How can data methods be used to study biology and evolution? Join Keith A. Crandall for Lunch with a Scientist, where he will discuss how his lab uses Big Data methods to study computational biology, population genetics, and the bioinformatics of a variety of organisms, from crustaceans to agents of infectious disease.
Registration is required (no charge). Limit: 20. This lunch will be held at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, 950 New Hampshire Ave, NW. This event is now full.

Keith A. Crandall is the founding director of the Computational Biology Institute at George Washington University. Crandall studies the computational biology, population genetics, and bioinformatics, developing and testing of “big data” methods DNA sequence analysis. He applies such methods to the study of the evolution of both infectious diseases (especially HIV) and crustaceans (especially crayfish). Professor Crandall has published over 260 peer reviewed publications, as well as three books. He has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar to Oxford University and an Allen Wilson Centre Sabbatical Fellow at the University of Auckland. Professor Crandall has received a number of awards for research and teaching, including the American Naturalist Society Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a PhRMA Foundation Faculty Development Award in Bioinformatics, Honors Professor of the Year award at Brigham Young University, ISI Highly Cited Researcher, and the Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award. He was also recently elected a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Professor Crandall earned his B.A. degree from Kalamazoo College in Biology and Mathematics, an M.A. degree from Washington University in Statistics, and a Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in Biology and Biomedical Sciences. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Puyo, Ecuador.

Email: kcrandall@gwu.edu
Web: https://cbi.gwu.edu/keith-crandall

Dr. Jenny de la Hoz is a cultural and community connector. As a young immigrant child from “La Tierra del Olvido,” Colombia, she quickly learned the skills of observation, translation, and reinterpretation of key social concepts for her parents. These skills are an important cornerstone for her current work as a facilitator, communicator, researcher, and community liaison in the environmental and equity fields.

Dr. Jenny has worked in many sectors of the science communication field for over 25 years. Beginning with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, she helped establish their bilingual, bicultural programming which included connecting over 1,600 Head Start families annually to the aquarium and ocean conservation. At the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dr. Jenny helped bridge environmental communities in the Portland-Vancouver metro area creating spaces for the voices and identities of marginalized communities in the mainstream environmental movement. In her current work as an equity facilitator, Dr. Jenny helps organizations see how communication, adaptability, and patience helps make for a stronger and longer-lasting bottom line with clients and personnel.

Dr. Jenny’s research is focused on centering new voices in the environmental movement. She has looked at the largest growing minority group, the Latinx community, to study the patterns of communications and identity creation. Her work uncovers the existing deep connections Latinx have with the environment and the stories that resonate with their multiethnic, rich backgrounds. She is interested in how Latinx and other immigrant communities are linking old traditions and ways of knowing with new technologies and ideas in order to create new, intricate, truth-telling stories.

Dr. Jenny and her work has been featured on television, radio, and print. She is an ideator and is interested in working with others to make science more quickly accessible to all people, especially to communities who are directly impacted by the information.

Email: jennydelahoz@gmail.com
Twitter: @fabiola_science

David Dobbs writes on science and culture for the Atlantic, WIRED, the New York Times and NYT Book Review, Pacific Standard, National Geographic, Mosaic, and other publications. He is the author of three books and the best-selling Atavist storoy and Kindle Single "My Mother's Lover."

Twitter: @david_dobbs

Chris Duffy is a standup comedian, television writer, and radio/podcast host. He's currently a staff writer for “Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas” on HBO, executive produced by John Oliver. Chris is also the creator and host of “You're the Expert,” a live show, podcast, and public radio program where three comedians try to guess what a scientist studies all day. Chris' shows have been featured in The Onion A.V. Club, LA Weekly, the Boston Globe, New Yorker, and the Comedy Bureau's "100 Best Things in Comedy." The New York Times once described one of Chris' shows as "kind of like if 'Oprah' were on public access television." Chris is both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student.

Twitter: @youretheexpert

Allison Eck is a digital editor at NOVA, where she reports, writes, and oversees strategy for a weekly email newsletter, NOVA Lens. In addition, she reports stories on climate change and environmental science for NOVA Next, NOVA's longform digital science magazine. On the side, Allison has written for such publications as Nautilus Magazine and Nieman Storyboard. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and serves on the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra. She graduated from Hamilton College in 2012 with degrees in comparative literature and physics.

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