Collin K. Berke, Ph.D.
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Now

Here you’ll find what I’m currently up to.

A now page, why?

Updated at 2026-03-22 from my home in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I’m fresh off of witnessing Nebraska Men’s Basketball make it to the Sweet 16.

Projects I’m working on

Publishing a weekly update

Since the Summer of 2024, I’ve attempted to get in the regular habit of writing and publishing a weekly newsletter. I came back to it from time-to-time, dropped it for a bit, and then picked it back up again at the start of this year. The aim is to publish something every week, and I’ve made a real effort to do so. I’ve certainly missed a couple weeks, but I’ve consistently come back to it. As part of this, I’ve also been maintaining a list of Media and Marketing Research Resources.

Writing doesn’t come naturally to me, so having a standing weekly deadline motivates me to be bold and push myself outside of my comfort zone. Through some iteration, I’ve begun to find some voice.

Practicing Python

This is another one of those professional development projects that I’ve worked on in the past, put down for a bit, and came back to. This time around I’m trying to learn more of the language and get more comfortable with the syntax. I’ve found some good reading material, and I’m looking for projects I can apply what I’m learning.

Dot files, dot files, dot files

I’m a huge fan of having personal dotfiles for my development setup. I’ve been iterating on mine for a few years. However, as of recent, they’ve kind of become unwieldy, messy, and fragmented. Spring is upon us, so I’ll be doing a little spring cleaning of these files. The hope is to improve their organization, while also making them more portable across the different systems I use. Maybe I’ll even learn something new in the process. I’ll report back.

If you’re interested in what I’ve focused on in the past, check out my past updates

Books I’m reading

Think Python by Allen B. Downey

This is the book I’m reading to learn more about Python. I’ve found it to be a good introduction to the language thus far. I’m looking to apply more of what I’ve learned to some projects.

A list of books I’ve read (ever since I’ve started keeping track)

Professional development reads

R for Data Science (2e) by Hadley Wickham, Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Garrett Grolemund

Practical SQL, 2nd Edition: A Beginner’s Guide to Storytelling with Data by Anthony DeBarros

Machine Learning with R - Fourth Edition by Brett Lantz

Practical Tableau by Ryan Sleeper

HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter from the Harvard Business Review

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

Tidy Modeling with R by Max Kuhn and Julia Silge

Python for Data Analysis by Wes McKinney

Engineering Production-Grade Shiny Apps by Colin Fay, Sébastien Rochette, Vincent Guyader, and Cervan Girard

Advanced R by Hadley Wickham. Check out past book club meeting recordings here.

R Packages by Hadley Wickham and Jenny Bryan. Check out past book club meeting recordings here.

Vim help files maintained by Carlo Teubner

Mastering Ubuntu by Jay LaCroix

Google BigQuery: The Definitive Guide by Valliappa Lakshmanan and Jordan Tigani

Mastering Shiny by Hadley Wickham. Check out the past book club meeting recordings here.

R for Data Science by Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund. Check out the past book club meeting recordings here.

Docker Deep Dive by Nigel Poulton

Personal reads

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge

The Currents of Space (Galactic Empire 2) by Issac Asimov

The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire 1) by Issac Asimov

Robots and Empire (The Robot Series 4) by Issac Asimov

The Robots of Dawn (The Robot Series 3) by Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun (The Robot Series Book 2) by Isaac Asimov

The Caves of Steel (The Robot Series Book 1) by Isaac Asimov

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse book 9) by James S.A. Corey

Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse book 8) by James S.A. Corey

Persepolis Rising (The Expanse book 7) by James S.A. Corey

Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse book 6) by James S.A. Corey

Nemesis Games (The Expanse book 5) by James S.A. Corey

Cibola Burn (The Expanse book 4) by James S.A. Corey

Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse book 3) by James S.A. Corey

Caliban’s War (The Expanse book 2) by James S.A. Corey

Leviathon Wakes (The Expanse book 1) by James S.A. Corey

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within: A Novel (Wayfarers 4) by Becky Chambers

Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers 3) by Becky Chambers

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers 2) by Becky Chambers

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers 1) by Becky Chambers

Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir