極客之選:紐約還是西雅圖?

THE East Coast/West Coast rivalry is not just overhip-hop, food and fashion anymore. Now it has madeits way to universities preparing the next generationof technologists: data scientists who can make sense(and use) of the explosion of information that isnow produced by nearly every industry. New Yorkand Seattle are already sparring over which will bethe next hotbed, beyond Silicon Valley, for educatingthese analysts of the future.

東海岸和西海岸的競爭已經(jīng)不再局限于嘻哈音樂、美食和時尚?，F(xiàn)在，這種競爭又延伸到了準(zhǔn)備培養(yǎng)下一代技術(shù)專家的大學(xué)：技術(shù)專家專指了解(并可利用)信息爆炸的數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家，而現(xiàn)在幾乎每個行業(yè)都在出現(xiàn)信息爆炸。紐約和西雅圖已經(jīng)展開了培養(yǎng)這些未來分析師的爭奪戰(zhàn)，它們都希望自己能夠成為繼硅谷之后的第二個孵化地。

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's Applied Sciences NYC initiative, whose centerpiece will be the newapplied science campus on Roosevelt Island, is also providing money and motivation to makesure New York is mentioned in the same sentence as Big Data. The city is contributing $15million in assistance to Columbia's new Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, which willbegin offering a certificate program in the fall and ultimately hire 75 more professors.

紐約市長邁克爾·R·布隆伯格(Michael R. Bloomberg)發(fā)起的“紐約市應(yīng)用科學(xué)”(Applied Sciences NYC)計劃——其核心是在羅斯福島打造一個新的應(yīng)用科學(xué)校園——也在提供資金和驅(qū)動力，確保紐約能夠與大數(shù)據(jù)(BigData)聯(lián)系在一起。紐約市為哥倫比亞大學(xué)(Columbia University)新成立的數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)和工程學(xué)院(Institutefor Data Sciences and Engineering)提供了1500萬美元的資助;該學(xué)院將會從今年秋季開始提供證書課程，并最終招聘75名教授。

 

 

New York University has two new fronts: the Center for Data Science as well as the Center forUrban Science and Progress, both introducing master's programs in the fall. With $15 million incity aid, CUSP will apply Big Data to practical urban issues like how to make skyscrapers moreenergy efficient or the subways more reliable. Until 2017, when a 150,000-square-footcampus and start-up incubator are carved out of the old transit headquarters in DowntownBrooklyn, students will study at the nearby Polytechnic Institute of N.Y.U. Microsoft and LutronElectronics will also collaborate with the Brooklyn center on research.

紐約大學(xué)(New York University)擁有兩條新的陣線：數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)中心(Center for Data Science)和城市科學(xué)與進步中心(Center for Urban Science and Progress)，兩個中心都將于今年秋季引入碩士課程。基于紐約市撥發(fā)的1500萬美元資助款，城市科學(xué)與進步中心將會把大數(shù)據(jù)應(yīng)用到實際的城市議題中，比如說，如何使摩天大廈更節(jié)能或讓地鐵更可靠。設(shè)在布魯克林商業(yè)區(qū)老交通總部、占地15萬平方英尺的校園和創(chuàng)業(yè)孵化基地將于2017年竣工，而此前學(xué)生則在附近的紐約大學(xué)理工學(xué)院(Polytechnic Institute of NYU)學(xué)習(xí)。微軟(Microsoft)和路創(chuàng)電子(Lutron Electronics)也將會與設(shè)在布魯克林的這個中心進行研究合作。

"New York City is on the verge of becoming a data science mecca," said Yann LeCun, director ofthe Center for Data Science. "It's partly because of those initiatives from Mayor Bloomberg andpartly because of an extremely vibrant local industry of large and small start-up companiesthat are all highly involved in data analysis." And, he added, "It's much more fun to be in NewYork, in terms of life besides work. You don't even have to own a car."

“紐約市即將成為一個數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)圣地，”數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)中心的主任揚恩·萊昆(Yann LeCun)說，“這一方面是因為這些動議是布隆伯格市長發(fā)起的，另一方面也是因為這里有著大大小小的、與數(shù)據(jù)分析高度相關(guān)的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，從而形成了一個充滿活力的地方產(chǎn)業(yè)。”此外，他還補充說：“除工作之外，就生活而言，紐約也是一個非常好玩的城市。你甚至都沒有必要買車。”

Meanwhile, in Seattle, with its green hiking trails, coffee culture and tech industry, the Universityof Washington is making its own pitch. The university has opened the eScience Institute forstudying data across disciplines and has a new Ph.D. program in Big Data. It also has many richand powerful neighbors in tech to finance its data initiatives and lure big-name faculty members.

與此同時，在以徒步綠廊、咖啡文化和技術(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)聞名的西雅圖，華盛頓大學(xué)(University of Washington)也在進行宣傳。該校已經(jīng)成立了旨在進行跨學(xué)科數(shù)據(jù)研究的e-科學(xué)學(xué)院(eScience Institute)，并開設(shè)了新的大數(shù)據(jù)博士學(xué)位課程。此外，它還有很多技術(shù)領(lǐng)域的“鄰居”，這些有錢有勢的公司對它的數(shù)據(jù)動議給予了財務(wù)支持;同時，它也吸引了很多知名的教職人員。

Since 2000, Microsoft has donated $22 million to the computer science program; Google givesseveral million dollars a year. And Amazon has endowed two professorships with $2 million; JeffBezos, its founder and chief executive, personally recruited Carlos Guestrin for computerscience and Emily B. Fox for statistics.

自2000年以來，微軟(Microsoft)已經(jīng)為華盛頓大學(xué)的計算機科學(xué)項目捐贈了2200萬美元;谷歌(Google)每年也會捐贈數(shù)百萬美元。而亞馬遜(Amazon)則捐贈200萬美元，冠名兩個講席教授職位;亞馬遜的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官杰夫·貝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)親自招募了負責(zé)計算機科學(xué)的卡洛斯·格斯特林(Carlos Guestrin)和負責(zé)統(tǒng)計學(xué)的艾米莉·B·?？怂?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 toeat their ramen, but it's not just that," he said. Companies also lend students their real-worlddata to crunch. "Companies often see big challenges we might not see at that scale or haveaccess to at the university," he said, "and those connections can be transformative."

世界頂級的機器學(xué)習(xí)研究專家、之前就職于卡耐基梅隆大學(xué)(Carnegie Mellon University)的格斯特林先生表示，公司所提供的并不僅僅是金錢。他補充道：“金錢是有幫助的，因為學(xué)生也要吃飯，但它的作用并不僅限于此。”公司也為學(xué)生提供了可供其研究的真實世界的數(shù)據(jù)。“公司經(jīng)常會看到我們在大學(xué)里可能看不到的或接觸不到的巨大挑戰(zhàn)，”他說，“而這些聯(lián)系是具有變革意義的。”

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, hesaid: "The data is on the West Coast."

同紐約一樣，課堂之外的西雅圖也有著其自身的吸引力。“它吸引了像我這樣，喜歡大自然、音樂、美食和騎單車的極客，”格斯特林先說。但談到最大的吸引力時，他說：“數(shù)據(jù)在西海岸。”