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IC Talk: Data for Good – Data Science at Columbia

by Jeannette M. Wing – Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute – Professor of Computer Science Columbia University

In this talk, she will present the mission of the Institute and highlights of our educational and research activities.

Abstract

Every field has data. We use data to discover new knowledge, to interpret the world, to make decisions, and even to predict the future.  The recent convergence of big data, cloud computing, and novel machine learning algorithms and statistical methods is causing an explosive interest in data science and its applicability to all fields.  This convergence has already enabled the automation of some tasks that better human performance.  The novel capabilities we derive from data science will drive our cars, treat disease, and keep us safe.  At the same time, such capabilities risk leading to biased, inappropriate, or unintended action. The design of data science solutions requires both excellence in the fundamentals of the field and expertise to develop applications which meet human challenges without creating even greater risk.

The Data Science Institute at Columbia University promotes “Data for Good”: using data to address societal challenges and bringing humanistic perspectives as—not after—new science and technology is invented.  Started in 2012, the Institute is now a university-level institute representing over 300 affiliated faculty from 17 schools, colleges and institutes across campus.  Data science literally touches every corner of the university.

Biography

Jeannette M. Wing is Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. From 2013 to 2017, she was a Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research.  She is Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon where she twice served as the Head of the Computer Science Department and had been on the faculty since 1985.  From 2007-2010 she was the Assistant Director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation.  She received her S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Informations

  • Time and place: at 3.15 pm, room BC 420, EPFL
From: 18 Oct, 2019
To: 18 Oct, 2019

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