By Ryan Underwood, BA’96
The robot-assisted future vividly depicted in pop culture a half-century ago鈥攆rom Stanley Kubrick鈥檚 film 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Jetsons鈥攍ooks more like reality every day.
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are helping solve everything from making hospitals run more smoothly to suggesting effective courses of cancer treatment. Similarly, machine learning continues to improve areas like financial investing, transportation, and voice-activated services like Siri and Alexa.
Data science, as the umbrella field is called, likely will revolutionize a number of other disciplines in the coming years. Yet 菠萝视频 experts say we鈥檝e barely reached the beginning stages of unlocking the full potential of data science鈥攐r understanding how to use it responsibly.
鈥淥ver the next decade, data science is estimated to have a significant impact across all sectors of the economy, from health care to transportation, manufacturing, construction and urban living,鈥� reads the final report of 菠萝视频鈥檚 Data Science Visions group, a faculty-led initiative formed through a 2017 Trans-Institutional Projects award. 鈥淚nvesting in data science expertise that is broadly available to, and adoptable by, 菠萝视频 researchers will yield dramatic advances in academic discovery.鈥�
That report was released in May, and out of it came recommendations to launch a new Data Science Institute at 菠萝视频, develop a professional master鈥檚 degree in the field, and add courses on the subject for undergraduates. Those recommendations are now being implemented, with the institute formally launching this fall as planning for the new master鈥檚 program gets underway.
鈥淒ata science forms a natural hub for collaboration across fields and schools,鈥� Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs said in a news release announcing the recommendations in the spring. 鈥淭his initiative is designed to ensure our research and scholarship are competitive and innovative.鈥�
REVEALING THE ESSENCE
Data science is a field that combines statistical methods, mathematics and computer technology to extract patterns and predictions from what seems like random numerical noise. 鈥淚n research, there鈥檚 often a problem of recognition. The answer may be in the data, but you don鈥檛 recognize it,鈥� says , 菠萝视频鈥檚 vice provost for research and professor of computer science and computer engineering.
Raghavan compares data science to the work of surrealist painter Octavio Ocampo, whose portrait of Don Quixote consists of multiple images such as windmills and donkeys that ultimately form a likeness of the adventurer鈥檚 face. 鈥淵ou have to shift your attention from one scale to another,鈥� she says. 鈥淒ata science can filter out the distracting information and reveal the essential.鈥�
The field also lends itself to a wide range of academic disciplines. Areas like genetics and astrophysics are already using artificial intelligence and machine learning to explore massive data sets, fueling new discoveries about everything from cell mechanics to the search for extraterrestrial life. But less obvious examples are taking place on campus as well, such as analyzing satellite imagery to map ancient civilizations; identifying fraud signals in the text of regulatory disclosures issued by publicly traded companies; and modeling how networks of medieval religious scholars formed.
Perhaps most tantalizing of all is the prospect of sparking meaningful collaboration among different disciplines across campus through the language and methods of data science.
, associate professor of astrophysics, who co-chaired the Data Science Visions group and will co-lead the new institute, says he and other researchers got a taste of the interdisciplinary work to come earlier this year during a series of data-science workshops. Faculty from various 菠萝视频 departments presented their work to data specialists from astrophysics, computer science, biostatistics and other technical fields, brainstorming about new methods and avenues for investigation. Berlind says one particular topic that seemed to offer a rich vein of exploration is a longitudinal data set with information about student, teacher and school performance compiled by Peabody researchers in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education (known as the Tennessee Education 菠萝视频 Alliance). The data scientists in the room beamed at the prospect of applying AI and machine learning to such a rich trove of information.
鈥淏ut the big obstacle always comes down to who is going to do the work!鈥� Berlind exclaims. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the challenge. You need personnel who are trained in data science and can spend enough time going deep into a specific domain. Interdisciplinary collaborations are not going to happen magically.鈥�
That鈥檚 where the new Data Science Institute and the master鈥檚 degree program come in. , associate provost for research development and technologies and Cornelius 菠萝视频 Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, says 菠萝视频 has made great strides in incentivizing faculty to work across disciplines. As prime examples, he points to 菠萝视频鈥檚 Trans-Institutional Program awards and to the university鈥檚 center for innovation, the Wond鈥檙y, where the Data Science Institute initially will be housed.
