With a global reach, the Data Science Institute (DSI) at the University of Delaware is working at the forefront of research into the many ways data can impact and benefit society.
Cathy Wu, the center’s executive director, says:
“This allows us to achieve things that we would not be able to do alone within our studies, because we need collaboration with researchers in other fields,” added Wu, who the Unidel Edward G. Jefferson Chair in Engineering and Computer Science and professor of computer and information science.
DSI, with approximately 150 faculty members, also offers symposia, programs and services that help position Delaware as a leader in the world of data science. Its partnerships include projects aligned with the university’s FinTech Innovation Hub that allow access to the Center’s resources by private and public organizations.
“We also connect with other academic partners such as Delaware State University and Delaware Technical Community College, and we have a relationship with industrial partners,” added Wu, a pioneer in international research-related issues. health and other; he has also served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health.
“In terms of the wider community, we have established a new partnership with the US Department of Veterans Affairs,” Wu says. “We’re working on how we can bring the knowledge we’re gathering through data science, including public health data, to help with critical issues that VA wants to address, such as suicide prevention.”
Coping with the AI Revolution
Two important topics that many data scientists struggle with are cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. “Cybersecurity is definitely a big issue,” says Wu. “And in collaboration with the university’s Center for Cybersecurity, Assurance and Privacy, DSI is exploring from several areas, including the engineering services side and of finance.”
When it comes to AI, he says: “Machine learning and AI have been around for decades, but with big data and supercomputers, the acceleration in AI is unprecedented.”
As a result, he says, DSI is organizing plans to expand AI research and education, in collaboration with the University’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Benjamin Bagozzi, assistant director of the University’s Masters in Data Science Program, serves as DSI’s acting director. ”
Associate Director of the Masters in Data Science Program Benjamin Bagozzi | PHOTO CREDITS: BENJAMIN BAGOZZI IMAGE COUNTY OF UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE; SATELLITE IMAGE OF DELAWARE BY NASA TAKEN BY MODI
Another great feature of the Institute is that there is a group within it that is passionate about the laws of AI and data science,” he says. He points out that DSI holds symposiums and panels on behavioral outcomes. of AI, and students in the Master of Data Science Program must take a course on ethics in data science and AI. “The power of these tools is great, and we all want to be careful,” says Bagozzi about how they are used.”
Bagozzi, who also serves as an assistant professor in the University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, was originally trained in political science. “These days, one of my important threads is studying the text as data, in terms of social and political processes.”
He explains: “I have analyzed different types of languages, usually at the international level, like the UN. The aim is to try to find out how countries can agree or disagree when it comes to working, or discussing issues such as climate change. He also conducts research and analysis to show how individual citizens and their governments interact through the use of text.
Unraveling the Brain’s Intricate System
Austin J. Brockmeier is a DSI resident faculty member; he is also an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.
Brockmeier conducts in-depth data science research on the brain, working in collaboration with biomedical researchers and neuroscientists.
“Obviously, the brain is a complex system,” Brockmeier says, “and I’m analyzing it for clinical and neuroscientific outcomes. This kind of specialized information can help predict potential clinical outcomes.” in the future, he adds: “For example, things that show cognitive decline or other diseases like schizophrenia.”
He continues: “If research finds patterns that indicate future events, it may be used to modify behavior in a positive way. If the risk factors can be changed, for example, a person’s doctor might tell them something like, ‘Hey, you have a high risk of this, so maybe you can exercise more, or eat better to reduce it. that accident.’”
Another project that Brockmeeris is involved in deals with issues related to traumatic brain injury. “We are looking to see how it can have an effect later in life and to collaborate with neurologists. In general, we are examining the possibility that any type of traumatic brain injury affects the structure of the brain; that it’s a wound and it doesn’t always heal, so we’re looking at the long-term effects of that.”
Using Data to Benefit Agriculture
Dr. Pinki Mondalis is also a resident member of the DSI faculty, and an assistant professor in the Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences. In addition, he serves as the director of the Environmental Science undergraduate program.
Dr. Mondal says: “Most of the data I use comes from space satellites. “NASA sends satellites that get pictures of the earth and collect information that will be used by researchers around the world. So there is a large amount of data, starting in the 1970s. ”
The background of Dr. Mondal is about environmental geography. “When people think of geography, they usually think of maps. But as environmentalists, we deal with hundreds of gigabytes of computer data. To deal with all that information, we need training in data science that will help us to ‘train’ computers to tell us what is happening in satellite images.”
One of the projects of Dr. Mondal focuses on Delaware agriculture. “We are analyzing images taken by satellites, as well as drones and airplanes, to see how the salt water flows from the ocean and affects the fields of Delaware. We combine all the information and ‘train’ the computer by use AI enabled models, because it’s a huge amount of data and we need more than just human power. And we need to do it quickly, because we need to tell our weather community and our farmers what happening.”
Dr. Mondal believes in the importance of sharing data openly, “so anyone can go to our research website and download data on saltwater intrusion in Delaware; we’ve also created an app for it .”
He adds: “This is an urgent situation that affects the economy of Delaware, because many farms here grow corn and soybeans, and salt water can affect the production of agricultural land.”
#UDs #Data #Science #Institute #Harnesses #Data #Tool