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Sam Pottinger

@sampottinger.com
260 followers 292 following 104 posts

Data scientist / visualization designer at UC Berkeley Center for Data Science and Environment. ML, UX, SWE, game design, and natural science. Views my own. Gleap.org. Teaching interactivedatascience.courses. He/him. 🏳️‍🌈 כי אני כאן

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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 02/09/2026
More from modeling natural systems book group at work. gist.github.com/sampottinger...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 19/08/2026
More sketching at work. gist.github.com/sampottinger...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 05/08/2026
More fun with the simulating natural systems book club at work. Code at gist.github.com/sampottinger...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 29/07/2026
Fun times with Nature of Code at work. In Sketchingpy, gist.github.com/sampottinger...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 13/07/2026
Made a small toy for an upcoming guest lecture: makeaneural.net. Ever wanted to know the basics of how AI (language models) work? Build a small one up in your browser and play with where it works well and where it might fall a little short.
makeaneural.net
Make a Neural Net
Ever wonder how LLMs are made? Build a small talking AI in your browser to discover how they work and why they sometimes get things wrong. Open source educational interactive.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 28/02/2026
2026 continuing to offer small boat big waves energy
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Thank you @schmidtfellows.bsky.social & @schmidtsciences.bsky.social for attending our workshop on #DataVisualization best practices! 💡Are you a #scientist looking to improve your data visualization game? Check out a our top tips & tool recs: dse.berkeley.edu/news/best-pr... 📸Claudine Gossett
Amanda standing in front of the workshop smilingSam standing in front of the workshop gesturing in front of a slide deck
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
📣NEW in Mongabay: DSE's McKalee Steen & Magali de Bruyn share insights on how #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge and Indigenous digital sovereignty are key to creating #ResponsibleAI for achieving #conservation and environmental goals. 📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG
bit.ly
AI-centered conservation efforts can only be ethical if Indigenous people help lead them (commentary)
In November, we joined more than 50,000 Indigenous and world leaders, diplomats, scholars and activists at the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil. Some of the most central...
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
🥳 We're #Hiring!! Are you a #SoftwareEngineer and/or #DataScientist interested in #biodiversity and #bioacoustics research? 🦉🐸 🐻 This role will build and maintain high-performance computing workflows, data infrastructure, and research software & so much more. Apply now: bit.ly/Bioacoustics...
five people standing around a laptop screen in DSE's office with a large monitor behind them displaying data visualizations
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
2025 #wrapped: DSE data viz 📊 🎨 One of our favorites from last year, designed by DSE's Amanda Anderson-You, depicts the inner-workings of "Josh": our new, open source vegetation modeling software codeveloped with the National Park Service. ➡️ dse.berkeley.edu/news/2025-wr... #DataVisualization
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Thank you @bigadshaban.bsky.social and Raj Mathai @nbcbayarea.com for featuring @sampottinger.com & the United Nations #KigaliSim tool! Kigali Sim could help some countries ⬇️greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2040, developed here @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social 📰 www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/u...
nbcbayarea.com
UC Berkeley offers tech to United Nations to reduce pollution
A Berkeley mathematician has designed a new, easy-to-use interactive tool to help countries reduce harmful greenhouse gases
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
👏DSE postdoc @mayazomer.bsky.social published new research in the @jxbotany.bsky.social! It explores how #MediterraneanShrubs resprout to recover after #disturbance and their resilience to global change: bit.ly/4mAwH5p cc @cideinvestiga.bsky.social ‪‪@bmoreira.bsky.social @jgpausas.bsky.social
Maya holding resprouted plants while conducting fieldwork in Spain
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
This week the United Nations will negotiate a global treaty on #PlasticPollution. DSE's findings in @science.org revealed that by 2050, key policies could: ♻️ Reduce mismanaged plastic waste by up to 91% 🌞 Cut associated greenhouse gasses by 1/3 dse.berkeley.edu/programs/end... #EndPlasticPollution
dse.berkeley.edu
End Plastic Pollution | The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science & Environment at Berkeley
The ProblemGlobal plastics pollution is an urgent and growing concern that is exacerbating the climate crisis, creating threats to endangered species and at-risk ecosystems, putting human health at ri...
