$100M Data Science Initiative launched
The University of Michigan plans to invest $100 million over the next five years in a new Data Science Initiative (DSI) that will enhance opportunities for student and faculty researchers across the university to tap into the enormous potential of big data.
Progress in a wide spectrum of fields ranging from medicine to transportation relies critically on the ability to gather, store, search and analyze “big data”: collections of information so vast and complex that they challenge traditional approaches to processing and analysis.
“Big data can provide dramatic insights into the nature of disease, climate change, social behavior, business and economics, engineering and the basic biological and physical sciences,” said U-M President Mark Schlissel. “With our widely recognized strengths across all of these areas and our longstanding culture of collaboration across disciplines, U-M is in a unique position to leverage this investment in data science for the good of society.”
Under the auspices of the Data Science Initiative, U-M plans to:
- Hire 35 new faculty over the next four years and engage existing faculty across campus
- Support interdisciplinary data-related research initiatives and foster new methodological approaches to big data
- Provide new educational opportunities for students pursuing careers in data science
- Expand U-M’s research computing capacity
- Strengthen data management, storage, analytics and training resources
“Data science has become a fourth approach to scientific discovery, in addition to experimentation, modeling and computation.”
– U-M Provost Martha Pollack
“Data science has become a fourth approach to scientific discovery, in addition to experimentation, modeling and computation,” said U-M Provost Martha Pollack. “To spur innovation while providing focus, the DSI will launch challenge initiatives in four critical interdisciplinary areas that build on our existing strengths in transportation research, health sciences, learning analytics and social science research.”
Industry engagement is also central to the initiative, with a particular focus on the automotive, advanced manufacturing, chemical, finance, health care and pharmaceutical sectors.
Reflecting the broad promise of big data, all academic units on campus are supporting the initiative. As part of the initiative, U-M will establish the Michigan Institute for Data Science to lead research and educational activities in big data.
