News & EventsComputational Science is widely recognized as a critical means to solving many of today’s most challenging problems. The analysis and knowledge gained from working with the incredible data explosion produced by massive experiments, observations and computer generated models is leading to solutions at an unimagined pace. Data-Intensive discovery (the fourth paradigm of scientific research), and Multi Scale Interdisciplinary approaches are becoming more prevalent in the way that Science and Engineering is generating...
read moreVisit our new website idsc.miami.edu
Visit our new website UM establishes Institute for Data Science & Computing Building on the immense resources and expanding the vision of the Center for Computational Science (CCS), the University has established the Miami Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC "i-disc") to catalyze data-intensive research that will solve real-world problems and enhance the understanding of data science among students and the public. Institute members will help infuse data science into instructional programs across the University, ensuring students graduate with a degree of data-savviness—if not a new Master’s in Data Science. Generated in vast amounts every day, data is the new coin of the realm, the currency fueling innovation and discovery and changing nearly every field and facet of life. At the University of Miami alone, the amount of data amassed by faculty and staff members searching for medical cures, planning smart cities, predicting extreme weather, and pursuing a myriad of other advances has almost doubled in the past few years. “The volume, variety, and velocity of data have reached unprecedented and, indeed, extraordinary levels, transforming the world and creating numerous opportunities for innovation and human progress,” said Jeffrey Duerk (pictured below), Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. “Acknowledging this extraordinary opportunity, the Center for Computational Science is becoming the Miami Institute for Data Science and Computing to transform the University into a leader in data science—encompassing research, education, ethics, workforce training, and service—through cross-disciplinary, industrial, and governmental collaborations, and in interactions with local and global communities.” The new Institute is the second of a group of synergistic research enterprises that will be coordinated under the umbrella of the Frost Institutes for Science and Engineering, which began with the $100-million gift from the University’s longtime benefactors, Phillip and Patricia Frost, and the establishment of the Frost Institute of Chemistry and Molecular Science. Led by Nicholas Tsinoremas, the founding director of the Center for Computational Science (CCS), who has been appointed vice provost for research computing and data, the new institute is housed in CCS’ Gables One Tower office. But, as Tsinoremas noted, IDSC (pronounced i-disk) will transcend any physical space because, like the burgeoning field of data science, the institute’s footprint will extend across and beyond the University, pulling together such diverse and multidisciplinary fields as computer science, statistics, biomedicine, environmental science, and the humanities and arts, and partnering with local governments, industry, and other institutions. “Data science is a relatively new field, but it is becoming essential to every discipline because there is data everywhere and for everything. It is the new currency,” Tsinoremas said. “We also have new technologies—like artificial intelligence and machine learning—that are creating new ways to extract information and gain insights from complex data sets to solve complex problems. So, IDSC members will be everywhere, in every school and college, and engage the research community at the University to actually produce more data and utilize it more effectively.” Organized around thematic research programs, including one for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, the institute will recruit highly skilled and collaborative data scientists from leading programs and industries to help the UM community and its government and industry partners with their data science needs. But, Tsinoremas said, the University is already uniquely positioned to transform itself into a preeminent data science leader because...
