The PyIU Python Workshops at Indiana University (IU) is a free Python course series presented by IU Astronomy graduate students. Founded in the fall of 2022, PyIU was originally designed to support Astronomy undergraduates in their preparedness for research by offering workshops covering Python, the most widely-used programming language in the physical sciences. The scope of the program has widened significantly since, providing IU undergraduates from many majors, as well as pre-college students across Indiana, with the programming and problem-solving skills necessary to succeed in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, and broadly sparking interest in STEM disciplines, especially astronomy and physics.
The IU Python Crash Course events, typically held towards the start of every semester, teach the fundamentals of Python and are geared towards Python/programming beginners. The Advanced Python Workshops take place later in the semester and are also beginner-friendly, but offer more resources for adept/experienced users of the language and are focused on more specific applications. Pre-college events at high schools or other community spaces are usually beginner-friendly, and may take place at any time of the year.
Check out some news highlights from previous iterations of the program here:
- Fall 2025 IU Crash Course: https://www.astro.indiana.edu/news-events/news/2025-pyiu-fall.html
- Spring 2025 IU Crash Course and Advanced Workshop: https://astro.indiana.edu/news-events/news/2025-pyiu-workshop-spring.html
- Fall 2024 IU Crash Course: https://astro.indiana.edu/news-events/news/2024-fall-python-crash-course-wrapup.html
- Spring 2023 IU Advanced Workshop: https://astro.indiana.edu/news-events/news/pythn-crash-course-2023.html
All materials from these workshops, including tutorials and demos, are free to access and are posted in this GitHub repository. Just navigate to either the "crash-course" or "workshop" folder to begin coding, or click on the "resources" folder to access various Python educational resources. Note that all Python code is written in notebook format (".ipynb"), and can be easily accessed, without any Python installation, on Google Colaboratory. Simply download the notebook you'd like to work with, upload it to your Google Drive, and double-click the .ipynb file to get started!
Questions about PyIU? Requests for Python topics? Want to get involved as an instructor? Contact our organizing committee at pyiu.bloomington@gmail.com or contact Robert Howard at robjhowa@iu.edu.
We are grateful for support provided by the IU Department of Astronomy and College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the NASA Indiana Space Grant.