Following the enthusiasm and community interest during UC Love Data Week, UCSF Library Data Science is pleased to offer a series of ten Friday workshops, April 4 – June 13, 2025, for University of California researchers, staff, and students who want to learn Python for real-world data and document analysis.
We will start with foundational Python programming concepts and advance to more complex topics, including data analysis, document analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based research. Throughout the workshops, we will dive into various data types—including numerical data, health data, text, and images/videos—and explore analysis techniques like regression, classification, and sentiment analysis. The end of the series will focus on text analysis, especially analyzing documents from the UCSF Industry Document Library.
The focus of the series is to help participants build practical skills. Sessions will involve a lot of hands-on coding while keeping lectures and theory to a minimum.
Using AI
Compared to past workshops we have offered, this series incorporates AI-assisted programming earlier on while still starting with the basics. Intro to Python Parts 1 and 2 and Intro to SQL will use AI sparingly. As the series progresses, we will dive into topics like web APIs, text analysis, natural language processing, machine learning, regression, document analysis, and AI system interaction, gradually incorporating more AI-driven techniques.
Furthermore, in our previous workshop series, programming progressed from writing code by hand to downloading, reviewing, and modifying pre-prepared code. That process made sense as we shifted to more complex tasks, requiring less manual coding and more adjustments to existing code. Now, the emphasis is on using AI-powered systems to generate code rather than pre-written codebases. While this approach enables new developers to generate code more rapidly, it also highlights the importance of learning to review and test code. We will focus on building these skills alongside our use of AI.
Workshop schedule
We designed the series to guide you through practical, hands-on learning at every step. While you are welcome to attend individual workshops, we encourage you to follow the full series for a more cohesive learning experience.
Registration is required for each workshop, and you can sign up for any sessions that interest to you. The workshops are offered via Zoom and in person at the UCSF FAMRI Library at Mission Bay. Registrants will receive an email with room details and the Zoom link prior.
You can choose to attend either in person or online, regardless of how you register, so please select the option that works best for you at the time of registration. Please find the schedule below:
| Date and time | Workshop |
|---|---|
| Friday, April 4, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Intro to Python: Variables, Lists, and Control Flow |
| Friday, April 11, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Intro to Python: Pandas and Data Visualization |
| Friday, April 18, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Intro to SQL for Data Analysis |
| Friday, May 2, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Analyzing COVID Testing Data with Python and SQL |
| Friday, May 9, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Interacting with APIs in Python: Using the Industry Documents Library |
| Friday, May 16, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Machine Learning with Python: Feature Importance and Random Forests |
| Friday, May 23, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Python Background for Text Analysis and NLP |
| Friday, May 30, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Machine Learning for Document Classification and Sentiment Analysis |
| Friday, June 6, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Pre-Trained Open Source Tools for Document Classification & Sentiment Analysis |
| Friday, June 13, 2025, 9 – 11 a.m. | Image, Audio, and Video Transcription and Analysis with Python |
Data Science events
Check out the other offerings from our Data Science experts.