read moreData Intersections 2020 Videos
Catch the reply of Data Intersections 2020. Videos of the sessions are now available. (share the playlist) Otavio Bueno Heather Krause Yeshimabeit Milner Mike Monteiro Panel Discussion with Ken Goodman Speakers Otávio Bueno Professor and Chair, Philosophy Department, University of Miami Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Science Editor-in-Chief, Synthese Editor-in-Chief, Synthese Library Book Series Most of my work focuses on philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of logic. I have been trying to develop an empiricist view about science that is compatible with a nominalist view about mathematics and logic. Not an easy task, but one that has led me to explore also a number of fascinating and interrelated issues in metaphysics, epistemology and logic. Read more . . . Talk Title: Data: Big and Small Data need to be obtained, stored, displayed, analyzed, interpreted, and shared. At each stage, ethical and epistemological issues emerge, often in intertwined ways. In some cases, the data that is needed cannot be obtained because it is ethically unacceptable to do so; and what can be obtained does not settle a number of pressing issues. Once obtained, some data contain sensitive information that needs to be safely stored. But how can this be done responsibly and effectively? There are often different ways of displaying and analyzing the same data, which opens up different interpretations. How can the accuracy of such interpretations be assessed and determined? Finally, data need to be shared in responsible ways, but often there are distinct mechanisms of disseminating the data, and misleading ways of doing so. In this talk, I will develop a framework to think about data, whether big or small, and consider these issues. Heather Krause Founder of Datassist and We All Count Heather Krause, PStat, is a data scientist with over a decade of experience building tools that improve practices and systems. Heather is a statistician with years of experience working on complex data problems and producing real world knowledge. She has a strong love of finding data, analyzing it in creative ways and using cutting edge visualization methods to visualize the results. Her emphasis is on combining strong statistical analysis with clear and meaningful communication. She is currently working on implementing tools for equity and ethics in data. As the founder of two successful data science companies, she attacks the largest questions facing societies today, working with both civic and corporate organizations to improve outcomes and lives. Her relentless pursuit of clarity and realism in these projects pushed her beyond pure analysis to mastering the entire data ecosystem including award winning work in data sourcing, modelling, and data storytelling, each incorporating bleeding edge theory and technologies. Her work proves that data narratives can be meaningful to any audience from a boardroom to the front page. Heather is the founder of We All Count, a project for equity in data working with teams across the globe to embed a lens of ethics into their data products from funding to data collection to statistical analysis and algorithmic accountability. Her unique set of tools and contributions have been sought across a range of clients from MasterCard and Wells Fargo to the United Nations, the Canadian Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is on the...
read moreLecture: Dr. Yelena Yesha “Data Science for Medical Imaging” 2/5/2020
Announcing a Department of Computer Science Pizza Seminar Series lecture: "Data Science for Medical Imaging" by Yelena Yesha, Ph.D. -Visiting Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Miami -Distinguished University Professor, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County -Director, NSF Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics Wednesday, February 5th, 2020, 5:05 PM | Refreshments will be served at 4:30 PM LOCATION: Memorial Bldg. Room 217, 1111 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146 Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to augment the clinician as a virtual radiology assistant (vRA) through enriching information and providing clinical decision support. Deep learning is a type of AI that has shown promise in performance for Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) tasks. A current barrier to implementing deep learning for clinical CAD tasks in radiology is that it requires a training set to be representative and as large as possible in order to generalize appropriately and achieve high accuracy predictions. We present an Active Semi-supervised Expectation Maximization (ASEM) learning model for training a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for lung cancer screening using Computed Tomography (CT) imaging examinations. Our learning model is novel since it combines semi-supervised learning via the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm with active learning via Bayesian experimental design for use with 3D CNNs for lung cancer screening. ASEM simultaneously infers image labels as a latent variable, while predicting which images, if additionally labeled, are likely to improve classification accuracy. The performance of this model has been evaluated using three publicly available chest CT datasets: Kaggle2017, NLST, and LIDC-IDRI. Our experiments showed that ASEM-CAD can identify suspicious lung nodules and detect lung cancer cases with an accuracy of 92% (Kaggle17), 93% (NLST), and 73% (LIDC) and Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.94 (Kaggle), 0.88 (NLST), and 0.81 (LIDC). These performance numbers are comparable to fully supervised training but use only slightly more than 50% of the training data labels. Computed Tomography has become an essential tool in diagnosing numerous diseases, especially cancer. CT scans have become vital in identifying the presence of a cancerous tumor and to find if cancer has metastasized. The scans are generated by exposing the patient to ionizing radiation. Exposure to radiation increases the patient’s risk of cancer. Repeated scans might aggravate the condition and might also aid in spreading the cancerous cells to nearby tissues in patients that already have cancer. Hence, it is required to conduct a CT examination involving a low dose of radiation, which reduces the amount of ionizing radiation exposure. But a lower dose would result in poor image quality which lowers the diagnostic accuracy. Currently, there are not many optimal noise measurement and prediction methods to assess the diagnostic quality of the image. We propose an automated approach to find the global noise of a CT scan associated with a tissue. This event is free and open to UM Faculty/Staff/Students....
