Recent Activity in Big Data: Curriculum Development and Funding Opportunities

• Activity Number: 58
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 4, 2013 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: National Institute of Health/National Cancer Institute
• Author(s): Nandini Kannan*+ and Michael Rappa*+ and Bill Howe*+ and Michelle Christine Dunn*+
• Companies: NSF and NCSU and University of Washington and National Cancer Institute
• Keywords: funding ; Big Data ; curriculum development ; training ; MOOC

Abstract

The Big Data era requires interdisciplinary collaborations to use data for the discovery of new knowledge. Although statisticians have important contributions to make within interdisciplinary "Big Data" teams, opening doors to new opportunities may demand additional skills. This panel will focus on recent activity in curriculum development in Big Data. Examples of recent activity are new data science programs, innovative use of technology (e.g. through Massive Open Online Courses), workshops on curriculum development, and new funding initiatives related to computational and data-enabled sciences. Chaired by Constantine Gatsonis (who also serves as chair of the NAS's Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics), panelists will include: 1) Nandini Kannan, who oversees EXTREEMS-QED, a program to integrate the analysis and modeling of large data sets into math and statistics undergraduate curricula, 2) Michael Rappa, who leads the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State, 3) Bill Howe, who developed the MOOC "Introduction to Data Science", and 4) Representatives from funding agencies who will describe Big Data funding opportunities.