Data Science Initiative

Innovation in Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS)

The power of data and data-driven approaches is changing the process of scientific discovery, research and development, technological innovation, and education. IDEAS harnesses the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science to transform scientific discovery, design and engineering of trustworthy autonomous systems, and AI in neuroscience and health.

Leadership

René Vidal, Rachleff University Professor in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering in Penn Engineering and in the Department of Radiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, is the IDEAS Center’s inaugural director. Vidal’s own research focuses on the mathematical foundations of deep learning and its applications in computer vision and biomedical data science.

For General inquiries

Sonia Castro Rodriguez

Program Coordinator

soniacr@seas.upenn.edu

René Vidal

Director of the Innovation in Data Engineering and Science Initiative

ideas@seas.upenn.edu

Faculty Recruitment

Thanks to a major $750 million investment in science, engineering and medicine, IDEAS is engaged in an aggressive hiring effort for multiple tenured or tenure-track faculty positions in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Science (DS) with an emphasis in the following research areas:

AI Foundations

Advancing core AI/ML/DS methodology, including but not limited to generative AI, multimodal AI (e.g., vision language 3D), and the mathematical foundations of AI/ML/DS.

AI in Science

Data-driven approaches that can transform scientific discovery and modeling of new phenomena across engineering and science, including but not limited to integration of physical and data-driven models, inverse problems in imaging science, novel AI methods for discovering new materials, learning the structure of proteins or modeling global climate, new paradigms for bridging the gap between human and machine learning.

AI in Health

Data-driven approaches for analyzing complex multimodal biological and biomedical data, including but not limited to novel methods for learning from biological images, medical images, radiological and pathological reports, electronic health records, multiomic data.

Trustworthy AI

Design and engineering of fair, ethical, explainable, robust, safe, and trustworthy autonomous systems.

Accepting applications

Apply Today

Penn AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows Program

In response to the rapid evolution of the AI landscape and the increasing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, we are launching a unified postdoctoral fellows program that spans the sciences and AI. The program aims to seamlessly integrate the strengths of the Center for Innovation in Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS) and the Data Driven Discovery Initiative (DDDI) into a single home for data science postdoctoral fellows in SEAS and SAS. Both engineering and science oriented postdocs will benefit from sustained peer interactions within the program, broad exposure to faculty across schools, and opportunities for cross-school faculty mentorship.

Learn More

Amy Gutmann Hall

Opening Fall 2024

Amy Gutmann Hall is slated to be the new home for data engineering and science at Penn, and will serve as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaborations that harness research and data across Penn’s 12 schools and numerous academic centers. Including active learning classrooms, collaborative spaces for student projects, and a data science hub for the entire Penn community, Amy Gutmann Hall will centralize resources that will advance the work of scholars across a wide variety of fields while making the tools and concepts of data analysis more accessible to the entire Penn community.

Learn more about how Amy Guttman Hall will serve as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Data Science Hub

The IDEAS Data Science Hub will focus on infusing data-driven approaches into every discipline and sparkling new collaborations with academia, industry, and the next generation of data scientists in Philadelphia’s public schools.