Marvin Zelen Symposium: Data Science 2020

The topic of this year’s Marvin Zelen Symposium has to do with the year itself — 2020. This first year of a new decade brings with it statistical spectacles on a massive scale. From the Decennial Census and the Presidential Election in the US, to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. These big events are bristling with data and its analyses — shaping how they are experienced, discussed, debated, and even litigated. Their time scales range from fractions of a second (the difference between gold and silver) to millions of years (the length of the geological record needed to understand our changing climate). They can be influenced by the actions of one person or the cumulative behaviors of hundreds of millions (as voters, as competitors, as spectators, as consumers). The Marvin Zelen Symposium will look at the major data spectacles of 2020, each one having synergy with the others, but also adding something new in our understanding of how data establish and reinforce systems of power on our planet.Speakers: Amanda Cox, New York TimesBen Hansen, University of MichiganBrendan Nyhan, Dartmouth CollegeRegina Nuzzo, Gallaudet UniversityAmy O’Hara, Georgetown UniversityAndrew Revkin, Columbia UniversityDaniel Webb, United States Olympic CommitteeJeremy White, New York TimesRegister by March 13th at https://zelen2020.eventbrite.com.