read moreData Intersections: Ethics of Data, Technology, + Design Thursday 2/13/2020
Register Now The University of Miami Center for Computational Science invites you to Data Intersections 2020. Join us on Thursday, February 13, 2020 at the Newman Alumni Center 3:00-7:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public. Data Intersections is an annual symposium featuring speakers from the fields of data science, statistics, data journalism, and the digital humanities. The 2020 session theme is “Conversations About the Ethics of Data, Technology, and Design.” Speakers include: Speakers Ken Goodman Director, Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy Co-Director, UM Ethics Programs Kenneth W. Goodman, PhD, FACMI, FACE, is Founder and Director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy and Co-Director of the University’s Ethics Programs. The Institute has been designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Ethics and Global Health Policy, one of ten in the world. He is a co-founder of the North American Center for Ethics and Health Information Technology, a partnership with the Center for Bioethics at Indiana University. Dr. Goodman is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami with appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Department of Health Informatics, Department of Public Health Sciences, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Nursing and Health Studies and Department of Anesthesiology. Otávio Bueno Professor and Chair, Philosophy Department, University of Miami Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Science Editor-in-Chief, Synthese Editor-in-Chief, Synthese Library Book Series Most of my work focuses on philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of logic. I have been trying to develop an empiricist view about science that is compatible with a nominalist view about mathematics and logic. Not an easy task, but one that has led me to explore also a number of fascinating and interrelated issues in metaphysics, epistemology and logic. Read more . . . Talk Title: Data: Big and Small Data need to be obtained, stored, displayed, analyzed, interpreted, and shared. At each stage, ethical and epistemological issues emerge, often in intertwined ways. In some cases, the data that is needed cannot be obtained because it is ethically unacceptable to do so; and what can be obtained does not settle a number of pressing issues. Once obtained, some data contain sensitive information that needs to be safely stored. But how can this be done responsibly and effectively? There are often different ways of displaying and analyzing the same data, which opens up different interpretations. How can the accuracy of such interpretations be assessed and determined? Finally, data need to be shared in responsible ways, but often there are distinct mechanisms of disseminating the data, and misleading ways of doing so. In this talk, I will develop a framework to think about data, whether big or small, and consider these issues. Heather Krause Founder of Datassist and We All Count Heather Krause, PStat, is a data scientist with over a decade of experience building tools that improve practices and systems. Heather is a statistician with years of experience working on complex data problems and producing real world knowledge. She has a strong love of finding data, analyzing it in creative ways and using cutting edge visualization methods to visualize the results. Her emphasis is on combining strong statistical analysis with clear and meaningful...
read more“Data Science for Operations Management Lecture” 2/14/2020
Dr. George Shanthikumar, Richard E. Dauch Chair of Manufacturing and Operations Management, and Distinguished Professor of Management at Purdue University will speak on “Data Science for Operations Management" on Friday, February 14, 2020, in the Aresty Graduate Building (Miami Herbert Business School, P6 on this map), Room #AGB431, from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Professor Shanthikumar joined the Krannert faculty in 2009. Prior to coming to Purdue, he was a Chancellor's Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in integrated interdisciplinary decision making, model uncertainty and learning, production systems modeling and analysis, queueing theory, reliability, scheduling, semiconductor yield management, simulation stochastic processes, and sustainable supply chain management. Dr. Shanthikumar has written or co-written more than 250 papers on these topics. He is a co-author (with John A. Buzacott) of the book Stochastic Models of Manufacturing Systems and a co-author (with Moshe Shaked) of the books Stochastic Orders and Their Applications and Stochastic Orders. He was also a co-editor of the Flexible Services & Manufacturing Journal, and is (or was) a member of the editorial boards of: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operations Research IEEE Transactions on Automation Sciences and Engineering IIE Transactions International Journal of Flexible Management Systems Journal of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems Journal of the Production and Operations Management Society Operations Research Operations Research Letters OPSEARCH Probability in the Engineering and Information Sciences, and Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications. Professor Shanthikumar has consulted extensively for various companies, including: Applied Materials (AMAT), Bellcore (aka Bell Communications Research, Inc. | iconectiv), IBM, KLA-Tencor, NTT Group (Japan), Intel, Intermolecular, Reel Solar, Safeway, and Southern Pacific. Through KLA-Tencor, he has worked on joint development projects for Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Intel, LSI, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and UMC....
