News
2022
Evaluation of Federated Learning Variations for COVID-19 diagnosis
Federated learning (FL) allows multiple distributed data holders to collaboratively learn a shared model without data sharing. The real-world federation is a collaboration between 4 universities, including the University of Minnesota and DSI affiliate Ju Sun. Oct 11: JAMIA;
University of Minnesota awarded nearly $22M to lead two Energy Frontier Research Centers
The Center for Interacting Geo-Processes in Mineral Carbon Storage will bring together engineers and scientists, including DSI Affiliate Renee Frontiera, from five internationally renowned organizations to study and improve the process of carbon mineralization. Sept. 7: UMN;
Is a master’s degree in data science worth it?
While profiling data science education, the University of Minnesota ranks third for data science education by Fortune. The UMN's data science program is profiled and DSI-affiliate Dan Boley is quoted. Aug. 24: Fortune;
How is manure changing over time? Trends in Midwest manure sample data
The University of Minnesota, with the help of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, is creating a manure nutrient database called ManureDB to help update these values. Aug. 3: Drovers; Aug. 8: The Farmer; Aug. 9: Crop Producer;
Injustice in the Justice System: AI — Justice Education Project and Encode Justice Event
To combat and raise awareness about the biases in AI used in the criminal justice system, Justice Education Project (JEP) and Encode Justice (EJ) have partnered to organize a panel discussion with a workshop about algorithmic justice in law enforcement. Logan Stapleton, 3rd-year Computer Science PhD candidate in GroupLens (a DSI affiliated research group) will speak at the event. July 27: Medium;
Data Scientists use new techniques to identify lakes and reservoirs around the world
A team of researchers led by UMN data scientists has published a first-of-its-kind comprehensive global dataset of lakes and reservoirs. UMN professor in computer science and engineering and senior author of the study, Vipin Kumar, is quoted. This work is also highlighted in an NSF News story. July 19: Agadir-group; Aljazeera; Always First; Asian News International; Ask by Geeks; Bioengineer; Bunte Zeitung (German); Daily Prabhat; Devdiscourse; Escapefromwithin; EurekAlert!; Feinbergflipside; Getaboutcolumbia; Knowledia; LatestLY; Mantras TV; News Explorer; Newswise; Phys.org; The Print; Renegadenate; Samachar Central; Scienmag Science Magazine; Sixth News; Tech Codex; Tech and Science Post; WhatsNew2Day; Web India 123; Wings Environmental; July 20: Bizemag; Escapefromwithin; Feinbergflipside; Glow Articles; Harlem61; New Kerala; Ousids.com; Renegadenate; Rentsobe; Smart Water Magazine; UMN Twin Cities; Venezuela2007; Water Online; July 21: Minnesota Ag Connection; July 22: Century21Amiable; July 23: Apeksha Sandesh; July 25: Water Journal (Korean); Aug 3: NSF;
CS&E Ph.D. Graduate Wins 2022 Graduate School's Best Dissertation Award
Computer Science Ph.D. graduate Xiaowei Jia, an associate with DSI Director Vipin Kumar, won the 2022 University of Minnesota Graduate School's Best Dissertation Award in the “Physical Sciences and Engineering” category. July 7: UMN CS&E;
12 Risk Factors Linked to Dementia Could Be Modified, Reduce US Cases by 400,000
A team at the Minnesota Population Center sought to calculate population attributable fraction (PAF) of dementia linked to 12 known and modifiable risk factors among US adults. July 7: HCPLive;
The Work of Online Volunteers
Research aimed at calculating the value of work by online community leaders, aided by DSI affiliate Stevie Chancellor, discovered that volunteers were performing millions of dollar in work per year. June 28: NYTimes; Denver Post; Seattle Times;
Solving the Honeycrisp apple ancestry mystery
Researchers at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute helped to develop custom software that helped uncover genetic relationships between cultivars by tracking pieces of DNA shared by relatives through multiple ancestral generations. June 14: Grand Rapids Herald Review;
Radiologists best AI at diagnosing COVID on chest X-rays
DSI-affiliate Ju Sun and colleagues trained and tested AI models with X-ray image datasets from their own institution as well as publicly available COVID-positive and COVID-negative databases. June 03; Aunt Minnie; June 05: Radiology Business
New Machine-Learning Model Integrates Static and Time-Series Data
The research group led by the DSI's Vipin Kumar has developed a model that uses machine-learning methods to create a model that incorporates static data, such as a lake’s physical features, and time-series data. May 25: MSI;
Great Lakes Digital Surface Model Products Released to the Public
The Great Lakes Alliance for Remote Sensing announced that the Digital Surface Model (DSM) strips and mosaics covering 85% of the Great Lakes Basin are now available for free use. Produced in collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s Polar Geospatial Center (PGC), these DSM strips and mosaics for the first time provide a uniform, three-dimensional understanding of upland watershed and coastal regions of the Great Lakes at 2-meter resolution. May 16: Earth Imaging Journal; Sensors and Systems; GISCafe;
2022-2023 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) award winners
Arun Sharma and Kshitij Tayal, both advised by DSI Affiliates and completing data science-related research, have been awarded a Doctoral Dissertaion Fellowship. May 4: UMN CSE;
New Study Could Help Reduce Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota has significantly improved the performance of numerical predictions for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. May 3: IED;
Brain Studies of Complex Behavior Require Thousands of People for Accurate Results
