THE East Coast/West Coast rivalry is not just over hip-hop, food and fashion anymore. Now it has made its way to universities preparing the next generation of technologists: data scientists who can make sense (and use) of the explosion of information that is now produced by nearly every industry. New York and Seattle are already sparring over which will be the next hotbed, beyond Silicon Valley, for educating these analysts of the future.
东海岸和西海岸的竞争已经不再局限于嘻哈音乐、美食和时尚。现在，这种竞争又延伸到了准备培养下一代技术专家的大学：技术专家专指了解（并可利用）信息爆炸的数据科学家，而现在几乎每个行业都在出现信息爆炸。纽约和西雅图已经展开了培养这些未来分析师的争夺战，它们都希望自己能够成为继硅谷之后的第二个孵化地。
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's Applied Sciences NYC initiative, whose centerpiece will be the new applied science campus on Roosevelt Island, is also providing money and motivation to make sure New York is mentioned in the same sentence as Big Data. The city is contributing $15 million in assistance to Columbia's new Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, which will begin offering a certificate program in the fall and ultimately hire 75 more professors.
纽约市长迈克尔·R·布隆伯格(Michael R. Bloomberg)发起的“纽约市应用科学”(Applied Sciences NYC)计划——其核心是在罗斯福岛打造一个新的应用科学校园——也在提供资金和驱动力，确保纽约能够与大数据(Big Data)联系在一起。纽约市为哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)新成立的数据科学和工程学院(Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering)提供了1500万美元的资助；该学院将会从今年秋季开始提供证书课程，并最终招聘75名教授。
New York University has two new fronts: the Center for Data Science as well as the Center for Urban Science and Progress, both introducing master's programs in the fall. With $15 million in city aid, CUSP will apply Big Data to practical urban issues like how to make skyscrapers more energy efficient or the subways more reliable. Until 2017, when a 150,000-square-foot campus and start-up incubator are carved out of the old transit headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, students will study at the nearby Polytechnic Institute of N.Y.U. Microsoft and Lutron Electronics will also collaborate with the Brooklyn center on research.
纽约大学(New York University)拥有两条新的阵线：数据科学中心(Center for Data Science)和城市科学与进步中心(Center for Urban Science and Progress)，两个中心都将于今年秋季引入硕士课程。基于纽约市拨发的1500万美元资助款，城市科学与进步中心将会把大数据应用到实际的城市议题中，比如说，如何使摩天大厦更节能或让地铁更可靠。设在布鲁克林商业区老交通总部、占地15万平方英尺的校园和创业孵化基地将于2017年竣工，而此前学生则在附近的纽约大学理工学院(Polytechnic Institute of NYU)学习。微软(Microsoft)和路创电子(Lutron Electronics)也将会与设在布鲁克林的这个中心进行研究合作。
"New York City is on the verge of becoming a data science mecca," said Yann LeCun, director of the Center for Data Science. "It's partly because of those initiatives from Mayor Bloomberg and partly because of an extremely vibrant local industry of large and small start-up companies that are all highly involved in data analysis." And, he added, "It's much more fun to be in New York, in terms of life besides work. You don't even have to own a car."
“纽约市即将成为一个数据科学圣地，”数据科学中心的主任扬恩·莱昆(Yann LeCun)说，“这一方面是因为这些动议是布隆伯格市长发起的，另一方面也是因为这里有着大大小小的、与数据分析高度相关的创业公司，从而形成了一个充满活力的地方产业。”此外，他还补充说：“除工作之外，就生活而言，纽约也是一个非常好玩的城市。你甚至都没有必要买车。”
Meanwhile, in Seattle, with its green hiking trails, coffee culture and tech industry, the University of Washington is making its own pitch. The university has opened the eScience Institute for studying data across disciplines and has a new Ph.D. program in Big Data. It also has many rich and powerful neighbors in tech to finance its data initiatives and lure big-name faculty members.
与此同时，在以徒步绿廊、咖啡文化和技术产业闻名的西雅图，华盛顿大学(University of Washington)也在进行宣传。该校已经成立了旨在进行跨学科数据研究的e-科学学院(eScience Institute)，并开设了新的大数据博士学位课程。此外，它还有很多技术领域的“邻居”，这些有钱有势的公司对它的数据动议给予了财务支持；同时，它也吸引了很多知名的教职人员。
Since 2000, Microsoft has donated $22 million to the computer science program; Google gives several million dollars a year. And Amazon has endowed two professorships with $2 million; Jeff Bezos, its founder and chief executive, personally recruited Carlos Guestrin for computer science and Emily B. Fox for statistics.
自2000年以来，微软(Microsoft)已经为华盛顿大学的计算机科学项目捐赠了2200万美元；谷歌(Google)每年也会捐赠数百万美元。而亚马逊(Amazon)则捐赠200万美元，冠名两个讲席教授职位；亚马逊的创始人兼首席执行官杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)亲自招募了负责计算机科学的卡洛斯·格斯特林(Carlos Guestrin)和负责统计学的艾米莉·B·福克斯(Emily B. Fox)。
The companies offer more than just money, said Mr. Guestrin, one of the world's top machine-learning researchers, previously of Carnegie Mellon. "Money helps because students have to eat their ramen, but it's not just that," he said. Companies also lend students their real-world data to crunch. "Companies often see big challenges we might not see at that scale or have access to at the university," he said, "and those connections can be transformative."
世界顶级的机器学习研究专家、之前就职于卡耐基梅隆大学(Carnegie Mellon University)的格斯特林先生表示，公司所提供的并不仅仅是金钱。他补充道：“金钱是有帮助的，因为学生也要吃饭，但它的作用并不仅限于此。”公司也为学生提供了可供其研究的真实世界的数据。“公司经常会看到我们在大学里可能看不到的或接触不到的巨大挑战，”他说，“而这些联系是具有变革意义的。”
Like New York, Seattle has draws outside the classroom. "It attracts certain geeks like me, nature-loving and into music, food and biking," Mr. Guestrin said. But the biggest attraction, he said: "The data is on the West Coast."
同纽约一样，课堂之外的西雅图也有着其自身的吸引力。“它吸引了像我这样，喜欢大自然、音乐、美食和骑单车的极客，”格斯特林先说。但谈到最大的吸引力时，他说：“数据在西海岸。”
评论
打印