read moreFree Screening of “Data Science Pioneers” at Cosford Cinema 2/25/2020
Click here for Tickets What does it mean to be a "Data Scientist"? It’s hard to tell the difference between data-science hype and reality. Learn from leading data scientists what’s real and what they’re excited about at a screening of the documentary film "Data Science Pioneers" at the Cosford Cinema on Tuesday, February 25, 2020 | 6:00-8:30 PM (Runtime: 61m) Even though the title "Data Scientist" is new, the role has a long lineage in statistics and information sciences. And while the challenges data scientists now face occur on an unprecedented scale today, they stand on the shoulders of technical and ethical quandaries that came before (after all, the question of self-driving cars is the trolley problem made real). In this film, real data scientists contextualize the role and why they love it, while exploring the concerns and challenges to come. Data Science Pioneers is proof that data scientists aren’t just data-crazy mathematicians that happen to work in a cutting-edge field; they enjoy their work and want to take on difficult ethical questions, too. They want to make a difference. For the non-data scientist, Data Science Pioneers is still a critical piece of the puzzle that is the future of AI—it’s about getting to know the people that are building systems that affect everyone’s day-to-day lives. Accepting AI as an inevitability is complex and might start with data scientists themselves, but it’s a fundamental change that will affect all, and that cannot happen in isolation. Data Science Pioneers brings the story that will fuel discussions about not only how to construct a solid foundation for AI, but also, how to construct a supportive community of those responsible for building it. Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | Map Runtime: 61m | Watch the trailer: Data Science Pioneers Trailer from Dataiku.com on Vimeo. | Documentary Website:...
read more2-Day Python Workshop-Software Carpentry 2/27-28/2020 RSMAS Campus
This session is full | Syllabus This free 2-day workshop is designed to provide a foundation of basic concepts that all programming depends on, using Python as an example. A comprehensive, hands-on overview of an introductory data analysis using Python will cover topics like data types, functions, conditional statements, loops, errors and exceptions, debugging, and some key Python libraries and writing Python programs that will work like Linux command-line tools. The workshop is capped at 35 participants, and is on a first-come/first-served basis. Instructors: Tim Norris, PhD, Research Data Scientist | Cameron Riopelle, PhD, Head of Data Services NOTE: Please bring a laptop (any OS) and charging cable. Thursday and Friday, February 27-28, 2020 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM Course Hours, Both Days Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) | Map and Directions Science Laboratory and Administration Building (aka SLAB), 2nd floor Library, Map and Chart Room 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key, FL 33149 You may park on the first level of the first building as you enter on the left, or, you may park in the lot outside the fence along the road. ____________________ SPONSORS ...
