Services Overview

DataLab provides Data Science and Informatics training, advice and collaboration services to researchers (faculty, postdocs, students, staff) on all aspects of data-enabled research. This includes:

  • Developing research questions and grant proposals
  • Using Data Science tools and technologies
  • Obtaining and accessing data (e.g., from Web pages, APIs, databases)
  • Structuring data for analysis (e.g., relational databases, NoSQL, text search engines, Hive, Pig)
  • Data management, curation, security and privacy
  • Approaches for cleaning and transforming data
  • Data analysis via statistical modeling and machine learning
  • Visualization for exploratory data analysis and publication graphics
  • Computational issues (e.g., parallel computing, algorithmic and software development)
  • Reproducibility and provenance
  • Other Data Science education and implementation resources at UC Davis

Consultations & Office Hours

The DataLab offers no-fee research consultations and drop-in office hours during which University members can obtain help and advice on theoretical and technical matters relating to data science and working with data. See more on our office hours page.

Exploratory Reports

This service is designed to help researchers quickly assess the overall quality of their data, help reveal general trends and patterns, and provide recommendations for further data cleaning, analysis and visualization. See more on our exploratory reports page.

Projects

DataLab works with UC Davis researchers on a quarter-long competitive basis to help accelerate research projects from idea to a viable pilot product in preparation for a grant proposal, manuscript, book chapter, or other scholarly or creative work. Project calls are announced semi-annually in the fall and spring. Past projects have included pilot data analyses, webscraping, database design, software development, and publication-quality geospatial visualizations. See our projects and their descriptions here.

Collaborations

DataLab collaborates with researchers across UC Davis on transformative pilot projects, grant proposals, training opportunities, and funded research. A goal of DataLab is to provide the cutting-edge expertise in data science that makes qualitatively new research possible in different domains. We are very keen to collaborate with projects from all disciplines. This ranges from enabling new data-driven projects in traditionally non-data-driven fields, to projects that require research-level innovations in data science itself. Learn more about our current collaborative activities. 

TDM Studio Access

ProQuest’s Text Data Mining (TDM) Studio is a feature rich platform for finding relationships, patterns, and connections within and between text data sets. Its built in collaboration tools allow research teams to work together in a common workspace, sharing data and analyses as they work. TDM Studio provides access to current and historical ProQuest content (news, journals, dissertations and theses, primary sources and more) as licensed by the home university. Researchers also have the option to upload their own data into the platform. TDM Studio provides a number of built in tools, and also allows scripting in R and Python for analyses and visualizations.

The DataLab has access to one shared TDM Studio workspace for which UC Davis research teams can apply for access for a fixed term to access the platform and execute their work. The workspace is reset in between research teams.

To express interest in using the UC Davis workspace on Text Data Mining (TDM) Studio, please email datalab@ucdavis.edu. Your request will be reviewed by DataLab staff and we will respond soon. Because the workspace is a shared environment and access can only be granted to one team of researchers at a time, there may be a waiting list.

Interested in working with DataLab? Contact us at datalab@ucdavis.edu.

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