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Check out this excellent @grist.org story featuring DSE's @sampottinger.com! Sam discusses our team's latest #OpenSource tool & research on opportunities and challenges for US corn #farmers and insurance companies: grist.org/food-and-agr... #AgPolicy #FoodSecurity
grist.org
As temperatures rise, the US Corn Belt could see insurance claims soar
Crop insurance is a lifeline for farmers. But research shows it's not ready for climate change.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 25/04/2025
Incredibly proud to have been part of this team. After 1.5 years of insufferable badgering my coworkers about corn - we made it! Neural network monte carlo simulations explore the future of crop insurance in the US Corn Belt.
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Matt Fisher @mfisher87.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
🎉 🌎 🪐 I'm thrilled to announce GeoJupyter, an effort to imagine and build rewarding new user experiences for working with geospatial data in JupyterLab! 🤗 I hope to see you in an upcoming community meeting or in our Zulip chat (see the post for links)! geojupyter.org/blog/2025010...
geojupyter.org
Introducing GeoJupyter – GeoJupyter
We believe that geospatial data analysis and exploration should be free, open source, and accessible for everyone!
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 09/01/2025
Getting examples ready to teach my upcoming interactive data science / data visualization course (interactivedatascience.courses). Can’t wait to see you soon Berkeley! #creativeCoding
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Schmidt DSE at UC Berkeley @schmidtdse.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
📢ICYMI: DSE's new research on pathways to end global plastic pollution was published in @science.org! Explore our cutting-edge model & interactive data visualization depicting what the planet's future could look like without plastic pollution: dse.berkeley.edu/news/critica... #EndPlasticPollution
Image of ocean waves washing up on a shore covered in plastic
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 14/11/2024
Congrats to the team on the publication in Science today. 🎉 Honored to be co-authors with you and good luck at the upcoming UN negotiations as you carry our hope forward for a healthier and more sustainable future. #science #climate #plastics - www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Pathways to reduce global plastic waste mismanagement and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
Plastic production and plastic pollution negatively affect our environment, environmental justice, and climate change. Using detailed global and regional plastics datasets coupled with socio-economic ...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 06/11/2024
Moody Tuesday… #pixelart
Dark clouds gather over mountains. In the foreground some tulips and a windmill.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 04/11/2024
Happy Monday … sending some calm as you start your week. #pixelart
Picture of a beach with soft waves. A bird and some dolphins are visible in the distance.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 03/11/2024
Happy Sunday #pixelart
Fog covered mountain range with tree and well in the foreground.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 29/10/2024
In the middle of papers so there hasn’t been any new viz for a while but here’s my dog at the beach. #pixelart #art
Little white dog at a beach with hills and whales in distance. Calm waves washing up on shore.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 26/09/2024
Thanks ESPM / UC Berkeley! Had a lot of fun at today’s talk on 4 perspectives & frameworks in data visualization. Slides & recoding posted. If you are in the UC Berkeley community, I have other workshop opportunities and a full course in the spring. See interactivedatascience.courses for details!
interactivedatascience.courses
Global Plastics Tool
Interactive data science courses / workshops for UC Berkeley: interactive data visualization, simulation, science.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 17/09/2024
It works on mobile!
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 05/09/2024
Just added Monte Carlo to the simulation tab of global-plastics-tool.org! Do quantitative policy experiments in your browser!
global-plastics-tool.org
Global Plastics Tool
Interactive open source tool for estimating impacts of plastics policies using machine learning / artificial intelligence, serving as a resource in data-driven policy.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 31/08/2024
Welcome Brazil! 🇧🇷
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 03/08/2024
React on best practices load balanced edge-service architecture VS static html over ftp
Olympic shooter doing a fancy backwards leaning pose, wearing futuristic anime locking gearYusuf Dikec dressed in slacks and a t-shirt with one hand in his pocket and a pistol in the other
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 24/03/2024
Post a dog!
White dog looking at a biscuit on a counter while it rains in the background.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 08/02/2024
#pixelart for when you have ceramics that need to go places
White plane with blue stripes. A pilot sits in front with pots in the back. A wind sock is seen in the background in front of a hill.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 26/01/2024
🪄
Witch reading a book in moonlight with a black cat in the background.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 23/12/2023
Pixel art for the recent rain in SF …
Dog looking at a large bone in a glass container on top of a counter. In the background there is a tree sitting in the rain.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 01/12/2023
Good night blue sky. Hope I got the colors ok… I’m color blind so try my best. I didn’t check too many of these afterwards.
