Students share research, life lessons in Slam presentation

April 14th, 2022

Bowen Yang, a graduate student studying bioinformatics, encouraged his audience Wednesday to better understand computer technology to benefit their work and their lives.

Yang was the audience’s choice as winner of the first-ever Student Research Days Slam, earning a $500 prize. The five students chosen for the slam were asked to answer this prompt: “What skill or ability have you developed through your research experience or creative activity that you think would make the world better if everyone had it?”

Several discussed how the scientific process they’ve learned – painstaking, imperfect and subject to setbacks – can apply to everyone and many real-world situations.

Yang said bioinformatics is a cross-disciplinary field of research that combines biology and computer science. Yang studies small proteins called anti-CRISPRs; technology and tools in the field are advancing rapidly.

“All of a sudden, biological scientists have the means to generate massive amounts of data at a relatively low cost,” he said. But all that data has ramped up the need for analysis.

“With a decent computer and somewhat limited programming skills, that data could be processed in minutes, if not seconds. And that is the power of bioinformatics.”

Anyone would benefit by understanding computer technology better, Yang said.

“We live in a world where computational technology is used in everything. It has changed the way we communicate and our fundamental way of life. But how many of us truly understand the fundamentals and principles behind a computer?” he said. “Learn some basic computational skills, such us a popular computational language, data mining skills, computer hardware principles. Trust me — in today’s world, it will benefit your life or work.”

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Story by Dan Moser | Office of Research & Economic Development