Brown University Data Science Institute

This week at DSI/CCMB, we hosted a collaborative research symposium with the Brown RNA Center that brought scholars together to discuss the intersection of computational methods and RNA research at Brown.

Over the course of the day-long symposium featuring talks from faculty and students, discussion sessions, and a panel on collaborative research, scholars from across the university addressed questions about how developing computational methods can enable biological discovery.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this great day of learning and collaboration!

Recordings of talks from this event will be posted to the DSI YouTube channel.

Graduating student spotlight: Megan Carlson ✨

Megan Carlson is a graduating senior whose research focuses on functional genomics, gene regulation, and the 3D genome. During her time at Brown, Megan conducted genomics research in the Erica Larschan lab, where she investigated sex-specific nuclear organization in Drosophila and developed the project into her honors thesis. Outside of research, Megan led Brown Puzzle Club and Brown Puzzlehunt, helped organize Yarnaholics@Brown, and performed with the Wind Symphony.

This fall, Megan Carlson will begin a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at Harvard University. She is grateful for the mentorship and community that shaped her time at Brown and for the flexibility of the open curriculum, which allowed her to explore new interests every semester.

Read Megan's full spotlight on DSI News: https://dsi.brown.edu/news/2026-05-07/2026-graduating-student-spotlights

Graduating student spotlight: Skylar Sargent Walters ✨

Skylar is a graduating senior passionate about exploring viruses through computational approaches and applying language processing techniques to infectious disease research. Skylar is going on to pursue a Ph.D. in Computational Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Outside of research, Skylar has loved engaging in the student music scene with their banjo, participating in the Old Time String Band, and joining a rock band, Log Lady.

Graduating student spotlight: Peter Van Katwyk ✨

Peter Van Katwyk is a graduating Ph.D. student whose research focuses on using Machine Learning to better understand Earth’s climate, particularly how the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will contribute to sea level rise over the next century.

During his time at Brown, he has explored interdisciplinary research at the intersection of Earth and computational sciences through the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) and the Data Science Institute (DSI).

Peter will soon be joining Microsoft as an Applied Scientist in Seattle. He encourages current and future students to have fun, embrace mistakes, and give themselves space to learn and figure things out.

Read Peter’s full spotlight on DSI News: https://dsi.brown.edu/news/2026-05-07/2026-graduating-student-spotlights

Stay tuned for more graduating student spotlights leading up to Commencement!