Data Science newsletter – January 30, 2020

Newsletter features journalism, research papers, events, tools/software, and jobs for January 30, 2020

GROUP CURATION: N/A

 
 
Data Science News



Computer servers now able to retrieve data much faster

University of Waterloo, Waterloo News


from

The new approach, called FLAIR, optimizes data storage systems by using all the servers within a given network. Therefore, when a user makes a data request, if the main server is full, another server automatically activates to fill it.

“The key enabler for FLAIR is the recent introduction of programmable networks,” said Samer Al-Kiswany, a professor in Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and co-author of the study introducing the FLAIR technique.


Collaborating for cures: New initiative helps cancer data cross borders

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Fred Hutch News Service


from

Cascadia Data Discovery Initiative aims to establish a regional data-sharing ecosystem. It brings together institutions from across the Pacific Northwest with a simple goal: to make it easier for researchers to find and share biomedical data, and to collaborate.

Improving access to data will then let researchers tap into the region’s wealth of expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve challenging scientific problems, said Dr. Raphael Gottardo, scientific director of Fred Hutch’s Translational Data Science Integrated Research Center.


Preventing hospital readmissions with the help of artificial intelligence

University of Virginia, The Cavalier Daily student newspaper, Cecily Wolfe


from

The University Health System’s data science team is developing predictive models using artificial intelligence, competing in a national challenge to reduce hospital readmissions


Gift from Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg helps establish new building for computer science at USC

University of Southern California, ViterbiSchool of Engineering


from

The 98,000-square-foot structure will house the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Research and teaching in the building will focus on advancing computer science’s critical role in improving and benefiting society through areas including artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.

In recognition of their lead donation, the structure will be named the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Building.


Raj Dewan encourages iSchool students to look beyond the classroom

The Daily Orange, Sarah Alessandrini


from

Dean Raj Dewan has a vision for Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies that extends well-beyond the classroom.

Dewan, who began his role as dean of the iSchool on Jan. 13, aims to foster community engagement within the iSchool and promote relations with other SU colleges. Undergraduate education is a way to prepare students to enter the world as free-thinking citizens, he said.

“That’s what I would love to do,” he said. “To shape the growth of people as they go from high school to undergraduates and into the world.”

Before accepting his new position at SU, Dewan served multiple roles at the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business. He most recently directed a Master of Science program in business analytics that he developed.


University of Minnesota to offer new master’s degree in robotics

University of Minnesota Twin Cities, News & Events


from

The new master’s degree in robotics will help meet the growing local and global workforce needs for robotics engineers and scientists in a wide range of industries. This underwater robot programmed by University of Minnesota researchers is used for environmental monitoring and can be used for search and rescue missions.


CES 2020 Trend: Onboarding AI

ZDNet, Robin Harris


from

CES didn’t have an overarching tech, like 3D or huge flat screens, of past years. As I’ve reflected on what I saw at the show, what emerged is a new trend: a tech inflection point that will define much of the coming decade’s challenges and opportunities. That trend is onboarding Artificial Intelligence.


How a Kaggle Grandmaster cheated in $25,000 AI contest with hidden code – and was fired from dream SV job

The Register, Katyanna Quach


from

Pet adoption ML coder apologizes and says desire to be ranked #1 ‘compromised my judgement’


Facebook will pay $550 million to settle class action lawsuit over privacy violations

TechCrunch, Devin Coldewey


from

Facebook will pay over half a billion dollars to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged systematic violation of an Illinois consumer privacy law. The settlement amount is large indeed, but a small fraction of the $35 billion maximum the company could have faced.

Class members — basically Illinois Facebook users from mid-2011 to mid-2015 — may expect as much as $200 each, but that depends on several factors. If you’re one of them you should receive some notification once the settlement is approved by the court and the formalities are worked out.


Google AI research: Jeff Dean touts D’Kitty, retinal scan for anemia

CNBC, Jennifer Elias


from

  • Google is working on several long-term artificial intelligence projects it hopes to launch widely someday.
  • Projects in advanced stages include real-time language translation and anemia detection.
  • The company showed these projects on Tuesday against a backdrop of mounting calls for AI regulation.

  • Artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and information integrity

    The Brookings Institution, John Villasenor


    from

    The present article explores the intersection of AI and information integrity in the specific context of geopolitics. Before addressing that topic further, it is important to underscore that the geopolitical implications of AI go far beyond information. AI will reshape defense, manufacturing, trade, and many other geopolitically relevant sectors. But information is unique because information flows determine what people know about their own country and the events within it, as well as what they know about events occurring on a global scale. And information flows are also critical inputs to government decisions regarding defense, national security, and the promotion of economic growth. Thus, a full accounting of how AI will influence geopolitics of necessity requires engaging with its application in the information ecosystem.


    AI becoming a useful tool in coronavirus response, data experts say

    STAT, Casey Ross


    from

    “The field has evolved dramatically,” said John Brownstein, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital who operates a public health surveillance site called healthmap.org that uses AI to analyze data from government reports, social media, news sites, and other sources.

