Ever wondered what was going on in the data science community with relation to biomedical research? Ever wish to share your own knowledge about the field? No need to worry any longer! The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a new data science blog which “is the beginning of a more coordinated and push-oriented communication strategy.” The purpose is to distribute information to the data science community “to foster an ecosystem that enables biomedical research to be conducted as a digital enterprise that enhances health, lengthens life, and reduces illness and disability.” The Associate Director for Data Science (ADDS) Phil E. Bourne, contributed the blog’s first post with his 2014 review of […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) program has announced two new funding opportunities for FY15 funding. NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative Research Education: Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Data Management for Biomedical Big Data (R25) RFA-LM-15-001 This FOA will support the creation of a massive open online course (MOOC) that can be used by librarians, faculty, students and others to learn concepts, approaches and best practices in the area of data management, and also used in conjunction with local training activities about the management of biomedical Big Data. One award is expected. Application receipt date is March 17, 2015. NIH Big Data to Knowledge […]

Data sets are growing rapidly. Yahoo, Google, and Amazon, work with data sets that consist of billions of items. The size and scale of data, which can be overwhelming today, will only increase as the Internet of Things matures. Data sets are also increasingly complex.  It is becoming more important to increase the pool of qualified scientists and engineers who can find the value from the large amount of big data. The National Academies released a report on training students to extract value from big data based on a Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics (CATS) workshop that occurred in April 2014. From the report: Training students to be capable in exploiting big data requires experience […]

Could robots really aid in the Ebola fight? On November 7th, robotics researchers from around the country will come together to try to answer that question. They will see if robots can prevent the spread of Ebola by possibly decontaminating infected equipment and or even burying victims. Robin Murphy, a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University and former CCC council member, is helping to set up this Safety Robotics for Ebola Workers workshop. The workshop will bring together health care workers, relief workers and roboticists. It is co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Texas A&M, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley. The goal of the workshop is […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched their Global City Teams Challenge with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm last month.  The workshop ended with more than a dozen presentations by potential Global City Team Challenge teams and provided an opportunity for interested parties to discuss Internet-of-Things deployments in a smart city environment. From the workshop report: The US Ignite website now contains materials related to 20+ potential Global City Teams projects or Action Clusters. If you would like to learn more about one of the listed projects or if you are interested in becoming associated with one of the projects, please email sokwoo.rhee@nist.gov and william.maguire@us-ignite.org. If you […]

In March 2012, the Obama Administration announced the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative.” The goal is to help solve some of the Nation’s most pressing challenges by improving our ability to extract knowledge from large and complex collections of digital data. The Administration encouraged multiple stakeholders including federal agencies, private industry, academia, state and local government, non-profits, and foundations, to develop and participate in Big Data innovation projects across the country. National Science Foundation is exploring the establishment of a national network of “Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs.” These Hubs will help to sustain new regional and grassroots partnerships around Big Data. Potential roles for Hubs include, but are […]