South Big Data Hub / Data Science Round Tables

The nature of work today is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. As the pace of technological innovation continues to accelerate exponentially, the skills required of workers by industry are changing more rapidly than ever. These newly emerging skill requirements are having a parallel disruptive effect on higher education and training programs, which are struggling to adjust to the dynamic needs of both workers and industries.

At the same time, technological innovation also threatens to displace human workers with robots and artificial intelligence on a massive scale, with some studies predicting hundreds of millions of lost jobs world-wide. Such levels of unemployment can create cascading effects – such as exacerbated inequality, increased poverty, and stunted development – that contribute to social instability on a global scale.

Yet technology is also likely the key to mitigating these issues surrounding the future of work. Breakthroughs in big data and machine learning are creating new opportunities to rapidly match the needs of employers with the abilities of workers; human-machine interfaces promise to revolutionize how work and workers are defined; and intelligent machines may lead to drastic improvements in human quality of life. In this session, our panelists will explore some of these important questions related to the future of work, training, education, and technology.

Rachael Nealer, PhD, presented on the newly formed Energy Efficient Mobility Systems (EEMS) program in the Vehicle Technologies Office. The program focuses on transportation systems and technologies including: connected and automated vehicles, advanced fueling infrastructure, urban science, mobility decision science, multi-modal transportation, long-term research and development, and technology integration with cities and regions.

Held on Thursday, April 13, 2017.

Panelists: Joel Parker of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Benjamin Vincent of UNC-Chapel Hill; and Victor Weigman of Q2 Solutions, a Quintiles Quest Joint Venture.

About: The age of immuno-oncology is upon us: new cancer immunotherapies are providing fresh hope to patients who previously had few treatment options. Combining these technologies with the “Cancer Moon-shot,” the sky’s the limit.
However, immuno-oncology exists at the intersection of oncology, immunology and molecular biology, each of which alone bring significant data science challenges.

For more information about the Data Science Roundtable series, visit bit.ly/SBDHroundtables.

Social media, online news, blogs, etc. – in conjunction with widespread access to the internet from multiple devices including cell phones – is creating a new information environment. In this environment, the norms of social interaction, conversation, public discourse, and news reporting are being rewritten.

In this panel, we explore how Trolls and Bots can shape the conversation, shift public discourse, and build bridges among groups who might not otherwise connect. We explore how fake news can spread and the role of different types of actors in creating, spreading, countering and monitoring such news.

Panelists were: Nitin Argawal of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Kathleen M. Carley of Carnegie Mellon University; Huan Liu of Arizona State University; and Rand Waltzman of RAND Corporation.

The ability to combine quantitative and qualitative analytical methodologies to diverse patient information provides the opportunity to identify and classify patients suffering from a rare disease based on their medical history and response to treatment.

Panelists were: Bruce Cairns of UNC Chapel Hill; Michael Kowolenko of NC State University; Sandra Talbird of RTI Health Solutions; and Tara Britt of the NC Rare Disease Advisory Council.

For more information about the Data Science Roundtable series, visit bit.ly/SBDHroundtables.

This data science roundtable explores translational data analytics for environmental health and what the application of sensors and cloud computing can do to address health disparities in the Southern United States.

Panelists were: Ayaz Hyder and Andy May of The Ohio State University; Dave Peden of UNC Chapel Hill; and Paul Kizakevich of RTI International.

For more information about the Data Science Roundtable series, visit bit.ly/SBDHroundtables.

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