This week, graduate students from across disciplines attended the Libraries’ free Data Management Short Course. The intensive, hands-on course was designed to help students integrate data management best practices into their research.

“It’s something that isn’t really covered in traditional graduate school curriculum,” said Alyssa Meuwissen, Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Child Development. “They’re presenting to a really broad group here, and so different pieces of it are relevant to different people.”

Each day’s session brought together a group of experts from around campus, including the Office of Information Technology, the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, CLA Statistical Services, the Imaging Center, the Office of Tech Commercialization, CLA-IT, and the Libraries.

Topics included metadata, copyright, security, and more

Among the topics covered were best practices for data collection, metadata standards, copyright, security, data sharing, and digital preservation. Students also learned about the resources they can find on campus to aid in their current research projects.

“I’m doing simulations for a new reactor invented in our lab,” said Peng Peng, master’s student in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. “The simulation requires many terabytes of data and that’s more than a normal computer can handle. So I’m taking this class to find a better a way to store my data and manage the storage. I actually learned there are a lot of resources on campus that can help me solve my problems.”

The course is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, and the Graduate School.

Learn more about data management resources available from the Libraries »