Media releases

• Brock to host Remembrance Day gathering

  Thursday, November 07, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 7 Nov. 2019 – R00176

  On Monday, Nov. 11, Brock University is hosting a Remembrance Day gathering in the Ian Beddis Gymnasium (Walker Complex) beginning at 10:45 a.m.

  This is the first time in three years Brock is hosting a Remembrance Day gathering as it hasn’t fallen on a weekday since 2016.

  The event will include Aboriginal drumming, a two-minute moment of silence at 11 a.m., the singing of O Canada, placing of the wreaths, and various readings of Remembrance Day poems, including Laurence Binyon’s For the Fallen and John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields.

  Carol Merriam, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Brock, will welcome guests to the gathering.

  “For 100 years, this day has been marked as an acknowledgement of our shared sorrow at the sufferings of war, and of the sacrifices of those who have served,” said Merriam.

  “In the relatively safe surroundings of Brock and Niagara, the suffering and sacrifice may seem remote. This is all the more reason to commemorate them annually, and as a community, to remind ourselves and commit, anew, to a more peaceful world.”

  All are welcome to attend.

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  Kevin Cavanagh, Brock University Communications, kcavanagh@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550 ext. 5888 or 905 321-4310

  Michelle Pressé, Brock University Communications, mpresse@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550 ext. 4420 or 905-246-1963

  Categories: Media releases

• Brock Datathon to showcase storytelling using data

  Wednesday, November 06, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 6 Nov. 2019 – R00175 

  Have you ever had an online conversation about a product which then starts showing up in online advertisements shortly afterwards? Welcome to the world of big data, where cell phones methodically catalogue your shopping interests for marketers.

  It’s just one example of how personal preference data is used by data scientists in an age of always-on, artificial intelligence (AI) powered marketing influence.

  On Saturday, Nov. 9 at Brock University, top talent from IBM, Deloitte, Shopify, Environics and more will present keynote speeches and deliver in-depth workshops to a host of enthusiastic data junkies and Brock students at the third annual Datathon conference.

  This year’s event, the Datathon 2019 Sustainability Challenge, offers an opportunity to learn how the “ads-coinciding-with-conversation” algorithm operates, how IBM’s Watson supercomputer learns to predict how a person feels with sentiment analysis or how the actuary field can predict financial risk.

  Datathon is a non-profit organization created by Brock University students Nour Hage, Shakti Pradhan, Conrad Lipiec and Thomas Lillo.

  This year, the team is offering live-streaming access to five other universities in Peru, Sweden and Spain. The international initiative will include schools who have less access to data centric programming at this level. Streaming content will put Brock in the global spotlight with the goal of scaling up future conferences to many more institutions.

  The event is open to all and will include a special presentation from the winner of the Sustainability Development Challenge – a case competition that invites teams to showcase effective storytelling using data.

  For fees and registration, go to https://www.datathon.ca

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  Kevin Cavanagh, Brock University Communications, kcavanagh@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550 ext. 5888 or 905 321-4310

  Michelle Pressé, Brock University Communications, mpresse@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550 ext. 4420 or 905-246-1963

  Categories: Media releases