University of Nebraska-Lincoln
May 18-20, 2026
10:30 am - 3:30 pm CST
Instructors: Xinyan Xie, Natasha Pavlovikj
Helpers: Caughlin Bohn, TBD
General Information
The Carpentries project comprises the Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and Library Carpentry communities of Instructors, Trainers, Maintainers, helpers, and supporters who share a mission to teach foundational computational and data science skills to researchers.
Want to learn more and stay engaged with The Carpentries? Carpentries Clippings is The Carpentries' biweekly newsletter, where we share community news, community job postings, and more. Sign up to receive future editions and read our full archive: https://carpentries.org/newsletter/
Where: 900 N 16th St, Lincoln, NE 68508. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.
Enter from the **southeast** entrance of the building.
When: May 18-20, 2026; 10:30 am - 3:30 pm CST Add to your Google Calendar.
Cost: FREE
Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).
Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The workshop organizers have checked that:
- The room is wheelchair / scooter accessible.
- Accessible restrooms are available.
We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all. We do not require participants to provide documentation of disabilities or disclose any unnecessary personal information. However, we do want to help create an inclusive, accessible experience for all participants. We encourage you to share any information that would be helpful to make your Carpentries experience accessible. To request accessibility support for this workshop, please fill out the accessibility support request form. If you have questions or need assistance with the accessibility support form please email us.
Glosario is a multilingual glossary for computing and data science terms. The glossary helps learners attend workshops and use our lessons to make sense of computational and programming jargon written in English by offering it in their native language. Translating data science terms also provides a teaching tool for Carpentries Instructors to reduce barriers for their learners.
Workshop Recordings: Carpentries workshops are designed to be interactive rather than lecture-based, with lessons that build upon one another. To foster a positive online learning environment, we strongly recommend that participants join in real time. As a result, workshop recordings are not recommended and may not be available to learners.
Contact: Please email hcc-support@unl.edu for more information.
Roles: To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what), refer to our Workshop FAQ.
Code of Conduct
Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.
Surveys
Please be sure to complete these surveys before and after the workshop.
Schedule
May 18
| 10:30 | 1. Basic syntax Where do I start? |
| 11:00 | 2. Scripts and imports What is a Python program? |
| 11:30 | 3. Numpy arrays and lists How do we store large amounts of data? |
| 12:00 | 4. Storing data with dicts How do I store structured data? |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | 5. Functions and Conditions How do I write functions? |
| 14:00 | 6. Introduction to parallel computing How do I run code in parallel? |
| 14:30 | Break |
| 14:45 | 7. Introduction to Snakemake How can I make my results easier to reproduce? |
| 15:10 | 8. Snakefiles How do I write a simple workflow? |
May 20
| 10:30 | 9. Wildcards How can I abbreviate the rules in my pipeline? |
| 11:00 | 10. Pattern Rules How can I define rules to operate on similar files? |
| 11:30 | 11. Snakefiles are Python code How can I automatically manage dependencies and outputs? How can I use Python code to add features to my pipeline? |
| 12:00 | 12. Resources and parallelism How do I scale a pipeline across multiple cores? How do I manage access to resources while working in parallel? |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | 13. Scaling a pipeline across a cluster How do I run my workflow on an HPC system? |
| 14:15 | 14. Final notes What are some tips and tricks I can use to make this easier? |
| 15:00 | Finish |
Setup
To participate in a workshop, you will need access to software as described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.
We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.