Swiss Data Science Center

May 23, 2016

Thomas HofmannComputer Science, ETH Zurich

Slide credit:`

Markus Püschel, ETH ZurichEdouard Bugnion, EPF LausanneAndreas Krause, ETH Zurich

Outline

1. Data Science

2. Swiss Data Science Center

3. Research & Teaching

May 20, 2015 2Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 3

Data scienceWhy now?

Confluence of enabling technologies:

Ubiquitous sensingDigitization

Cheap storageFast/efficient processors

Cloud computingAdvances in machine learning

DataScience

New applications:Understanding complex systemsModelingPrediction

inMedicineEnvironmental scienceHealth scienceSocial scienceEconomyBiology…

Data science: attacking previously unsolvable problems

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 4

Data scienceWhat is it?

Data Management

Machine Learning& Data Analytics

Security & Privacy

Information Systems& Cloud Computing

Programming

Models

Statistics

Computer Science Mathematics

Data science: the foundation for “understanding how the world works”• need for more research in CS (and Math)• need for more research at boundary CS/other disciplines

CS is in the center to enable the graphic, not because of megalomania

Material Science

Chemistry

Physics

Math

Mech.Eng.

ElectricalEng.

Biosystems& EngineeringBiologyMedicine

Social Science

Economics

Geology

Env.Science

HealthScience

Civil EngineeringArchitecture

Comp. basedengineering

Informationarchitecture

ModelingSimulations

High performancecomputing

Theory, Algorithms, Complexity, Graphics, Machine Learning

StatisticsOptimization

Geometry

SimulationsTechnolomics

Bio Informatics

AlgorithmsHigh performance

computing

Personalizedmedicine

Health datamanagement

Crisis prediction

Global healthsystems

Climatemodeling

World food systems

Genetic diversity

Social systems

Seismicmodeling,prediction

RoboticsComputer

Systems

Human ComputerInteraction

VirtualReality

Vision

Image processing

Security

SensorNetworks

Communication

Graphics

Scientific computing

ComputerScience

Macroeconomicsystems

CS is in the center to enable the graphic, not because of megalomania

Material Science

Chemistry

Physics

Math

Mech.Eng.

ElectricalEng.

Biosystems& EngineeringBiologyMedicine

Social Science

Economics

Geology

Env.Science

HealthScience

Civil EngineeringArchitecture

Comp. basedengineering

Informationarchitecture

ModelingSimulations

High performancecomputing

Theory, Algorithms, Complexity, Graphics, Machine Learning

StatisticsOptimization

Geometry

SimulationsTechnolomics

Bio Informatics

AlgorithmsHigh performance

computing

Personalizedmedicine

Health datamanagement

Crisis prediction

Global healthsystems

Climatemodeling

World food systems

Genetic diversity

Social systems

Seismicmodeling,prediction

RoboticsComputer

Systems

Human ComputerInteraction

VirtualReality

Vision

Image processing

Security

SensorNetworks

Communication

Graphics

Scientific computing

ComputerScience

Macroeconomicsystems

Data science: a new type of science!

MIT: announced April 2015

Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 7

Data scienceElsewhere

NYU: Multi-million dollar initiative

Rochester: 100 M US$ data science

Berkeley data science institute

Cornell-Tech: 2 billion campus

Research/Studies (Master, PhD):• Computer science• Information systems• Business administration

May 20, 2015

Columbia: Hiring several dozen faculty

Alan Turing Institute (UK, 110 M US$ seed)

Data Science Overview - Carnegie Mellon UniversityMaster's of Science in Data Science (U of Minnesota)Data Science - School of Informatics and Computing (Indiana U)Data Science Institute - Columbia UniversityInstitute for Data Science : University of RochesterCenter for Data Science - New York UniversityUniversity of Warwick: BSc in Data ScienceData Science Institute - University of VirginiaData Science - University of San FranciscoData Science - University of Southern CaliforniaData Science Certificate - Harvard ExtensioData Science - University of GlasgowData Science - Kent State UniversityData Science Center Eindhoven (DSC/e)Major: Data Science | LSA Students | University of MichiganDelft University of Technology: The Data Science ... - TU DelftData Science - Computer Science Department (U Maryland)Data Science - UC Irvine ExtensionImperial and Zhejiang University launch data science ...Information & Data Sciences | Boston UniversityAnalytics and Data Science | University of Technology, SydneyData Science - Carleton UniversityMSc in Data Science at Heriot-Watt University, EdinburghData Science - University of St. ThomasData Science MSc at Lancaster UniversityThe Warren Center for Data & Network Sciences - U PennData Science Center - Tel Aviv UniversityData Science Center - U TwenteCentre for Doctoral Training in Data Science - U EdinburghData Science Research Center – AmsterdamWarwick Data Science Institute (WDSI) - University of WarwickParis-Saclay Center for Data ScienceErasmus Centre for Data Science and Business Analytics ...Data science: highly competitive, global talent pool, resources

Outline

1. Data Science

2. Swiss Data Science Center

3. Research & Teaching

May 20, 2015 8Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 9

Swiss Data Science CenterMission

– Develop a network of data science support • work closely with research groups,• foster collaboration between users and data scientists.

