By joining the National Science Foundation Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics (CARTA), the University of Miami Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) is opening the door to deeper levels of academic and industry collaboration.

“As the latest CARTA site, our research will focus on a variety of themes, including machine learning and artificial intelligence,” said Mitsu Ogihara, PhD, Professor of Computer Science, Director of IDSC Education, and NSF Univeristy of Miami CARTA site Director. “We will apply these powerful computing technologies to studies for marketing and businesses, such as smart homes, health devices and applications, and affective control induced by music. We are already in contact with prospective industrial partners that will support and guide the research.”

CARTA is one of the prestigious Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF anticipates each I/UCRC to grow over a period of as many as 15 years, by gradually increasing the size of research programs. Based at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), CARTA opened in 2018. The other CARTA members include Rutgers University New Brunswick, North Carolina State University (NCSU), and Tel Aviv University in Israel.

”Real-time analytics is the leading edge of a smart data revolution.”

“This collaborative NSF initiative supports cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in real time analytics using next generation accelerated hardware,” said the global CARTA Consortium Director Yelena Yesha, PhD, Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and also Visiting Distinguished Professor in UM’s Department of Computer Science, and Innovation Officer and Head of International Relations for IDSC. “We are building partnerships among industry, academia, and government agencies.” Real time analytics is the leading edge of a smart data revolution, driven by advances in sensor hardware, the Internet of things (IoT) and AI/ML streaming acceleration, according to Dr. Yesha. “CARTA’s work will advance the analysis of big datasets generated in various fields, and the development of self-learning, self-correcting ‘smart’ systems,” she said.

While the National Science Foundation provides base funding to each of CARTA’s university partner sites for management, the primary support for its research projects comes from its industry and government members. All I/UCRCs have a standard membership agreement approved by NSF that entails IP rights and allows for collaboration among partnering universities and potential collaboration with other I/UCRCs. The commencing members of the University of Miami CARTA site (NSF UM CARTA) seek to work with the researchers at the University of Miami to advance their research in a wide array of research areas, including blockchain, surveillance with autonomous vehicles, music and mind, genetics, health records, and marketing. One of the proposed projects at NSF UM CARTA is in collaboration with the U.S. Department Health and Human Services, where NSF UM CARTA will develop an intelligent tool for predicting diseases and conditions requiring attention for investigation.

”NSF UM CARTA offers graduate and undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in state-of-the-art research that defines the future”.

NSF UM CARTA aims at building an ecosystem for real-time analytics research in South Florida through research, education, and training. It offers, to both graduate and undergraduate students at the University, an opportunity to participate in state-of-the-art research that defines the future. As an educator, Ogihara is directing the Master of Science in Data Science program at the University of Miami. The program started just last year and has attracted dozens of applications. A key component in the data science program is an industrial internship. “We can leverage NSF UM CARTA in creating internship opportunities for the master’s students.”

The new University of Miami CARTA site will also serve as a place for companies and government agencies in South Florida to develop their research portfolio through collaboration with academia, strengthening the industrial and government ecosystem through its work on problems of national significance. UM NSF CARTA will be ‘housed’ in IDSC, which affords members not only the tremendous power of its high-performance computing infrastructure but also access to world-class expertise in data science and computation. Through its Innovation Office, IDSC will help local tech companies by serving as a catalyst for technology transfer and possible commercialization. Nick Tsinoremas, Vice Provost for Research Computing and Data and IDSC Founding Director at the University of Miami, says “the NSF UM CARTA site has a very strong translational focus which will have a large impact on local industry.”

Thus, the new site of the National Science Foundation’s I/UCRC CARTA will contribute to the nation’s research infrastructure base and enhance the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education. Furthermore, when relevant, NSF UM CARTA will participate in international I/UCRC collaborations—subject to the same membership agreements—to advance research goals within the global context.

For more information about global CARTA, visit carta.umbc.edu, or email idsc@miami.edu.

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Story by Richard Westlund