Office Hours & Consultations
DataLab offers no-fee research consultations and drop-in office hours during which University researchers can obtain help and advice on theoretical and technical matters relating to data science and working with data. We meet with faculty, students, postdoctoral scholars, and staff from all domains across the University.
Come discuss data-driven research ideas, problems, implementations, etc. with our team of dedicated data scientists to help formulate your research questions, approaches, and learning plans.
DATALAB WEEKLY (VIRTUAL) OFFICE HOURS
MONDAYS 1:30-3PM*
Register to receive the Zoom meeting link
*Please note exceptions for University holidays and academic breaks.
Drop-ins are welcome. If you require more extensive help, you may be requested to schedule a consultation.
How do virtual office hours work?
- Review the Zoom tips, below, to prepare for the call.
- Register for the Zoom call to receive an email with the Zoom login information. You need to register for each individual session you plan to attend. The registration form will ask you to briefly (1-2 sentences) describe what question you want help with during office hours. If you have multiple questions, prioritize them so we can help address your most pressing questions problems first.
- Using the link emailed to you, join the Office Hours call on Mondays between 1:30-3pm to enter the main room.
- Introduce yourself by typing into the chat window your full name and pasting your research problem description.
- A DataLab member in the main room will then assign you to the most appropriate breakout room where you can talk with one of our data scientists about your problem.
- You can switch back to the main room or leave the call at any time.
Similar to in person office hours, we are often helping multiple people at once. We appreciate your patience and help following the steps above to create a smoother experience for everyone. If our queue is long and/or you have a particularly challenging or complex problem, we may ask you to come back the following week.
Please note that our Fridays 2-4pm General & Health Sciences (Blaisdell Medical Library, Sacramento) office hours are not available at this time. We encourage you to join Monday’s virtual hours. If you are a researcher working on COVID-19 and need immediate assistance with a data science challenge contact us at datalab@ucdavis.edu and we will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
ZOOM TIPS FOR VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS
New to Zoom? Here are some resources to check out before you join a call.
- Get started. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362033-Getting-Started-on-Windows-and-Mac
- Use the chat feature. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203650445-In-Meeting-Chat
- Share your screen. During office hours we may ask you to share your screen so we can see your code. Note that you are sharing your screen with your DataLab host and everyone in your breakout room. How to share your screen: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362153-How-Do-I-Share-My-Screen-
- Raise your hand. Sometimes we will ask you to use Zoom’s nonverbal features to help facilitate a conversation. You can learn more about them, here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115001286183-Nonverbal-Feedback-DuringMeetings
- Give us remote control. Sometimes when debugging it’s helpful for you to give us remote control of your screen. Here’s how to do it: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362673-Request-or-Give-Remote-Control
- Virtual reality. Wait, are you really in the Library right now? Isn’t DataLab’s offices closed?! You are correct, DataLab is working remotely at this time and we’re not really in Shields Library. Some of our staff will use photos of our favorite library for the background in our Zoom calls. Depending on your hardware, you can use a VR background too! How to set one up: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/210707503-Virtual-Background
REQUEST A CONSULTATION
Contact us at datalab@ucdavis.edu to request a research or training consultation. Please note that we will typically refer you to attend office hours to see if we can address your question there before scheduling a consult.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For general statistics questions we recommend you see courses at UC Davis, the Stats Lab and Biostatistics office hours.
Check out the DataLab’s community ‘Research and Learning Clusters’ and partner ‘User Groups’ for more ways to engage with help and learning communities at UC Davis.