– Offer end-to-end data science services • target the research community in Switzerland, • provide a set of software and platform stacks provided “as-a-Service”,• backed by academic and commercial cloud services.

– Develop standard agreements with private and commercial partners• get access to valuable, proprietary data for research purposes,• experiment with new platforms from commercial vendors.

– Create a data science community • gather users of data science and innovators in data science methods; • organize knowledge and tools produced by the community.

Swiss Data Science Center: much more than a Data Center!

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 10

Swiss Data Science CenterServices

Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC)

CSCS

SWITCH

SIBVital-IT

Life and medical sciences

EPFL ETH ZurichUniversities and Institutes

Social sciencesDigital humanities

Environmental sciences

Economics

IT platforms

Service centers

Commercial clouds

Research verticals

Deployment and operations

Core data science services

Embedded support

Embedded support

Embedded support

Embedded support

Embedded support

Projects Projects Projects Projects Projects

…

…

eSCT, …

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 11

Swiss Data Science CenterBusiness model

Research projects

Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC)

Infrastructure providers Scalability

Credits for pay-per-use services

Self-provisioning

Economies of scaleGrants

Sustained useof computing and storage

Transparency

OPEX

Moving from CAPEX to OPEX: economics of scale

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 12

Swiss Data Science CenterGovernance

Steering committee

- Representatives of the presidency of EPFL and ETH Zurich- Deans of computer science departments- Representative of the Research Institutes of the ETH Domain - SDSC academic and executive directors- SWITCH and CSCS directors- Two representatives of selected verticals

Operational committee

- SDSC Executive Director (EPFL)- SDSC academic co-directors- Representatives from academic providers (notably SWITCH

and CSCS)

Scientific advisory board

- Leading academics and practitioners in data science methods and applications

- Faculty members of international institutions with curricula in data science

ETH Board

EPFL ETH Zurich

SDSC

Starting up!

Outline

1. Data Science

2. Swiss Data Science Center

3. Research & Teaching

May 20, 2015 13Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 14

Machine Learning & StatisticsMethodological Foundations

Scalabie Algorithms& Data Sketches

Making Sense of Data Causality from Data

Machine Learning in X (e.g. Medicine)

Grand Challenges:

1. Computation scalable algorithms and systems for massivley parametrized models

2. Automation: Programing languages for machine learning, model spec & validation

3. Theory: Drawing (correct) conclusions from data, discovery of causal relations

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 15

Data Management & Cloud ComputingInfrastructure Research

Intelligent Storage Engine

Data Center Observatory

Enterprise Computing Center

Operating Systemsfor Many-/Multicore

Grand Challenges:

1. Cloud Computing managing large, heterogeneous infrastruture for data-centric computing

2. Multicore Computing data processing architectures, GPUs, FPGAs, etc.

3. Engines, Accelerators and Tools

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 18

Data scienceTeaching demand is here

Number of students

3.5x in 4 years!

Students from 15 out of 16 ETH departments at inscription

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15Academic years

ETHZ - Data Mining: Learning from Large Data Sets

EPFL - Pattern classification and machine learning

ETHZ - Introduction to Natural Language Processing

ETHZ - Probabilistic Artificial Intelligence

ETHZ - Statistical Learning Theory

ETHZ - Computational Intelligence Lab

ETHZ - Information Retrieval

EPFL - Big Data

ETHZ - Big Data

ETHZ - Machine Learning

EPFL - Internet analytics

ETHZ - Learning and Intelligent Systems (BSc)

• New Master in Data Science– 120 ECTS/2 years (enables catching up)– Start fall 2017, target: 100 students in steady state

• Curriculum – Foundations in computer science and statistics/optimization– Practical lab-style courses: get exposure to real (-world) data

• Requirement– Qualified faculty and teaching staff– Example ETH: 5 Faculty in Machine Learning / Data Science

May 20, 2015 Initiative for Data Science in Switzerland 19

Data Science: MScNew Master, curricula & courses

Data Science: A new computer science discipline to help solving some of the big problems of our time

Data Science: Massive investment worldwide

Swiss data science center:• computing/personnel infrastructure for

research across disciplines• governed by EPFL & ETH• investment in research & teaching• center of competence for CH• a beacon for the ETH domain• likely high longterm economic impact