hours, who can’t focus, who don’t know what to trust anymore. If you’d shown people this version of themselves ten years ago, would they have chosen it? Artificial intelligence is making a similar deal with us, but the stakes are higher. It isn’t chasing clicks. It’s optimized for giving you the most satisfying response to whatever is on your mind right now. The risk over time isn’t just that you’ll get lazy. More profoundly, even when you think hard, your sense of what counts as good thinking—as well as what sounds like you—will shift to match what AI has been feeding you. We’ll consider what kind of person this produces and whether this is someone we want to be or want children to become. Professor Alshanetsky will lay out a practical framework, which he calls “the interaction layer,” for using AI without letting it replace the thinking it’s supposed to support. He’ll also talk about what AI-related concerns should be the focus of parents and educators. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Illustration by David S. Soriano / Creative Commons.

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

Whether you've never done improv before, or you've done it for so long you knew Del Close on a personal level, or anywhere in between, come join us! Swing by *Gresso's* for the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup** for some fun and games! The idea behind improv is to create entire scenes from scratch based on a suggestion from the audience. This can be done in game form, like *Whose Line Is It Anyway*, *ComedySportz*, or *Wild 'n Out*; it could also be done to tell stories, like *Middleditch and Schwartz*. Our meetup, which is central Ohio's longest running (and free!) weekly comedy event, brings the games (and occasionally different forms) for you to play in a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment. Not only is it a lot of fun, but you get to work on thinking faster on your feet, plus it's an excellent way to meet new people and make friendships that'll last a lifetime! Ask yourself if you want to join the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**, and say "Yes, And" that you'll have fun!

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBD

Whether you've never done improv before, or you've done it for so long you knew Del Close on a personal level, or anywhere in between, come join us! Swing by *Gresso's* for the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup** for some fun and games! The idea behind improv is to create entire scenes from scratch based on a suggestion from the audience. This can be done in game form, like *Whose Line Is It Anyway*, *ComedySportz*, or *Wild 'n Out*; it could also be done to tell stories, like *Middleditch and Schwartz*. Our meetup, which is central Ohio's longest running (and free!) weekly comedy event, brings the games (and occasionally different forms) for you to play in a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment. Not only is it a lot of fun, but you get to work on thinking faster on your feet, plus it's an excellent way to meet new people and make friendships that'll last a lifetime! **AND TODAY IS OUR THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY!!!** So be ready for a celebration of everything that's made Improv Meetup wonderful: you, the amazing performers! Ask yourself if you want to join the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**, and say "Yes, And" that you'll have fun!

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

Who’s up for a fun night out? Get your boots on, grab your cowboy hat, and let’s have some fun! Thinking about checking out PBR Cowboy Bar & Smokehouse for a lively evening to unwind, connect, and enjoy the night together. • Lively atmosphere with country vibes • Delicious food + drinks • Music, dancing, and lots of laughs • Great conversation and new connections

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com