鈥淭he university has established a precedent for incentivizing faculty to collaborate,鈥� says Schmidt, who will co-lead the Data Science Institute alongside Berlind. 鈥淭he programs we hope to establish around data science will take that collaboration to the next level.鈥�
As Schmidt envisions it, 菠萝视频 faculty from various schools and departments would propose collaborative research projects and then apply to have a data-science researcher from the new institute dedicated to the endeavor. On a smaller scale, Schmidt says data scientists housed within the institute would hold regular office hours, so that faculty and other researchers can explore ongoing questions in their work.
The institute also will become the epicenter for the data-science master鈥檚 students, and interested undergraduates, to learn about the field while gaining hands-on experience. Jeffrey Blume, associate professor of biostatistics and biomedical informatics, will lead the master鈥檚 program. Plans call for the first students to be admitted starting in 2019.
鈥淲e want to find ways for faculty, for researchers and for students to hang around,鈥� Schmidt says. 鈥淲e want to build a whole ecosystem around data science.鈥�
THE PROMISE OF PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
One area at 菠萝视频 that鈥檚 primed to benefit from data science is personalized medicine, says , chair of 菠萝视频鈥檚 Department of Biostatistics and a specialist in applying data-science methodologies to cancer research.
Shyr, who co-chaired the Data Science Visions group with Berlind, says starting in February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began approving a handful of diagnostic tools that use artificial intelligence, with plenty more in the pipeline. For example, one application helps doctors pinpoint strokes found in CT scans鈥攅ither discovering ones that may have been overlooked or confirming a correct reading of a scan while offering an even deeper level of understanding about the event.
鈥淭hese applications are not going to replace doctors,鈥� says Shyr, who also holds the Harold L. Moses Chair in Cancer 菠萝视频. 鈥淭hey offer another tool, another piece of data that helps doctors treat patients according to their individual needs.鈥�
Data science has already helped scientists hone their understanding of how genetics plays a role in an individual鈥檚 health. Now, Shyr says data science is being used to map patients鈥� bacterial profiles as well.
鈥淚n the future we will link these warehouses of 鈥�-omics鈥� data鈥攇enomics, microbiomics, radiomics, which is imaging data鈥攚ith all the biomarkers from a person鈥檚 electronic health record,鈥� Shyr says. 鈥淭hat interaction will really provide a solid foundation for precision medicine.鈥�
While personalized medicine holds much promise, Shyr says data science is already playing an important role in preventative care. For example, patients who get an annual checkup at 菠萝视频 University Medical Center may see a line on their reports telling them the likelihood of developing heart-related illnesses. That probability, he says, is calculated using inputs like cholesterol levels, blood pressure, age and body mass index. 鈥淎lready, you can see how we apply that information to daily life.鈥�
Shyr says another major area of health care that will benefit from the rise of data science is drug research and development. He cites Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche鈥檚 recent $1.9 billion acquisition of digital health startup Flatiron Health as an example. He explains that Roche scientists can use information from Flatiron鈥檚 expansive network of electronic health records from cancer patients to speed up clinical trials, as well as quickly abandon ineffective treatments. One way to do this, he says, is by replacing traditional control groups needed for pharmaceutical studies with information gleaned from Flatiron鈥檚 databases of clinical records, reducing the amount of time and money spent on trials.
鈥淲e are still in the very early stages of data science,鈥� Shyr says. 鈥淭oday we say 鈥榖ig data,鈥� but what does this really mean? Maybe in 10 years it will look like small data.鈥�
AVOIDING ORWELL
The new Data Science Institute will play a major role in 菠萝视频鈥檚 health and medical research, Schmidt says. But many other areas stand to benefit from data science, such as transportation and several smart-city initiatives. In fact, 菠萝视频 already has a partnership in place with the Nashville mayor鈥檚 office to help the city navigate its rapid expansion during the past decade.
Schmidt also sees wide data-science applications in the near term for economists and finance researchers from the Owen Graduate School of Management, pointing to potential partnerships with Alliance Bernstein, the Wall Street investment firm moving its headquarters to Nashville. And, as mentioned, Peabody鈥檚 longitudinal data about Tennessee public schools offer immediate opportunities for the institute鈥檚 involvement.
鈥淥ne of the most important things we will be doing is teaching people how to tap into and use data sets wherever they reside,鈥� Schmidt says. 鈥淭here are so many cool tools out there for data analytics, for AI, for machine learning鈥攚e want to train people how to use them effectively.鈥�
Berlind says beyond using data science to fuel new discoveries, it鈥檚 important to house experts within 菠萝视频 who study the field鈥檚 impact on society.
