Dan Knights
Associate Professor
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolDan Knights is an Associate Professor and sustainability data scientist at the University of Minnesota with 16 years of experience applying machine learning and computational methods to sustainability, climate adaptation, and the human microbiome. He blends academic rigor—PhD in Machine Learning and postdoctoral work at Harvard/Broad—with entrepreneurial experience as the founder and former CEO of CoreBiome and ongoing industry engagement as Senior Scientific Advisor at Diversigen. Dan is a seasoned developer and contributor to bioinformatics software (notably QIIME), building analysis tools and tests that support reproducible microbiome research. His work focuses on modeling what makes a truly sustainable civilization and translating complex data into actionable guidance for organizations and communities. Based in Minneapolis, he pairs deep technical skill with a rare combination of teaching, startup leadership, and policy-relevant sustainability modeling.
16 years of coding experience
9 years of employment as a software developer
B.A., Computer Science, B.A., Computer Science at Middlebury CollegePostdoctoral Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical SchoolPhD, Machine Learning, Computer Science, PhD, Machine Learning, Computer Science at University of Colorado BoulderMcCarthy-Towne
Github Skills (6)
python10
testing10
bioinformatics9
develop9
analyse8
microbiome8
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
biocore/qiime
Oct 2009 - Sep 2014
Official QIIME 1 software repository. QIIME 2 (https://qiime2.org) has succeeded QIIME 1 as of January 2018.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & QA Engineer
Back-end Developer & QA EngineerContributions:144 commits, 2 comments in 4 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Dan primarily contributed to the Python-based QIIME software repository by modifying existing code and adding tests. Their work involved updating existing filtering functions to use more efficient parsers and adding new tests for the gap filtering functionality. They also updated author information, indicating maintenance or contributions to existing software.
qiimeanalysismicrobiomeqiime2
danknights/mice5035
Jan 2018 - Nov 2022
Contributions:152 commits, 399 pushes, 1 branch in 4 years 10 months
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