Carleton University has officially launched its new Institute for Data Science, which will lead the development of data science initiatives in each university faculty.

“I believe that studying the data that is available will help us arrive at wisdom, which is the process in which all of us are engaged,” said Carleton President Roseann O’Reilly Runte.

The institute will help foster research and education collaboration between all faculties in areas as diverse as the humanities, social sciences, computer science, engineering, public policy and business. It will also take a lead in extending these collaborations to external partners in both the public and private sectors.

“Big Data touches every single one of us,” said Malcolm Butler, dean of the Faculty of Science. “Every facet of the university is now working on some area of big data. This research is critical if we are going to understand its impact and benefits, but also if we are going to understand the risks of big data.”

“Real-time data analytics are becoming very important in all fields of engineering,” said Q.J. Zhang, associate dean (Research) in the Faculty of Engineering. “Our professors and students from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Systems and Computer Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology, Architecture and Industrial Design are developing critical mass in data analytics research and applications.”

The institute will be led by a board with representatives from across the faculties, including Stephan Gruber, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Shikharesh Majumdar, Faculty of Engineering and Design; Merlyna Lim, Faculty of Public Affairs; Alex Ramirez, Sprott School of Business; Langis Roy, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs; Sylvie Lafortune, MacOdrum Library; Sylvain Pitre, Computing and Communication Services; and Florence Dzierszinski, Carleton University Research Office.

“Data Science is the science, or art, of extracting knowledge from data,” said Frank Dehne, founding director of the institute and Chancellor’s Professor in the School of Computer Science. “Data is not worth much if you can’t extract knowledge from it, and this institute is about people working together to this end.”

In 2013, Carleton signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IBM to work together towards establishing the institute. A cross-university steering group was established to integrate and plan. The first initiative was the design and approval of Carleton’s Collaborative Masters in Data Science, which encompasses several programs. The program was approved by Senate in May 2014 and enrollment commenced the following September.

The announcement was made as the university celebrated its strategic development in Data Sciences with Data Day 2.0. The event featured presentations on various aspects of Data Science by Carleton researchers from across faculties, a panel discussion called Challenges for Big Data and Analytics of this Expanding Discipline, and student poster competition sponsored by IBM and Invest Ottawa.

Three engineering students took top billing in the poster competition. Civil Engineering student Zixiao Shi took the gold prize, while Sixuan Wang from Systems and Computer Engineering received silver and Anshuma Biswas from Systems and Computer Engineering received bronze.

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Carleton University
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christopher_cline@carleton.ca

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