read moreUM Innovators Judged NFL Competition Designed to Advance Player Safety
SOURCE: NEWS@TheU 02/03/2020 Three University of Miami innovators served as judges on a National Football League pitch competition that was designed to boost advancements in athlete health and safety. The event was part of the University’s collaboration with the NFL, which hosted a range of Super Bowl LIV events in Miami this past week. The NFL’s 1st and Future competition (held Friday 2/1/2020 at the Miami Beach Convention Center) reviewed presentations on both innovative product concepts, and, analytics and data models—which compared factors such as natural vs. synthetic turf with the aim of reducing the potential for injury, especially to lower limbs. Dan Hellie, host of NFL Total Access, emceed the event he described as “a little bit ‘Shark Tank’ and a little bit ‘Oprah’ ” and a “unique and very cool look into the future and the innovation of our great game.” “This was a great opportunity to celebrate not only our role in the region, but also our efforts and research in the areas of big science, big data, and analytics in general,” said Jeffrey Duerk, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs (far right). Duerk and Lee Kaplan (center), Director of the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute, participated as judges on the panel to assess innovative products. Kaplan and Nick Tsinoremas, Vice Provost for Research Computing & Data, and Founding Director of CCS, served on the Data Analytics Competition Panel. The Provost highlighted the benefits that the collaboration afforded: “One of the things that comes out of our participation is expanding our network with high-tech companies, and it provided some validation that the types of projects we’re looking at are really well aligned, not just with research frontiers, but also with the products these companies are looking at,” said Duerk, whose panel included Michelle K. Lee, Vice President of Amazon ML Solutions Lab (fourth from right). “In the past, our relationship with the NFL has been through our graduates who have gone on to become pioneering players and hall of famers—like Edgerrin James who was elected today. But through networks like this, we’re leveraging relationships beyond our alumni players in entrepreneurship and research—and you can only do that if you seize the opportunity to meet people and highlight our efforts,” the Provost added. 1st Prize Protect3d from Durham, North Carolina—a team composed of three former Duke University football players majoring in engineering—took home the top prize among the four finalists in the Innovations to Advance Athlete Health and Safety Competition (innovative product concepts category), and was awarded two Super Bowl LIV tickets and $50,000. Their project leverages 3D scanning and printing technologies to give medical professionals the ability to create anatomically-precise protective devices, each intended to be optimized for an individual athlete's comfort, mobility and protection. Their concept was born, they explained, when their team’s quarterback, Daniel Jones, was injured in 2018. Using new technology to perform a precise body scan, they outfitted Jones with a customized device that provided more mobility, comfort, and protection. They advanced their project by developing devices for other players and teams around the country and proposed, as part of their presentation, to expand their market to include youth football leagues and other sports. 2nd Prize Second-place winner Plantiga Ben Jenkins, a senior at the University of Colorado, who teamed with his father,...
read moreWomen in Data Science (WiDS) Miami Conference 3/9/2020
Register Now | $95.00 pp Attend the fourth annual Women in Data Science (WiDS) Miami Conference to learn and engage with data science leaders and community members. This one-day technical conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science-related research in a number of domains, learn how leading-edge companies are leveraging data science for success, and connect with potential mentors, collaborators, and others in the field. WiDS Miami 2020 will be the most empowering and insightful event yet! Featuring women/gender minority in data science looking for a platform to share their rise, transition into, or accomplishments in the field of data science, the Paper Call presenters will educate on topics related to data science, and will empower women to take on roles in this transformative field. All genders are invited to participate in the conference, which features exclusively female speakers. Announcing the afternoon Keynote Speaker The afternoon Keynote Speaker will be Nooshin Nabizadeh, AI Solutions Architect at Intel Corporation. A successful University of Miami alumna who graduated with a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nooshin brings decade of experience in ML, Computer Vision, and Data Mining. She also teaches ML at San Jose State University. Her fields of expertise include: AI, Image Analysis, Pattern Recognition, and much more. Monday, March 9, 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM | Watsco Center Presented by NextEra Energy and hosted by the CCS, the annual WiDS Conference takes place at the University of Miami's Coral Gables campus. The Watsco Center Fieldhouse is located at 1245 Dauer Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146. Map + Directions Who Should Attend The Conference is open to everyone, regardless of gender, who is interested in engaging with and learning from the local data science community. Whether you are an experienced data scientist or looking to learn more about the field, WiDS Miami will have great content and opportunities to connect. What to Expect Talks from local speakers from academia and the industry Opportunity to network with the local data science community and leadership, potential partners, employers and employees Livestream of Stanford Keynote Speakers About WiDS The Women in Data Science (WiDS) initiative aims to inspire and educate data scientists worldwide, regardless of gender, and to support women in the field. WiDS started as a conference at Stanford in November 2015. Now, WiDS includes a global conference, with approximately 150+ regional events worldwide; a datathon, encouraging participants to hone their skills using a social impact challenge; and a podcast, featuring leaders in the field talking about their work, their journeys, and lessons learned. This conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science-related research in a number of domains, learn how leading-edge companies are leveraging data science for success, and connect with potential mentors, collaborators, and others in the field. All genders are invited to participate in the conference, which features exclusively female speakers. WiDS Podcast Season one of the WiDS podcast is now available on iTunes and Google Play. Hear from women leaders across the data science profession, as they share their advice, career highlights, and lessons learned along the way. WiDS 2019 Overview Watch highlights from the Women in Data Science Conference held at Stanford University on March 4, 2019. Attendees share their perspectives, and speakers share their insights. All...
