Media Advisory: UB summer workshop introduces local high school students to computational science

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Teams of local high school students participating in a unique and intensive University at Buffalo informatics workshop will present their findings on ways to use hospital and patient treatment databases to improve the overall patient experience at a program to be held beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, July 10.

The 2015 Eric Pitman Annual Summer Workshop in Computational Science, an annual two-week program that began on June 29, introduced students to the application of computer modeling and simulation to solve problems in science and engineering.

The students received tours of state-of-the art facilities and attended lectures on topics ranging from the human genome to using supercomputers to decode DNA from faculty experts who include Thomas Furlani, director, UB Center for Computational Research; Marc Halfon, UB associate professor of biochemistry; Bruce Pitman, dean of the UB College of Arts and Sciences; Jaroslaw Zola, UB assistant professor of computer science and engineering; and Peter Winkelstein, executive director of the UB Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

UB’s Center for Computational Research has hosted the annual workshop since 1999. In 2007 it was renamed to honor the memory of Eric Pitman, who was a freshman at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute when he passed away in February of that year after a brief illness.

Media are welcome to join these future educators, researchers and practitioners to see how they’ve applied their lessons in the rapidly evolving field of information technology and health care that seeks to improve the overall patient experience.

When: Friday, July 10, at 9:30 a.m.

Where: Roswell Park Zebro Family Conference Room, 645 Virginia St., Buffalo.

Press arrangements: Thomas Furlani or Bruce Pitman, onsite.