    “During SARS, there was not a huge amount of information coming out of China,” he said, referring to a 2003 outbreak of an earlier coronavirus that emerged from China, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing nearly 800. ”Now, we’re constantly mining news and social media.”


    The Katz School Announces a Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence

    Yeshiva University News


    from

    The Katz School of Science and Health at Yeshiva University has announced the launch of a new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence. Created in response to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning jobs in New York City, the program is set to welcome its first cohort in fall 2020.


    Head of Harvard’s chemistry department arrested for lying about work with China

    The Verge, Justine Calma


    from

    The head of Harvard’s chemistry and chemical biology department, Charles Lieber, was charged Tuesday with making false statements about his involvement with China’s program to recruit foreign researchers. Lieber’s contract with the program, Thousand Talents, afforded him a monthly salary of up to $50,000 and annual living expenses of more than $150,000 over three years, according to an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint against Lieber unsealed on Tuesday. He was also given more than $1.5 million by the Chinese government and the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) to set up a lab and conduct research at the university.


    The disease always gets a head start: how to handle an epidemic

    The Guardian, Michael Safi


    from

    Outbreaks such as coronavirus, Sars and Ebola have taught us communication is key, and that the world is only as strong as its weakest health system

     
    Events



    Kolokotrones Symposium on Data Science at @HarvardChanSPH

    Harvard Program on Causal Inference


    from

    Boston, MA February 7, starting at 3:45 p.m., Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (TMEC 227). [rsvp required]

     
    Deadlines



    Bias 2020 – International Workshop on Algorithmic Bias in Search and Recommendation

    Lisbon, Portugal April 14, held as part of the 42nd European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR 2020). Deadline for submissions is February 3.

    ICML 2020 Call for Post-Conference Workshops

    Vienna, Austria July 17-18. “Following the ICML 2020 main conference, workshops will be held on Fri July 17th and Sat July 18th. We invite researchers interested in chairing one of these workshops to submit proposals.” Deadline for proposals is February 14.

    Howard University and Mathematica to Host Computational Social Science Summer Institute

    “Mathematica and Howard University have partnered to host the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS), which will give social and data scientists opportunities to explore how they can use real-world data to address ethics and equity in artificial intelligence. The two-week summer program is open to graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty. SICSS-Howard/Mathematica: Lifting New Voices to Address Ethics and Equity in AI will take place on Howard’s campus from June 14–27, 2020. The new institute is the first SICSS partner location at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and the first to specialize in giving participants nuanced information about how digital data can address issues of ethics and equity.” Deadline to apply is February 25.
     
    Tools & Resources



    Doing Freelance Data Science Consulting in 2019

    Ethan Rosenthal


    from

    About 15 months ago, I left my full-time job as a machine learning team lead with the goal of doing independent / freelance data science consulting. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what that means and entails. I have not found too much information about this type of work, other than Greg Reda’s fantastic post. I hope this blog post answers some of those questions for anybody interested in becoming or hiring a data science consultant.


    RStudio addins, or how to make your coding life easier

    R-bloggers, R on Stats and R blog


    from

    Although I have been using RStudio for several years, I only recently discovered RStudio addins. Since then, I am using these addins almost every time I use RStudio.

    What are RStudio addins? RStudio addins are extensions which provide a simple mechanism for executing advanced R functions from within RStudio. In simpler words, when executing an addin (by clicking a button in the Addins menu), the corresponding code is executed without you having to write the code.


    Launching AIhub.org – Our journey bringing together leading organisations to improve understanding of Artificial Intelligence

    ΑΙhub


    from

    Four years ago, we (Tom Dietterich and Sabine Hauert) met at AAAI and started a discussion about how we could improve public understanding of artificial intelligence. Tom was leading AAAI at the time, and I had just published an article in Science on how researchers could engage in the public discussion about AI. From this conversation, we set out to build AIhub.org, a non-profit dedicated to connecting the AI community to the public. AIhub.org will host daily updates about the latest news, opinions, tutorials, and events in artificial intelligence. All information is produced by those working directly in the field, without filter or intermediary.

    By providing free, high-quality information about AI, AIhub.org aims to reduce hype and improve understanding in the public, so that everyone can have a meaningful discussion about the deployment of AI in society.


    Dataset for rejected license plate applications

    FlowingData, Nathan Yau


    from

    Noah Veltman just posted a dataset of 23,463 personalized license plate applications that were flagged for additional review by the state of California from 2015 to 2016. Casually scrolling through, for the plates people request and why they are flagged, this is a goldmine of amusement.

     
    Careers


    Postdocs

    Predictive Analytics (Focus: Humanitarian Crises) Postdoctoral Research Associate



    University of Virginia, School of Data Science; Charlottesville, VA

    Leave a Comment

    Your email address will not be published.