NCDS-Summit-2013

Introduction
Our world is undergoing a massive transformation due
to the widespread availability of “big data.” Science,
medicine, education, government, industry, social media,
and entertainment—all are experiencing radical changes
as a result of these massive data sets. Immense streams of
data are routinely collected by scientists during the course
of experimentation, health care providers documenting electronic
medical records, educators collecting data on student
performance, students manipulating large data sets as part
of their curriculum, governmental agencies tracking citizen
behavior in the interest of local and national security, businesses
tracking online behavior and customer transactions,
investors tallying the risks and rewards of financial investments,
and children and adults participating in social media
forums and online games. These data collections hold
tremendous potential to solve problems,
improve health and quality of 9000
life, reform our education system, and
create economic growth. Yet our ability
to use these massive data sets in a
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cost-efficient and -effective manner is
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hampered by our fundamental lack of
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understanding of the science of data
(Horvitz and Mitchell, 2010; Agrawal
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et al., 2011; Boyd and Crawford, 2011;
Manyika et al., 2011) (Figure 1).
The highly interdisciplinary field of
data science can provide the solution to
the big data impasse through the systematic
study of data to further our understanding
of the production, management,
and use of data and to develop
principles and theories that can guide
new discoveries and innovations and
thus foster economic activity and the
health, education, and well-being of
people around the world.
Exabytes
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2000
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0
tion, and economic opportunity.
The Consortium has defined data science as the systematic
study of the organization and use of digital data in order to
accelerate discovery, improve critical decision-making processes,
and enable a data-driven economy.
The Consortium aims to serve as a vital forum to: engage
a broad community of data science experts to define challenges,
solutions, and visions for the future of data science;
facilitate frequent, close interchange between data scientists
and business leaders, funders, policy makers, and scientists
in data-intensive domains; coordinate research priorities in
data science; promote a focus on data science at multiple levels,
including local, state, national, and international; support
the development of technical, ethical, and policy standards
2005 2010 2015
Figure 1: Projected growth in stored data in exabytes. (Figure created from data
openly provided by IDC, IDC View, 2011, http://www.emc.com/collateral/about/
news/idc-emc-digital-universe-2011-infographic.pdf).
“235 terabytes of data collected by the U.S. Library of
Congress by April 2011” and yet “15 out of 17 sectors
in the United States have more data stored per company
than the U.S. Library of Congress.” —Manyika
et al., McKinsey Global Institute Report, 2011
The National Consortium for Data Science 1 was established
in February 2013 as a public/private partnership of leading
universities, governmental agencies, and businesses. The
mission of the NCDS is to provide the foundation needed
to advance the field of data science through research, educa-
1. Establishing a National Consortium for Data Science, http://
data2discovery.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NCDS-
Consortium-Roadmap_July.pdf.
for data; provide leadership in the advancement of data science;
and cultivate the next generation of data science leaders
through education and training programs in data science.
Organizations that committed to the establishment of the
Consortium have been designated as Founding Members
(see page 18) and share the responsibility of overseeing and
directing the work of the Consortium through their participation
in various committees and working groups. Membership
fees support the Consortium’s activities.
As part of its efforts to advance data science, the Consortium
established an Annual Data Science Leadership Summit.
The first summit was held on April 23 and 24, 2013
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the theme was “Data
to Discovery: Genomes to Health”—a theme that was chosen
Data to Discovery: Genomes to Health / page 1