Scientists rely on brain-wide association studies to measure brain structure and function—using MRI brain scans—and link them to complex characteristics such as personality, behavior, cognition, neurological conditions, and mental illness. In total, researchers from the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), University of Minnesota Medical School, in collaboration with Washington University and other institutions, ran billions of analyses, supported by the MIDB Informatics Group and the powerful computing resources of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. March 23: Tech.org; March 27: FocusTechnica; SciTechDaily;
New ACM journal will be first-of-its kind publication dedicated exclusively to research on recommender systems
The journal takes a holistic view on the field and calls for contributions from different subfields of computer science and information systems, such as machine learning, data mining, information retrieval, web-based systems, data science and big data, and human-computer interaction. DSI-affiliates Joe Konstan and George Karypis will be on the editorial team. March 8: EurekAlert;
How AI can identify people even in anonymized datasets
When fed information about a target individuals mobile phone interactions, as well as their contacts interactions, AI can correctly pick the target out of more than 40,000 anonymous mobile phone service subscribers more than half the time. DSI-affiliate Jaideep Srivastava comments on the highlighted study. January 25: PNA;
CSE launches new Data Science Initiative to improve research and build partnerships
The University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) recently launched a new Data Science Initiative (DSI) that aims to enhance the quality, impact, and visibility of data science research in the college as well as build collaborations within the University of Minnesota and with outside partners. Jan. 18: UMN CSE;
Minnesota Partnership awards five collaborative research grants for 2022
The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics announced their 2022 research awardees, which includes DSI-affiliate Alena Talkachova’s “Novel implementation of spatiotemporal mapping and electroporation for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation.” January 13: UMN; Mayo Clinic;
CS&E makes big showing at IEEE BigData 2021
The University of Minnesota's prominence in data science was on display at the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, which featured accepted papers from DSI-affiliated faculty, including Regents Professor Vipin Kumar, Distinguished McKnight University Professor George Karypis. Jan 4: CS&E;
2021
Large MeerKAT data release reveals beautiful new cosmic puzzles
UMN researchers were part of an international team of scientists involved in the analysis and data release intended to change the future of space exploration. Nov. 11: UWC Astrophysics; IDiA; Science Springs; UP Jobs News; Nov. 16: Mirage; Nov. 17: RB Firehose; UMN Twin Cities; Nov. 18: ResearchBuzz; Nov. 19: Technology.org;
GroupLens research shines at CSCW 2021
New research from the GroupLens research lab was presented at this year's ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW). This is the premier venue for research on computer-supported cooperative work and social computing.
Tune in: Radical AI podcast with CS&E's Stevie Chancellor
CS&E assistant professor Stevie Chancellor was interviewed for the October 6, 2021 episode of the Radical AI podcast. She discussed AI, mental health, and the benefits and challenges of machine learning systems that are used to predict mental illness. Oct. 7: CS&E;
Professor Vipin Kumar appointed first director of Data Science Initiative
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Dean Mos Kaveh has appointed Regents Professor Vipin Kumar as the first director of the new CSE Data Science Initiative. Oct. 7: UMN CSE; Oct. 14: Inside HPC;
National Science Foundation invests $75 million in five new data science institutes
University of Minnesota researchers will be included in the NSF Institute for Accelerated AI Algorithms for Data-Driven Discovery, led by the University of Washington. Oct. 4: Bharat Express News; BusinessMayor; Canada Express News; Forbes; The Singapore Time; UK Times News; (6 as of Oct. 4)
University of Minnesota is part of $25M AI-based climate modeling center
University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers are part of a new $25 million climate modeling center funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) called the Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP). Sept. 10: UMN CSE;
15 free & open-source data resources for your next data science project
Grouplens, a research lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Minnesota, is listed at number 7. July 18: Towards Data Science;
New machine learning methods could improve environmental predictions
UMN research is featured. UMN Computer Science and Engineering (CS&E) Ph.D. alumnus Xiaowei Jia and CS&E professor Vipin Kumar are quoted. CS&E Ph.D. candidate Jared Willard is mentioned. June 22: 7th Space; Bioengineer.org; Burada Biliyorum; Cowboy.News; Dweb.News; EurekAlert!; Mirage News; News8Plus; Newswise; Phoenixbioinfosys; Science Codex; Scienmag; Simply Amazed; Super Computing Online; Tech Xplore; UMN Twin Cities News & Events; June 23: Alopan.in; Catholic Higher Education; Ethical Editor; ILDERIMI; Lenexweb; Livdose; ScienceDaily; World News Monitor; June 24: AI Summary; June 25: ACM TechNews; June 26: Technology.org;
Winner named for third annual NFL Big Data Bowl powered by AWS
UMN student working on a master's degree in data science, Sam Walczak, is part of the analytics team that won the NFL's 'Big Data Bowl' bringing their competition total to $25,000. March 19: NFL Communications;
University of Minnesota part of Toyota Research Institute’s new initiative
CSE assistant professor in computer science and engineering, Hyun Soo Park, will lead the Toyota Research Institute's sponsored research at the UMN. Jan. 26: UMN News and Events;