The Data Science Initiative (DSI) aims to make a mark in data science research, nationally and internationally, by charting new research directions and enabling the development of new methods, data sets, and software that are used to address grand challenges facing our state, nation, and the world. Since there already exist multiple high-quality data science activities throughout our campuses, the primary focus of the UMN Data Science Initiative will be the communication, coordination, integration, and amplification of those activities. This includes both near-term coordination of existing efforts to maximize efficiency and far-term collaboration to initiate new research and education topics.
The initial topical focus areas are (1) foundational data science and (2) digital health and personalized healthcare delivery. The expectation is that these efforts will augment and benefit from additional system-level efforts, as well as spawn new focus areas. Initial activities will include seed grants as well as graduate student fellowships that are meant to facilitate creation of small and large teams that will position UMN to be successful in external funding opportunities in these focus areas, and in others as they expand.
Over the coming months this website will come to reflect, amplify, and serve the data science related activities happening around the University of Minnesota. Please stay tuned to this website for more information to come.