New York University officially announced the launch of its Initiative in Data Science and Statistics. The university-wide effort includes the creation of the Center for Data Science, the first such program in the United States.
Taught by faculty from across the university, the Center for Data Science two-year master’s graduate degree program will begin accepting applications in February 2013, with classes commencing this fall. NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences will house the Center for Data Science, and Yann LeCun, CIMS Silver Professor of Computer Science, Neural Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, will serve as its inaugural Director.
The rapidly-developing field of data science uses automated methods to analyze massive amounts of data and extract valuable knowledge from them. According to LeCun, “The way we are going to do science in the next decade will greatly expand the way we’ve done it so far. We currently collect huge data sets in the physical sciences, life sciences and social sciences. More and more, we need to know how to derive knowledge from them.”
The establishment of the Center for Data Science is both significant and extremely timely, as individuals with expertise in applied mathematics, statistics, computer science and particularly machine learning are currently in high demand. “There is no program anywhere in the country that educates people with this kind of combination of expertise,” LeCun said. “The combination of the NYU Initiative in Data Science and Statistics, the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress, the Columbia Institute for Data Science and Engineering, and the new Cornell campus in New York City, combined with the high concentration of data-driven companies in and around New York, will make New York City the center of world for data science,” he added.
Written by M.L. Ball