DATA-LIFE 2024
NYU-Politecnico di Milano Joint Program on Data Science
INTRO
DATA-LIFE is an interdisciplinary education experience involving students and professors from NYU and from DEIB/Design-POLIMI (Departments of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano).
Four selected students, two from NYU and two from Politecnico di Milano, will work collaboratively to solve data science problems, under the supervision of a team of professors from both universities; problems will cross the disciplines of data management, machine learning, data analysis, statistics and mathematics, data visualization and user experience design. Students will craft their solutions by developing the methodology and then the software.
This joint venture will provide exciting project work to students in applied data science.
PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
New York University - NYU
The NYU Tandon Center for Responsible AI (NYU R/AI) is a comprehensive laboratory that aims to make responsible AI synonymous with AI. We engage in interdisciplinary research, contribute to AI policy and regulation, and educate a broad range of stakeholders on the benefits and harms of AI, and on how we can come together to control this technology. Examples of our work include a public education course "We are AI: Taking Control of Technology" and a comic book series.
POLIMI
The master school in Computer Science and Engineering and the master school in Communication Design of Politecnico di Milano share the mission of creating qualified professionals, capable of understanding, monitoring and mastering the pressing needs of a continuously evolving society. The two schools offer master programs that produce several hundreds of top-quality graduates yearly.
The two schools are increasingly engaged in promoting interdisciplinary educational experiences with mixed teams of students; the interaction between engineers and designers produces very powerful forms of innovation, thanks to the mix of information technology and sound computational and mathematical foundations from one side, and creativity, design thinking and effective interaction design from the other. Both schools are engaged in new programs and courses centered on data science, which includes data-driven management, analysis, and visualization, with a problem-solving approach to training.
FOCUS OF THE PROJECT
The goal of this project is to develop an interactive simulation of two-sided matching [1], grounded in a specific use case – high-school admissions in New York City [2, 3, 4]. The simulation will be accompanied by an adaptive “nutritional label” [5, 6] that explains the results of the simulation and highlights changes when simulation parameters change, to applicants – middle-school students and their families.
The project will be supervised by Prof. Julia Stoyanovich, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Associate Professor of Data Science, and Director of the Center for Responsible AI at New York University and Prof. Amélie Marian, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
The project will be carried out in partnership with the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), an educational institution in Queens, NY that described itself as “a hub for researchers, developers, and producers in education, to create and study new ways of delivering equitable learning opportunities that are anchored in our Design Make Play approach to learning and STEM engagement.” NYSCI develops and hosts full-scale science exhibits as well as hands-on smaller-scale interactive activities that aim to teach visitors - primarily children of different ages - about a range of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics.
Project participants – graduate students in data science and design from NYU and Politecnico di Milano – will collaboratively implement the Gale-Shapley Stable Marriage matching algorithm. They will implement a graphical user interface that allows applicants – middle-school students and their families – to run the simulation according to specified parameters and understand the results. To make the user interface understandable to applicants and their families, the team will engage in collaborative design and evaluation activities with the “customer” – NYSCI staff with experience in educating middle-school students and, if appropriate IRB permissions are received on time - with a sample of middle-school students who attend NYSCI.
Past years' projects are described in the respective pages of this site (see links at the top).
PROJECT TIMELINE
The project will be scheduled along the following phases:
Jan 26 - Feb 2, 2024: faculty and students kick-off the project jointly at NYU in NYC.
Feb to May 2024: Student teams interact to develop their project, jointly tutored by Polimi and NYU faculty.
March 18-22, 2024 : faculty and students set up an intensive joint work week at POLIMI. As a result of this work, students deliver a mid-term presentation. NYU students will travel to Milano for the week.
May 2024: Final workshop and presentation of results take place in remote mode at NYU and POLIMI.
APPLICATION AND BENEFITS
POLIMI
This program will select students currently attending the second year of the Master (Laurea Magistrale) of Politecnico di Milano, two from Information Engineering and one from Design. Applicants should have obtained at least 40 CFU during their first year of Master studies, with an average grade above 25/30. Applications must be sent by email by Tuesday November, 7 2023 to: alice.gentile@.polimi.it. The email must include as a subject: "DATASCIENCE application + Name of the applicant + Faculty of the applicant (Design or Comp.Sci.)".
The application must include as attachments: an up-to-date record of exams, the English proficiency certificate, a CV (including a description of experiences of programming and of group projects); and a motivation letter explaining the candidate’s interest in this educational opportunity. Design students must also attach a portfolio including experiences with data visualization and group projects; Proved experience with HTML, JS, and digital prototyping is not required but welcome.
Notice that all the application material must be either attached or linked in the email, in the form of PDF files (possibly compressed). No relevant information shall be added directly to the email text.
Students may be interviewed by the selection committee. Selected students must attend the two planned full-immersion weeks. In addition to the full-immersion period, they are expected to work throughout the semester, by interacting with professors of Politecnico and NYU. They are expected to deliver a public presentation of their results at the end of the program and to participate in the trip to NY in January 2024.
NYU
The Data-Life program is being offered as a part of the NYU Tandon CSE and the Center for Data Science at NYU.
The selected students must attend the two planned full-immersion weeks. In addition to the full-immersion period, they are expected to work throughout the semester, by interacting with professors of Politecnico and NYU. They are expected to deliver a public presentation of their results at the end of the program and to travel to Italy (POLIMI, Milano) on March 18-22, 2024.
POLIMI CONTACTS
Professor of Data Management at Politecnico di Milano.
Professor of Web Science and Digital Innovation at Politecnico di Milano.
Professor of Design, Politecnico di Milano.
Assistant Professor of Information Design, Politecnico di Milano.
Assistant Professor of Information Design, Politecnico di Milano.
NYU CONTACTS
NYU
JULIA STOYANOVICH
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Associate Professor of Data Science, and Director of the Center for Responsible AI at New York University
RUTGERS
AMELIE MARIAN
Associate Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
NY HALL OF SCIENCE
DOROTHY BENETT
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