Steering Committee Chair
Dear Data Science faculty and reseachers,
Welcome (back) to campus. I hope each of you is fully recharged after the summer and ready to take up new challenges. I am humbled and honored to continue to serve as the chair of the DS-TAE Steering Committee, now in its second year since being officially designated a TAE in 2018.
As a TAE, we are continuing to advance our mission through innovative work in research, education and outreach. We have restructured our group to form subcommittees in Program; Education; Engagement and Development; Advanced Research Computing; and Statistical, Computational and Analytic Consulting. Through the work of these subcommittees, we hope to provide stronger institutional support to the data science community on campus.
With the departure of Associate Professor Lei Yu (Computer Science) and Professor Nancy Um (Art History) from the steering committee, we had an opportunity to expand into areas previously underrepresented. Pending administrative approval, I am happy to announce that Assistant Professor Bridget Whearty from the Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, and Associate Librarian Elizabeth (Beth) Brown from the University Libraries have agreed to serve as new members of the steering committee. Whearty brings an impressive background in digital humanities, including holding a postdoctoral position in this area at Stanford University before coming to Binghamton, and is working on manuscripts in the digital humanities. Brown is the director of assessment and scholarly communications in the Libraries and is the lead person at the University for assisting people in developing data-management plans, working through copyright issues and working with scholars to explore open access modes of scholarship. I believe they will both be terrific contributors to our group.
The Data Science TAE is never solely defined by its 18 steering committee members, but by those who conduct data-driven and data-enabled research and scholarly works every day. To ensure that this diverse research conducted by our researchers can advance and benefit from the Data Science TAE, we are rolling out working groups in various areas to provide venues for researchers with immediate common interests to hold conversations, exchange ideas and work on concrete projects. If one thinks of the entirety of the Binghamton Data Science community as a Boeing 747 airliner, the steering committee builds the airframe that holds components together, and maintains support systems (fuel system, power system, etc.) for the airliners to make things smoother. The working groups are the engines that lift the plane and make real differences. Working groups share the resources of the Data Science TAE and open their doors to everyone in the data science family who is interested. Information about these new working groups will be available soon. I encourage you to explore them on our website and choose to plug into one or two of them. I also encourage you to approach me or any of the steering committee members if you have an idea about a new working group.
The MS in Data Analytics program will welcome its first class in fall 2020. Yet, the effort to provide more data science learning and training opportunities has just started. For two years, the Data Science TAE (and the Data Science Initiative) has funded the development of new data science courses and modules. For example, Associate Professor Ali Alper Yayla from the School of Management is designing a module on Data Visualization; Assistant Professor Congrui Jin from mechanical engineering has designed a module called Big Data Science in Mechanics. These new offerings will provide unique experiences for our students and equip them with the skills necessary for the 21st century. In addition, this fall, the new course, Introduction to Data Science, is being taught by Associate Professor Kenneth Chiu in computer science and me to a diverse group of 100 students.
On the traditional menu of the Data Science TAE, we will host an open house luncheon, organize a series of Data Salon discussions, host a student poster competition, seed fund transdisciplinary research team(s) and fund new course development. We will also continue to co-sponsor invited talks along with departments and organized research centers. The various working groups will contribute new activities for you to get involved with, and I specifically call your attention to the Interdisciplinary Dean's Speaker Series in Data Science. This series is funded by the Dean's Office of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the departments of Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Political Science, Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, and the Data Science TAE. World-renowned researchers from different fields are invited to give talks to the data science community in Binghamton. Subscribe to our event calendar for updated information.
It truly is an exciting era for the data science community. For this reason, I call on everyone to become even more connected as colleagues and collaborators. Together, we are making changes for the better.
In gratitude,
Xingye Qiao
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Chair, Data Science Transdisciplinary Area of Excellence (TAE)
