In this episode, we explore how data science is helping researchers simulate and understand some of the most extreme physical events on Earth, from floods in Texas to hypersonic flight. Our guests are Stephen Baek, a leading expert in geometric deep learning and associate professor of data science at the University of Virginia, and Jack Beerman, a Ph.D. student whose work is already shaping real-world applications.

Together, they discuss how AI is transforming fields like weather forecasting, materials design, sports performance, and military innovation—and why graduate researchers like Jack are essential to moving this work forward.

Because of advances in machine learning, wearable technology, and computer vision, the field of sport analytics is a whole new game. This episode gets into the details on what is new, the impact of analytics and technology on athletes and sports, as well as the ethics surrounding its implementation. Three experts from the University of Virginia School of Data Science met to discuss this exciting topic: Natalie Kupperman, Stephen Baek, and Don Brown.  

On behalf of everyone here at the School of Data Science, thank you and we’ll see you next year