News

Branching out in Open Source: My Summer Experience

August 18, 2025
Kyle Cheng

This summer, I had the unique opportunity to intern at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS). It was an eye-opening experience that taught me much about open source software.

Having just graduated from UC Berkeley and taken a few data science courses, I was already familiar with Python and its many libraries. However, I had never been exposed to the inner workings of an open source project: the infrastructure, maintainers, and community efforts that allow Python to power countless projects worldwide.

Under the guidance of BIDS Executive Director...

Reflections from a Summer at BIDS

August 15, 2025
Tyler Hawthorne

As I wrap up my internship at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), I’ve found myself thinking not just about the work I did this summer, but about how much I’ve learned, how many incredible people I’ve met, and how deeply this experience expanded my understanding of open science, collaboration, and community.

Coming into the summer, I didn’t fully know what to expect. I had some familiarity with GitHub, data analysis, and research, but open source? Documentation standards? Pull requests? These ideas were all new territory. Over the course of the internship, I explored all...

Announcing the AI Futures Lab: A visionary partnership between BIDS and UC Investments

May 28, 2025
BIDS Staff

The BIDS Leadership Team is proud to announce a new hub for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data science, and society. In partnership with UC Investments, the AI Futures Lab is a pioneering model that directly connects UC’s intellectual capital with long-term investment strategy.

The Lab will occupy 5,000 square feet of flexible office space, conference rooms, and a seminar space one block from campus, where faculty and researchers can convene and work collaboratively and discussion between research groups and projects will...

Building a Shared Future for Corporate Engagement: Highlights from the BCEN July 2025 Strategy Retreat

August 12, 2025
Tyler Hawthorne

On July 29, corporate engagement professionals from across UC Berkeley gathered at Bakar Labs for the Berkeley Corporate Engagement Network (BCEN) Strategy Retreat, an afternoon dedicated to strengthening collaboration and relationship-building across the university’s many corporate engagement units.

BCEN was founded by Sarah Jones and Eric Giegerich in May 2025, to foster connections and facilitate collaboration among staff...

New database on police use of force and misconduct in California makes records public

August 4, 2025
BIDS Staff

Today, the Police Records Access Project, part of the CLEAN initiative at BIDS, became a publicly available database following years of work by a multidisciplinary team of journalists, data scientists, lawyers and civil liberties advocates, led by the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) and...

This Month at BIDS - April 2025

April 21, 2025
Lilli Wessling Hart

Read our April newsletter now! To stay up to date on upcoming news and events at BIDS, check out our events calendar, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us (Bluesky • ...

Building Bridges: Highlights from the Inaugural UC Open Source Meetup

July 15, 2025
Jamilah Karah

The first-ever UC Open Source Contributors & Maintainers Virtual Meetup welcomed faculty, staff, and researchers from across the University of California system into a shared space for connection, discovery, and collaboration. Organized by the UC Open Source Program Office (UC OSPO), this meetup marked the beginning of a new effort to build bridges across campuses and celebrate the growing ecosystem of open source work throughout the UC system. UC Berkeley was well represented, with participants bringing a range of experiences and...

Building the Open Network: Friday Morning Panel Showcases Leadership Across the Open Source Ecosystem

July 3, 2025
Tyler Hawthorne

On the final morning of the National Workshop on Data Science Education, BIDS Executive Director, Kirstie Whitaker, presented a panel that exemplified what makes UC Berkeley’s data science community a driving force behind the future of open, collaborative infrastructure. Each speaker, deeply involved in projects like Jupyter, GeoJupyter,...

This Month at BIDS - May 2025

May 22, 2025
Lilli Wessling Hart

Read our May newsletter now! To stay up to date on upcoming news and events at BIDS, check out our events calendar, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us (Bluesky • ...

Clancy Wilmott presents "Data practice as theoretical inquiry: machine learning, polygons and other notebook adventures in cartography and GIS"

May 22, 2025
BIDS Staff

On March 17, Clancy Wilmott, Assistant Professor in the department of Geography at UC Berkeley, presented her work "Data practice as theoretical inquiry: machine learning, polygons and other notebook adventures in cartography and GIS". Wilmott begins with describing a disciplinary war that is taking place in areas of research, like Geography. There is a technology of control but there are also important ways spatial data can be used to help people improve their lives. She navigates the two sides of the...