Meet the Ken Kennedy Institute's February Member of the Month: Loren Hopkins, Professor in the Practice of Statistics at Rice University; Chief Environmental Science Officer and Bureau Chief in the Data Science Division at the Houston Health Department.

Loren Hopkins is a nationally recognized expert in environmental science and engineering. Her unique affiliation with Rice University’s Department of Statistics and the Houston Health Department has played a central role in applied research and the translation of advances in science, engineering, and higher education to inform city policymakers and improve public health. Since 2001, Hopkins has served as a lecturer, faculty fellow, and professor in the practice of statistics at Rice University.

How does your work impact the community at large?
"I identify environmental or health problems, evaluate connections between them, and then design and implement policy or interventions to resolve the problems. My dual role as faculty at Rice and Chief Environmental Science Officer for the City of Houston Health Department affords me the opportunity to work on the research on the Rice side and the implementation on the city side."

Join us March 9, 2023 for a Ken Kennedy Institute Distinguished Lecture with V. Balaji, Distinguished Fellow at Schmidt Futures and Make Our Planet Great Again Fellow at Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Paris.

In his talk, V. Balaji discusses the argument around traditional general circulation models, or GCMs, and presents potential approaches founded on a renewed emphasis to mathematical methods of calibration and dimensionality reduction, using the GCM's structure to connect twins to emulators to long-running models of the Earth's past and future.

• Date: Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 4:00 PM CST
• Location: Keck Hall 100 at Rice University
• Talk: From Simulation to Emulation: Climate Modeling at the Crossroads

Please RSVP to stay updated on event details. Registration details and the full talk abstract can be found at the link below.

It's the last week to register for the 16th annual Energy HPC Conference on February 28 - March 2, 2023 at Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative in Houston, TX!

The conference includes a remarkable lineup of invited speakers, technical talks, birds of a feather sessions, an exhibit hall, post-conference workshops, and the following exciting features:

Sponsor Networking Reception

• Specialty wine, cheese, and heavy appetizer selection
• Magic and entertainment by The Crescent Circus

Poster Presentation Reception

• Student poster gallery
• Heavy appetizers

Networking Breaks

• Specialty coffee from Java Pura, sponsored by AMD and Penguin Solutions
• Energy HPC donut wall
• Popfancy popsicle bar