Nov 1, 2018

Berkeley Inaugurates Division of Data Science and Information, Connecting Teaching and Research from All Corners of Campus

From Berkeley News

Berkeley inaugurates Division of Data Science and Information, connecting teaching and research from all corners of campus

By Kara Manke

In a direct response to the profound and growing impact of data and computing in a rapidly evolving digital world, UC Berkeley today announced its plan to form a new division, provisionally referred to as the Division of Data Science and Information, which will harness the university’s leadership in the field to prepare thousands of students and researchers to bring data science to bear in the classroom, the laboratory and the workplace. The first-of-its-kind division, situated as a peer of Berkeley’s colleges and schools, represents one of the most profound changes in the university’s organization in decades.

The new division is designed to engage faculty and students across the Berkeley campus and connects departments from the College of Engineering, the College of Letters and Science and the School of Information. It will be led by a new associate provost, who will report directly to the executive vice chancellor and provost. This new structure will accelerate breakthrough research across scientific and technological frontiers and facilitate the creation of new multi- and cross-disciplinary programs of study. The division will enable students and researchers to tackle not just the scientific challenges opened up by pervasive data, but the societal, economic and environmental impacts as well. The university will bring to bear the school’s excellence in social sciences and humanities to explore these widespread implications...

“The opportunities and challenges here are so big and so diverse, and it is going to take people with expertise that is as broad as the Berkeley campus to grapple with the many ways data is changing our world,” said Anno Saxenian, dean of the School of Information...

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graphic of UC Berkeley departments involved in Data Science
The new division will merge the boundaries of existing departments. (UC Berkeley graphic by Hulda Nelson)

Last updated:

November 1, 2018