read moreSmart Cities MIAMI 2020—POSTPONED
After careful consideration, the SMART CITIES MIAMI 2020 Conference + Workshop previously scheduled for March 26-27th at University of Miami, is POSTPONED due to statewide precautions for the COVID-19 Coronavirus, and the State of Florida’s public health emergency declaration. The planning committee at the Institute for Data Science and Computing and the School of Architecture are committed to the health and welfare of our attendees, sponsors, and speakers, and the community as a whole, and have decided to err on the side of safety. We thank you for your interest in our program and ask you to stay tuned to our website for future dates. All registration and application links have been disabled. If you have questions or concerns, please call 305-243-4962. ___________________________________________________________________ The University of Miami School of Architecture and Institute for Data Science & Computing invite you to attend the 4th annual Smart Cities MIAMI Conference + Workshop, on Thursday and Friday, March 26-27, 2020. Day 1 Conference 3/26 To aid in the design and development of more sustainable, livable, and resilient cities, the University of Miami brings cutting-edge research in urban planning, architecture, and engineering in alignment with computational resources and analytical methods. The annual Smart Cities Miami Conference is an extension of these efforts, providing a forum for leaders in academia, industry, and government to closely examine evolving theories and practices in the Smart City field. The topics considered vary in scope and nature within a general theme that is particularly relevant for each year. The theme for the 2020 edition is "Smart City Adoption, Adaptation, and Disruption" providing opportunities to explore questions such as: How does technology enable cities to adapt to a changing environment? How do individuals, societies, and cultures adopt and adapt to emerging technologies, such as IoT, self-driving cars, gig economies, etc.? How do we transition from sustaining to disruptive practices and technology? Do cities become more resilient when they adopt new technology? Day 1 Conference features Panel Discussions and Keynote Presentations. $50 per person | Includes complimentary parking, light breakfast, lunch, and closing reception. Registration opens at 8:30 AM. Event Times: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM. Complimentary Parking All Day 1 or Day 2 attendees are required to register their vehicle with the University to avoid issuance of a parking citation. Please use this link to enter your license plate number. The link will be live through 3/27/2020 at 8:00 AM. Your parking session will be valid beginning at 7:00 AM on 3/26 and last through 3/27 until 4:00 PM. Signage and parking lots attendants will direct you. Important: Please park head-in only. Keynote Speakers Carlo Ratti Director, MIT SENSEable City Lab An architect and engineer by training, Prof. Ratti teaches at MIT, and is a founding partner of the international design and innovation practice Carlo Ratti Associati. A leading voice in the debate on new technologies' impact on urban life, his work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, New York's MoMA, London's Science Museum, and Barcelona's Design Museum. Two of his projects—the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel—were hailed by Time Magazine as "Best Inventions of the Year". He has been included in Wired Magazine's "Smart List: 50 People Who Will Change the World." He is currently serving as Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's...
read more