Columbia University's Data Science Institute

10/02/2026

Save the date! 🗓️

This Columbia Giving Day (Wednesday, October 28), support the Data Science Institute and empower the next generation of data scientists through student research, transformative education, and interdisciplinary innovation.

Your generosity will support the immersive learning experience that prepares our students to think creatively, act boldly, and change the world through data science.

Mark your calendars and bookmark this link today! bit.ly/DSIFB2026

10/01/2026

Brush up on your baseball history ahead of the World Series: Over one hundred years ago, Babe Ruth let Columbia University scientists study the secrets to his greatness ⚾

In 1921, Ruth visited the Columbia psychology department to undergo a series of tests with Columbia’s Albert Johanson and Joseph Holmes. They used various machines to study the motor functions that contribute to his batting.

Ultimately, their tests determined: “The secret of Babe Ruth's ability to hit is clearly revealed in these tests. His eye, his ear, his brain, his nerves all function more rapidly than do those of the average person. Further the coordination between eye, ear, brain, and muscle is much nearer perfection than that of the normal healthy man."

Their findings were published in the October 1921 Popular Science Monthly cover story, “Babe Ruth’s Home Run Secrets Solved by Science.”

A century later, the tradition of baseball science continues at Columbia! In September, the Data Science Institute at Columbia University welcomed MLB's Will Edmondson for our inaugural DAX INSIGHTS event examining the use of AI in the sport. Read more about the event: https://datascience.columbia.edu/news/ai-sports-where-data-meets-human-expertise

[Images from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]

10/01/2026

Upcoming event in our DAX INSIGHTS series 💡How to Win Consumer Trust in AI

Featured speaker Bob Hedges, former Visa Chief Data Officer and Digital Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, will explore what it takes to earn and sustain consumer trust in the age of AI.

📆 October 28
🕓 4:00pm-6:30pm
📍Columbia University Faculty House

Kara Miller, host of the “It Turns Out” podcast and columnist at The Boston Globe, will join Hedges for a live interview. Plus, Columbia Business School’s Oded Netzer will deliver virtual remarks on leveraging data to better understand customer behavior and inform business decision-making.

Register early, space is limited! ⤵️
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dax-insights-how-to-win-consumer-trust-in-ai-with-bob-hedges-tickets-2002134855248?aff=oddtdtcreator

We’ll be hosting INSIGHTS events throughout the academic year. In a field evolving as rapidly as AI, these are rare opportunities to engage in timely, high-impact discussions while becoming part of a vibrant, forward-thinking community at Columbia University's Data Science Institute.

Discover the lineup of events:
https://industry.datascience.columbia.edu/DAX/insights-series

09/22/2026

A new chip has been created that mimics how cancer spreads 🦠

DSI Faculty Member Andrea Califano, a Clye and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Columbia Systems Biology, is collaborating with Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences Columbia Engineering, and her team on pioneering research into cancer metastasis.

This project uses a specialized chip to study how cancer cells spread from the original tumour, by using real patient cells and tissues to better reflect human biology. Rather than using animal models, this approach offers researchers a closer look at how metastasis progresses in the body, and can help advance our understanding and prediction of cancer metastasis.

Read the full impacts of this important research: https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/about/news/new-chip-mimics-how-cancer-spreads?utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20260821_Highlights_Opt-In

Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

Columbia team modeled how cancer spreads to other organs using lab-grown bone and lung tissues.

09/21/2026

Welcome to our new cohort of DSI Scholars! These students will be applying their data science skills during semester-long research projects led by Columbia University faculty.

A few examples of the wide variety of interesting topics they'll be focused on:
➡️ AI use in healthcare
➡️ transforming rural energy
➡️ mapping children's vulnerability
➡️ predicting biological activity from mass spectrometry data

Congratulations and best of luck to this semester's scholars:
Dan Li, Deborah Teo, Seyoung Lee, Lauren Kirshenbaum, Carla Penafiel, Yussef Ali, Valentina Torres da Silva, Christina Liu, Ahmed Morsi

09/21/2026

What happens when technologists put their skills to work for the public good?

This summer, hackNY - a non-profit co-founded by DSI Core Member Chris Wiggins - launched a Public Interest Lab connecting emerging technologists with six NYC non-profits to provide free technology consulting.

For hackNY mentor and 2019 hackNY alum Srihari Shankar, the experience was also about learning how to build technology around the needs and resources of the people who will use it.

“The key thing is your technical ability is not as important as your ability to truly understand the [organization's] needs,” Shankar said. “It doesn’t have to be super cool. It doesn’t have to be the most fancy way to build it…You have to understand a true use case.”

Read more about hackNY’s Public Interest Lab and the people behind the work: https://datascience.columbia.edu/news/transformative-potential-tech-bono

09/18/2026

First year students, you’ve officially finished 2 weeks of your MSDS degree!! Here are words of advice from our 2nd year students to help you make the most of your experience at Columbia University's Data Science Institute.

09/18/2026

A sweet start to the semester! 🍦

DSI students kicked off the new academic year with an ice cream social - a chance to reconnect, meet new classmates, and get the inside scoop on the semester ahead.

09/11/2026

This week, we unpacked the real-world applications of AI in professional sports during our first DAX INSIGHTS event ⚾

MLB Major League Baseball’s Senior Vice President of Business Analytics and Operations, Will Edmondson, joined Columbia Business School Professor Mark Broadie for a conversation moderated by Joanna Levy. Together, they discussed how AI is changing the world of professional sports. Stay tuned for key takeaways from their conversation!

DAX INSIGHTS is a monthly series from Columbia University's Data Science Institute addressing AI's impact in New York's largest industry sectors. Thank you to Jim Pastoriza and the TDF Foundation for their generous gift in making this groundbreaking series possible.

➡️ Discover our upcoming DAX INSIGHTS events: https://datascience.columbia.edu/partnerships/dax/insights-series
➡️ And register your interest if you’d like to join us next time: https://form.jotform.com/DSI_Events/insights-series-interest

09/09/2026

NEWS: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected Columbia University to establish a National Synthesis Center for Organismal Resilience (NSCORE).

This new multidisciplinary research center will catalyze an international community of biologists and computer scientists to better understand, predict, and identify actions to improve organismal resilience.

NSCORE will employ cutting-edge approaches in artificial intelligence and data science, leveraging expertise from Columbia’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia Engineering, Columbia University's Data Science Institute, and other university and external partners. By combining organismal biology with computer science into the emerging field of computational organismal biology, NSCORE will enable unprecedented insight into one of the most critical and growing challenges of our time.

Read more about the announcement: https://fas.columbia.edu/news/columbia-lead-20-million-national-research-center-organismal-resilience

Leadership for the center will include:
➡️ NSCORE Executive Director Dustin Rubenstein, Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Conservation Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
➡️ NSCORE Associate Director & Integration Officer Itsik Pe’er, Professor of Computer Science and Systems Biology at Columbia Engineering
➡️ NSCORE Director of Data Science Eugene Wu, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering
➡️ NSCORE Director of Education, Outreach and Engagement Florence Hudson, Executive Director of the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub and Interim Executive Director for Sponsored Research in Columbia University's Data Science Institute