CoDEx 2025 Workshops

Morning workshops will kick off the day bright and early, from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Registration is required via the CoDEx registration form. Registered attendees are invited to breakfast in the Louis Lobby at 8 a.m.

Come and learn a new skill from the Northwestern IT Research Computing and Data Services experts. Whether you are a non-coder, an experienced programmer, or somewhere in between, there is a workshop for you. Workshops are one-hour, hands-on, practical lessons designed specifically for the Northwestern University research community.

Please note that workshop seating is limited. We expect workshops to reach capacity. Only register if you are certain that you will attend. Registration is available through the CoDEx registration.

Concurrent Morning Workshops
8:45–9:45 a.m.

Why and How to Use Large Language Models in Your Research- Room

efrén cruz cortés, Data Scientist, Northwestern IT, and Emilio Lehoucq, Data Scientist, Northwestern IT

Large Language Models (LLMs), like those powering ChatGPT, are increasingly popular and pervasive. Are you interested in using them for your research but unsure how to start? This workshop will introduce research tasks where LLMs can be leveraged effectively. In addition, the workshop will help you understand the differences between the large variety of available models and choose one best suited to your research project.  

Prerequisites: None. (No prior knowledge of artificial intelligence is required.)

Communicating Effectively with Data Visualization - Room

Christina Maimone, Associate Director, Research Data Services, Northwestern IT

Data visualizations play a crucial role in academic publications, yet researchers often lack training in creating visuals that communicate effectively. In this workshop, we'll explore real-world examples from diverse disciplines to see how subtle design choices can influence interpretation, readability, and retention. Learn practical strategies to help your data visualizations amplify your research story by focusing your audience's attention and designing visualizations that communicate your key findings. Walk away with actionable tips and techniques to apply to your next project. 

Prerequisites: None.

Organize, Search, and Share your Research Data with LabArchives- Room

Tobin Magle, Lead Data Management Specialist, Northwestern IT; Pamela Shaw, Biosciences and Bioinformatics Librarian, Galter Health Science Library, and LabArchives

Researchers document their data, observations, notes, and other evidence generated during the research process to make their research results publishable and reproducible. Northwestern University provides a site license to an Electronic Research Notebook (ERN) platform called LabArchives to organize these materials. This workshop will show you how to build a notebook that compliments your research workflow and lab structure, identify best practices and tips for managing a research notebook with member access management and the activity feed, and maximize collaboration across your notebooks with colleagues.

Prerequisites: None.

When to Consider Using GPUs in Your Research Workflow - Room

Julia Giannini, Computational Scientist, Northwestern IT, and David Glass, Research Computing Support Lead, Northwestern IT

Wondering whether GPUs could speed up your computational workflow? In this workshop, you'll learn which types of codes benefit from GPU acceleration, common applications for GPU programming, and tools available for monitoring and performance optimization of compute-intensive processes. We’ll show examples of how to run machine learning and AI tasks using the GPU resources available on Quest (Northwestern’s high-performance compute cluster), and you’ll learn what GPU resources are available both at Northwestern and beyond.