diff --git a/images/datascience-notebook/Dockerfile b/images/datascience-notebook/Dockerfile
index a9f65425..0a57bd23 100644
--- a/images/datascience-notebook/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/datascience-notebook/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION=python-3.9.5
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=python-3.11
 FROM jupyter/datascience-notebook:$PYTHON_VERSION
 # coerce change in all notebook
 USER root
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ COPY /test/test_r_func.R /opt/manual_tests
 
 USER jovyan
 
-ARG PY_VER_SHORT=3.9
+ARG PY_VER_SHORT=3.11
 ARG JUPYTERHUB_VERSION=3.0.0
 
 # mistune added for nbgrader issues
diff --git a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/Dockerfile b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/Dockerfile
index 82e4debc..8fafee30 100644
--- a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/Dockerfile
@@ -81,24 +81,24 @@ RUN pip install datascience \
 # Beware of potentially needing to update these if we update the drivers.
 RUN pip install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118 && \
   pip cache purge && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_cnn_infer.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcublasLt.so.11 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_adv_infer.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_adv_train.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_cnn_train.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_ops_infer.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_ops_train.so.8 && \
-  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/torch/lib/libcublas.so.11
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_cnn_infer.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcublasLt.so.11 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_adv_infer.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_adv_train.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_cnn_train.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_ops_infer.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcudnn_ops_train.so.8 && \
+  rm /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/torch/lib/libcublas.so.11
 
 USER $NB_UID:$NB_GID
 ENV PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/nvidia/bin:/opt/conda/bin
 
-#ENV CUDNN_PATH=/opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn
+#ENV CUDNN_PATH=/opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn
 
 # starts like this: /opt/conda/pkgs/cudnn-8.6.0.163-pypi_0 8.8.1.3-pypi_0/lib/:/opt/conda/pkgs/cudatoolkit-11.8.0-h37601d7_11/lib:/usr/local/nvidia/lib:/usr/local/nvidia/lib64
-# need to have the end result of running 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib'
+# need to have the end result of running 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib'
 # then the gpu can be detected via CLI.
-#ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib
+#ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib
 
 # Do some CONDA/CUDA stuff
 # Copy libdevice file to the required path
diff --git a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/cudnn_env_vars.sh b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/cudnn_env_vars.sh
index 04663c75..58582083 100644
--- a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/cudnn_env_vars.sh
+++ b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/cudnn_env_vars.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 
 # set systemwide env variables for Conda package: cudnn
 CUDNN_PATH=$(dirname $(python -c "import nvidia.cudnn;print(nvidia.cudnn.__file__)"))
-#export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib
+#export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/nvidia/cudnn/lib
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${CUDNN_PATH}/lib
diff --git a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/manual_tests/tensorflow_mtest.ipynb b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/manual_tests/tensorflow_mtest.ipynb
index cc8dd2fc..e08a5cf2 100644
--- a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/manual_tests/tensorflow_mtest.ipynb
+++ b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/manual_tests/tensorflow_mtest.ipynb
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@
    "name": "python",
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
-   "version": "3.9.5"
+   "version": ".5"
   }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
diff --git a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/tensorrt_env_vars.sh b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/tensorrt_env_vars.sh
index c1821d14..d255f57b 100644
--- a/images/scipy-ml-notebook/tensorrt_env_vars.sh
+++ b/images/scipy-ml-notebook/tensorrt_env_vars.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # put tensorrt lib into LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/conda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/tensorrt:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/conda/lib/python3.11/site-packages/tensorrt:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
diff --git a/images/spec.yml b/images/spec.yml
index 0c84a55a..193ad7dc 100644
--- a/images/spec.yml
+++ b/images/spec.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ images:
   datascience-notebook:
     image_name: ghcr.io/ucsd-ets/datascience-notebook
     build_args:
-      PYTHON_VERSION: python-3.9.5
-      PY_VER_SHORT: "3.9"
+      PYTHON_VERSION: python-3.11
+      PY_VER_SHORT: "3.11"
       JUPYTERHUB_VERSION: 1.4.1
     info_cmds: [PY_VER, PIP_LIST, CONDA_INFO, CONDA_LIST, APT_PKG_LIST]
 
diff --git a/scripts/docker_adapter.py b/scripts/docker_adapter.py
index e5e8f600..118bf79a 100644
--- a/scripts/docker_adapter.py
+++ b/scripts/docker_adapter.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def build(node: Node) -> Tuple[bool, str]:
             cache_from=[node.full_image_name, node.stable_image_name]
         ):
             # line is of type dict
-            content_str = line.get('stream', '').strip()    # sth like 'Step 1/20 : ARG PYTHON_VERSION=python-3.9.5'
+            content_str = line.get('stream', '').strip()    # sth like 'Step 1/20 : ARG PYTHON_VERSION=python-3.11'
             if content_str:     # if not empty string
                 # time each major step (Step 1/23 : xxx)
                 if content_str[:4] == "Step":
diff --git a/scripts/runner.py b/scripts/runner.py
index 3de26a78..77f02d04 100644
--- a/scripts/runner.py
+++ b/scripts/runner.py
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ def build_and_test_containers(
         'images': {
             'datascience-notebook': {
                 'build_args': {
-                    'PYTHON_VERSION': 'python-3.9.5'
+                    'PYTHON_VERSION': 'python-3.11'
                 },
                 'info_cmds': [
                     'PY_VER',