July 2020 – Frost Institute for Data Science & Computing

News

IDSC Data Ethics and Society Director and Co-Director Named

Ken Goodman and Otávio Bueno have been named Director and Co-Director of Data Ethics and Society for IDSC. “From personal privacy to fake news, legal, ethical, and social concerns permeate the research, teaching, and applications of data science and computing,” said Nick Tsinoremas, IDSC Institute Director, and Vice Provost for Research Computing and Data at the University of Miami. “We are fortunate to engage two distinguished academic leaders in the field of Ethics who will help guide the responsible growth and development of our research.” Read more “IDSC Data Ethics and Society Director and Co-Director Named” →

News

NOAA names UM to Lead CIMAS Cooperative Institute

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) to host the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS). CIMAS, will bring together the research and educational resources of 11 partner universities to increase scientific understanding of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere within the context of NOAA’s mission. Read more “NOAA names UM to Lead CIMAS Cooperative Institute” →

Research

Novel Platform Connects Users and Developers of Scientific Vocabularies

OntoloBridge, a new platform designed to bridge the gap between regular users of controlled scientific vocabularies and the creators of underlying ontologies, has been developed under a collaborative U01 grant by the University of Miami, Stanford University, and Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD). The novel platform is now available through the BioPortal Ontology Repository. Read more “Novel Platform Connects Users and Developers of Scientific Vocabularies” →

Publications

Predicting the Impact of Future Oil-Spill Closures on Fishery-Dependent…

Major oil spills immensely impact the environment and society. Coastal fishery-dependent communities are especially at risk as their fishing grounds are susceptible to closure because of seafood contamination threat. Read more “Predicting the Impact of Future Oil-Spill Closures on Fishery-Dependent Communities—A Spatially Explicit Approach” →

News

Mapping Social Needs on an Evidence Map

Data specialists at IDSC are collaborating with national consulting firm MDB, Inc. in designing and developing an interactive evidence map displaying the impact of social needs interventions on health outcomes. “Our multidisciplinary UM team will effectively translate scientific findings and data into a visual evidence map to help physicians, researchers, and health insurance systems see patterns that otherwise would not be evident,” said Alberto Cairo, PhD, IDSC Visualization, Data Communication & Information Design Director. Read more “Mapping Social Needs on an Evidence Map” →

Innovation

Blockchain Project to Detect and Track Fake News

Visiting Distinguished Professor and IDSC Innovation Officer Yelena Yesha, PhD, is launching a collaborative blockchain project to detect and track fake news by identifying the source in real time. “The coronavirus pandemic has led to an explosion of misinformation, such as ‘miracle cures’ as well as scammers trying to take advantage of people, and others who spread rumors for fun,” said Dr. Yesha. “As information spreads quickly in social media, it is an urgent task to develop methods for preventing the spread of fake news.” Read more “Blockchain Project to Detect and Track Fake News” →

Publications

A Study of Mesoscale Air–Sea Interaction in the Southern…

Coupling between the atmosphere and ocean is scale-dependent. For example, in the mid-latitudes and at oceanic mesoscales (spatial scales between 10 and hundreds of kilometers), the air–sea interactions are driven by the oceanic variability, and the atmosphere responds to the changes in the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), which are created by fast oceanic advection. This study explores these interactions, using a regional high-resolution atmosphere–ocean coupled model with a realistic atmospheric component and a semi-idealized oceanic model of a zonal flow. Read more “A Study of Mesoscale Air–Sea Interaction in the Southern Ocean with a Regional Coupled Model” →

Publications

Inference From Complex Networks: Role of Symmetry and Applicability…

Symmetry is a mathematical concept only partially explored in networks, especially at the applicative level. One reason is a certain lack of interpretable inference obtained from networks. While the network systemic associations (links) between entities (nodes) emerge from the underlying dependence structure, this latter is only partially explicit via the established direct interactors and remains to a certain extent latent (distant node predicted paths). Read more “Inference From Complex Networks: Role of Symmetry and Applicability to Images” →

Publications

Understanding Intermodel Diversity When Simulating the Time of Emergence…

Using a statistical method, we examined the time of emergence (ToE), which was defined as the year when the global mean surface temperature (GMST) trend exceeds the trend explained by internal variability, using 33 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate models for 1861–2100. We found that the GMST trend explained by internal variability showed minimal changes even though the GMST trend rapidly increased under the Representative Climate Pathway 8.5 scenario. Read more “Understanding Intermodel Diversity When Simulating the Time of Emergence in CMIP5 Climate Models” →

News

Data Ethics During COVID-19, Thursday 7/23/2020

The University of Miami Institute for Data Science and Computing, Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, and the Ethics Programs are collaborating to host a Zoom discussion on Data Ethics during COVID-19. From public health surveillance to contact tracing and the never-ending challenge of balancing the duties of science and privacy, the Covid-19 pandemic is a test-case of our ability to manage extraordinary challenges. The ethical decisions surrounding data collection, sharing, and use, shapes and will help us meet these challenges. Read more “Data Ethics During COVID-19, Thursday 7/23/2020” →

pan>July 2020