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Learning Data Science: An Introductory Block Course
Description
Course: Learning Data Science
Dates: 8 - 19 September 2025
Lectures: 8am-1pm
Exercises: 2pm-5pm
(with breaks!)
Location:
Day 1: Origins Excellence Cluster, Basement Seminar Room (Floor -1, Google Maps)
Rest of week 1: Max Planck Institute for Physics, Pyrenees Seminar Room (Floor +3, Google Maps)
Week 2: Max Planck Institute for Physics, Alps Seminar Room (Floor +1, Google Maps)
Credits: 6 SWS Credits [4 from Lecture + 2 from Exercise]
Registration: Please sign up below on this page. If you plan to take the course for credits at TUM, please sign up also via the usual channels. If you don't see the course yet on the TUM site, check back in a few days.
Description: This ODSL/IMPRS block course is aimed at PhD and Master's students in physics or other natural sciences who are looking to jumpstart their data science knowledge. In particular, if your study track is more theoretical, or you have simply had little exposure to programming thus far in your academic path, this course might be just for you! Students from LMU and MPIs are very welcome as well, including motivated bachelor's students or postdocs as well.
Topics covered:
We will be using Python as the primary programming language, and will cover the following topics:
- Setting up your data analysis workflow
- Bash and terminal necessities
- Python crash course
- Version control with git and GitHub
- Handling arrays and matrices with numpy
- Creating plots with matplotlib
- Data manipulation with pandas
- Accessing data from the internet and other sources
- Exploring data formats, old and new
- Working with very large datasets
- Basic machine learning techniques with scipy
- Hands-on challenges with real data
- How to responsibly integrate new AI tools in your workflow
If you are not taking the course for credit, or perhaps already have some bases covered, you may feel free to attend the topics which are most relevant to you.
Course structure:
On most days, we will have a lecture in the morning, followed by a tutorial session after a lunch break. In the lectures, we will teach the fundamentals necessary for each topic, focusing on intuition first. Then, the tutorials will be fully interactive, and students will be provided with mini-projects and challenges to complete on their own or in pairs.
Computing:
You will need your own laptop or tablet with a keyboard. We are organizing this such that all programming work can be done directly in the web browser. If you don't have a personal computer or tablet, please contact us, and we'll try to sort you out.
People:
- Jarred Green: Lecturer and Tutor. PhD student at MPP and TUM, focusing on data analysis and machine learning in gamma-ray astrophysics.
- Nadine Bourriche: Tutor. PhD student at MPP and ODSL, focusing on data analysis and simulation in cosmic rays and astroparticle physics.
- Prof. Lukas Heinrich: organizer and course content support. Professor at TUM/ODSL Coordinator.
ODSL: Origins Data Science Laboratory
IMPRS: International Max Planck Research Schools
Exercises: Course Exercises Website
Participants
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