As we move forward into a new era of data science, we remain steadfast in our determination to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges through rigorous research, ethical practices, and responsible data stewardship. “
Our commitment to impact ex- tends beyond our collabora- tion with AWS to our work with our Corporate Members, who partnered with us over the past twelve months to explore issues around trust in science, ESG commitments, metrics, and ac- countability, data science lead- ership, and the idea of impact itself (what does it mean for dif- ferent sectors)? We continue to find great value in these conver- sations, and remain committed to deepening our ties with our partners in industry and working to advance our mutual goals. Of course, the HDSI’s activity is built on a foundation of rigorous scholarship. Our faculty affili- ates and grant recipients con- tinue to advance groundbreak- ing work in areas as diverse as designing better algorithms to
reduce pretrial incarceration, digitizing and analyzing past proposed amendments to the US Constitution, and improving medical image interpretation. And, our postdoctoral fellows engage with the most challeng- ing topics with curiosity, energy, and a commitment to interdis- ciplinary excellence. As we move forward into a new era of data science, we remain steadfast in our determination to tackle the world’s most press- ing challenges through rigorous research, ethical practices, and responsible data stewardship. We invite you to explore the 2023 Annual Report, where you will discover the transformative potential of data science. Best, HDSI Faculty Co-Directors
Dear Friends, We are delighted to present to you the Harvard Data Science Initiative’s 2023 Annual Report, which highlights just some of the groundbreaking research, innovative collaborations, and transformative advancements that have defined the past year. In 2022/2023 we made a wel- come return to in-person con- venings, anchored by the HDSI’s Annual Conference in Novem- ber 2023. This year’s conference connected expert methodol- ogists, data science profes- sionals, and educators across multiple disciplines—health, ed- ucation, economics, social pol- icy, business, and the human- ities —for two days of workshops, tutorials, and panel discussions. The conference, always a high- light of our programming, was made that much better this
year by the contributions of our co-host, the Harvard Business School’s Digital, Data, and De- sign (D 3 ) Institute. Indeed, innovative collabora- tions enriched the work of the HDSI more broadly and deeply than ever before: In November, we announced a major, multi- year collaboration with Ama- zon Web Services that you can read about on page 19 of this report. Our alliance with AWS, through the AWS Impact Com- puting Project at the HDSI, will harness the combined depth of Harvard scholarship and AWS’s unrivalled capabilities in high-performance computing to address far-reaching soci- etal challenges. Early funding will be awarded to faculty-led research on data science as it relates to food security, the so- cial determinants of health, and climate change.
David C. Parkes
Francesca Dominici Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population and Data Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
George F. Colony Professor of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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