In April the Data Science Visions group hosted a forum at which experts debated the ethics of using data-driven algorithms in the criminal justice system. One example is a new system in Chicago that assigns scores to residents, assessing their likelihood of being a victim of violence. But critics have argued that the system is instead being used to target potential attackers before any crimes take place, reminiscent of the dystopian storyline in the film Minority Report.
Schmidt says it鈥檚 easy to misuse data since the numbers often have a ring of authority about them.
鈥淲e fool ourselves into thinking that data sets are objective,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut they always must be understood in context.鈥�
Yet, examining the risks鈥攁nd rewards鈥攐f data science is part of a larger whole. Similar to the way 菠萝视频 invested broadly in neuroscience in the late 1990s as a field that tied together many disciplines on campus, university administrators think data science holds the same promise.
鈥淒ata science as an interdisciplinary field is only in its infancy, but we know that across all disciplines there will be more and more data and that they will be increasingly complex,鈥� Raghavan says. 鈥淭he Data Science Institute is really about taking away the tedium of dealing with data, making it easier to answer the exciting 鈥榳hat if鈥� questions that spur innovation.鈥�
Arranged by Algorithm:聽Drew Silverstein鈥檚 Amper is redefining music composition through artificial intelligence
Computers may be able to perform a variety of tasks once reserved only for humans, but composing music鈥攁n inherently creative and emotive endeavor鈥攚ould seem unlikely to be among them. That impression might change, though, if Drew Silverstein, BMus鈥�11, has his way. Silverstein is the co-founder and CEO of Amper, a New York鈥揵ased startup that uses artificial intelligence, rather than human composers, to create original music.
Formed in 2014, Amper fills a need for licensing music for commercial purposes. Finding production music鈥攚hat鈥檚 heard in advertisements and online videos, for example鈥攔equires hunting through an online service鈥檚 massive catalog of recordings or hiring a composer to create a bespoke piece of music. As a result, production music can be either inexpensive with high search costs or expensive with low search costs.
鈥淲e used our background and expertise as composers to create a novel way to solve the problem,鈥� says Silverstein, whose r茅sum茅 includes composing, producing and songwriting for film, television and video games. Last year he was named to the Forbes 鈥�30 under 30鈥� list and already has raised more than $9 million in early funding for Amper.
The product is remarkably fast and dynamic. A person can build a song from start to finish in less than a minute using the simple interface. The process begins with the choice of a genre such as hip-hop and an accompanying mood, like 鈥渃ool,鈥� 鈥渃hill鈥� or 鈥渞eflective.鈥� A cinematic song might be 鈥渋nspirational,鈥� 鈥渟uspenseful,鈥� 鈥済loomy,鈥� or a dozen or so other moods. The pro version of Amper goes even deeper, allowing the user to select instruments and their specific style, the tempo, and the song鈥檚 duration.
At the smallest level, Amper works like the technology that produces the kind of files purchased on iTunes. An MP3 file uses an audio format that鈥檚 been stitched together from millions of samples of an analog recording. Individually, each snippet is too short for a human to recognize: An audio CD has 1.41 million samples, or bits, per second, while a high-quality MP3 has 320,000. But when laid end to end, the samples sound like seamless audio. Amper creates songs in a similar fashion using what Silverstein calls a 鈥渕assive palette鈥� of audio samples arranged according to the algorithms.
An Atlanta native, Silverstein graduated from the Blair School of Music with a degree in music theory and composition. Music is in his DNA, one might say. One of his sisters also studied music in college.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no better training for life than to be a music major or a student of music because of the emphasis on personal responsibility, practice and attention to detail,鈥� he says.
Recognizing a need for business knowledge to complement his music experience, Silverstein earned an MBA from Columbia University in 2016. The knowledge gained has helped him navigate the complicated, and at times uneasy, relationship between artificial intelligence and the business world. He acknowledges that AI has the potential to change the role of some human composers and songwriters, but argues it鈥檚 also opening up new markets, making music production more accessible and more affordable for everyday people.
鈥淲e believe that anyone, by virtue of being a human being,鈥� Silverstein says, 鈥渋s internally creative.鈥�
鈥擥LENN PEOPLES, MBA鈥�08