The cloud computing partnership between the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs) and Microsoft Research has just passed the one-year anniversary mark. In June 2016, Microsoft dedicated $3 million in cloud computing credits to support the BD Hubs and the associated Big Data Spokes (BD Spokes) projects. The four Big Data Hubs – split by region into Northeast, South, Midwest, and West – apply data science resources to address regional challenges like agriculture, healthcare, and smart cities. Each Hub is partnered with a set of Spokes, multi-sector teams that focus on research themes with real world impact. The cloud computing credits were given to the hubs as part of the Microsoft Azure for Research […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced a new program solicitation for the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs: Establishing Spokes to Advance Big Data Applications (BD Spokes). The original award gave $10 million to 10 BD Spokes projects in order to facilitate research of key topics selected by the by the four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). This solicitation calls for an estimated 10 to 20 new BD Spoke proposals to be funded in 2018 in collaboration with the BD Hubs. Each project will be categorized as Small – funded at $100,000 to $500,000 for up to three years – or Medium – funded at over $500,00 up […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced that Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft will participate in it’s new Critical Techniques, Technologies and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA) research program. The three major cloud providers will supply cloud credits and resources to qualifying NSF-funded projects. This collaboration aims to combine cutting-edge, industry cloud computing resources with real data sets and assorted NSF-supported projects to advance research in big data and data science. Proposal submissions are due March 15, 2017 through March 22, 2017 (and no later than 5 p.m. submitter’s local time on March 22nd).  All those interested in submitting a […]

As a result of the CCC / CRA Industry Academic Survey, conducted in spring of 2015 and the CCC Industry Roundtable Discussion held on July 24, 2015, the CCC partnered with the four NSF-sponsored Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs) for a program on industry-academic collaboration. Each Hub is charged with addressing regional specific big data challenges. Areas of emphasis for the South BD hub include coastal hazards, industrial big data, and health analytics, among others. As one of its CCC-sponsored activities, the South BD Hub ran the DataStart internship program, which paired graduate students from the South Regional Innovation Hub with data-related startup companies for three months. The […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced giving $10 million in awards to 10 “Big Data Spokes” projects in order to facilitate research on topics identified by the four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). The BD Hubs, started by NSF last year, attempt to address regional specific needs for big data. For instance the Midwest Hub includes a focus on agriculture, while the South Hub includes coastal hazards. The Spokes cover a range of topics, including agriculture, data sharing, healthcare, and big data for environmental uses. “The BD Spokes advance the goals and regional priorities of each BD Hub, fusing the strengths of a range of institutions and […]

The South Big Data Hub links talented students with tech startups through a DataStart program, which provides real-world experiences for students while helping entrepreneurial companies. Graduate students from six universities in the southern U.S. will spend the summer working on data challenges important to the success of new and growing technology companies thanks to a new program called the Southern Startup Internship Program in Data Science (DataStart). Through DataStart, interns will have the opportunity to address a wide range of data-related business problems in a professional setting, including spotting trends in the diversity of people included in clinical trials, developing methods for using sensor data to detect loads on wind turbines, […]