Awarding a deep learning pioneer

David Hendrix received the Dean’s Early Career Award, which recognizes exceptional achievement in research and education of faculty no more than four years beyond the tenure date. His research at OSU has focused on applying deep learning approaches to RNA biology, working with collaborators to bring his computational expertise to address biological research questions. Among other innovations, Hendrix has pioneered the use of deep learning in cancer detection based on gene expression data, an approach now gaining in popularity. “In Dave’s hands, the full complexity of biological information emerges. As evident from his success, he is solving fundamental problems that have practical real-world impacts on diverse issues,” said microbiology Professor Steve Giovannoni. Since arriving at OSU in 2013, Hendrix has published 24 papers and brought in over $5.9M in funding from the NSF, NIH and USDA. In 2019, he received OSU’s University Mentoring and Professional Development Award. On the education side, Dave has created student-centered resources including an open-access bioinformatics textbook. He also helped develop the graduate biological data science minor.