Witch reading a book late at night with a black cat in the background.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 29/11/2023
High five! More pixel art side quest.
A man with brown skin kneeling to touch his hand to a small white dog’s paw. The dog stands on their hind legs. The two are in a mountainous area with the sky visible in the background.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 27/11/2023
Wish we had animated gifs
Frame from a gif of a white dog running
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 26/11/2023
A little pixel art side quest
Two men (one brown, one white) and a white dog in a park in front of Sutro Tower looking at a crow in a tree.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 16/11/2023
Goodnight creative coding blues sky. 🌗 Open source at gleap.org/plant/eclipse
A near black celestial body shining on another larger dark gray body. Both have off white particles emerging from their centers. The dark gray body has dark grey specs in its orbit while the smaller near black body has white specs in its orbit.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 11/11/2023
Doodling and putting off work. Open source at gleap.org/plant/balance. Dear creative coding bluesky, I hope you are having a chill evening / morning to start the weekend.
Two abstract figures that look spirit-like reaching towards each other inside circles made up of lines and smaller circles.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 09/11/2023
Excited to share a project close to my heart combining AI & data viz borrowing from open world game design: interactive tool exploring policy options to address global plastics pollution. There is a nice intro at plasticstreaty.berkeley.edu leading into the tool itself at global-plastics-tool.org.
global-plastics-tool.org
Global Plastics Tool
Interactive open source tool for estimating impacts of plastics policies using machine learning, serving as a resource in data-driven policy.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 23/10/2023
Good night creative coding bluesky. Hopefully Monday brings good things. Open source at gleap.org/plant/wheat
Wheat in a halo made up of lines.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 11/10/2023
Hey all! Just forwarding along an event from some colleagues here in the bay area for science communication. A great event with some great colleagues. Interested in science communication? Join for this free event on Berkeley's beautiful campus: www.eventbrite.com/e/science-st...
eventbrite.com
Science Storytelling for Impact Panel Seminar
Learn how to transform research into a story that has more impact and reach, and hear from journalists about their process and what captures
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 04/10/2023
information.garden/@benfry/1111...
information.garden
Ben Fry (@benfry@information.garden)
I have made the extremely difficult decision to resign from the Processing Foundation. I am absolutely heartbroken, and have not slept well for months. Casey and I started the Foundation with Dan as ...
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 24/09/2023
Good afternoon happy Sunday. Some doodling in code while listening to Japanese Breakfast. The randomness produces kinda different variations on the vibe each time. Open source at gleap.org/plant/spotted.
Plant with wave like stems emanating from a point, reaching up from a green dotted ground to a blue dotted sky which may appear as to be if underwater.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 11/09/2023
A little sketch listening to Gregory Alan Isakov. Been a while since I made a plant in plant lang. Anyway, open source at gleap.org/plant/bouquet. Good night creative coding bluesky.
Blank and white picture of plant that looks like it is made up of small brush strokes. Vaguely looks like a bouquet.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 07/09/2023
Good night creative coding blue sky! Doodling at gleap.org/plant/darksky. More ominous than I anticipated.
Mountain shooting up into dark clouds with a blue line at the top.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 04/09/2023
Playing around with the Monty Hall Problem with curious family members on a holiday. In case you want to join in on the fun, I made a small open source simulator at codepen.io/sampottinger.... Impress your friends and loved ones.
Screenshot of a simulation of the Monty Hall problem showing those who change doors do better.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 04/09/2023
Repost a picture of the first game you remember playing… Oh man running through batteries on the gameboy. (Thanks mobygames for screenshot.)
Screenshot of professor oak in Pokémon  1 saying it is unsafe Pokémon live in tall grass
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 03/09/2023
Good night creative coding bluesky. Open source at gleap.org/plant/telesc....
Telescope with an arc-like piece towards the top looking at a star where the image is made up of small dots.
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Sam Pottinger @sampottinger.com · 02/09/2023
Good morning creative coding bluesky! Open source at gleap.org/plant/sail.
A sailboat-like figure inside a circle made of dots inside a circle made of plant-like structures.
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