{"651275":{"#nid":"651275","#data":{"type":"event","title":"SCS Colloquium: Alfred Spector","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETITLE: \u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EOpportunities \u0026amp; Perils of Data Science\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EABSTRACT:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EData science has provided unprecedented opportunities to learn new insights and to predict, recommend, cluster, classify, transform, and optimize. Catalyzed by large-scale, networked computer systems, vast availability of data, and machine learning algorithms, data science has been extraordinarily impactful to-date, and it holds great promise in all disciplines. However, no new technology arrives without complications, and we have recently seen both the press and various political circles illustrating real, potential, and fictional implications of the field.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThis presentation aims to balance the opportunities provided by data science against the many challenges that have ensued. \u0026nbsp;At its core, the talk proposes\u0026nbsp;a rubric that practitioners can apply to tease out data science\u0026rsquo;s complexities and also maps out seven categories of data sciences challenges, ranging from engineering to ethics. The talk is illustrated with examples from many applications, and it\u0026nbsp;concludes with some suggested ways to address the downsides of the field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBIO:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Alfred Spector was most recently CTO and Head of Engineering at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.twosigma.com\/\u0022\u003ETwo Sigma\u003C\/a\u003E, a firm dedicated to algorithmic approaches to a wide collection of financial optimization problems. His career has led him from innovation in large scale, networked computing systems to broad engineering and research leadership.\u0026nbsp; Most recently, he has been writing a book on Data Science, which will be published in early 2022. \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior to Two Sigma, Spector spent nearly eight years as VP of Research and Special Initiatives at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/intl\/en\/about\u0022\u003EGoogle\u003C\/a\u003E. Before Google, Spector held various senior-level positions at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/us-en\u0022\u003EIBM\u003C\/a\u003E, including as global VP of Services and Software Research and global CTO of IBM\u0026rsquo;s Software Business. He previously founded\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.transarc.com\/\u0022\u003ETransarc Corporation\u003C\/a\u003E, a pioneer in distributed transaction processing and wide-area file systems (which was acquired by IBM), and he was a tenured professor at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cs.cmu.edu\/\u0022\u003ECarnegie Mellon University\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; Dr. Spector obtained a Ph.D. in computer science from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.stanford.edu\/\u0022\u003EStanford\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and a B.A. in applied math from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/\u0022\u003EHarvard\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESpector was a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hertzfoundation.org\/\u0022\u003EHertz Fellow\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Stanford and is also a Fellow of both the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.acm.org\/\u0022\u003EACM\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ieee.org\/\u0022\u003EIEEE\u003C\/a\u003E. He is an active member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nae.edu\/\u0022\u003ENational Academy of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.amacad.org\/\u0022\u003EAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, where he serves on the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.amacad.org\/about\/governance\/council\u0022\u003ECouncil\u003C\/a\u003E. Dr. Spector won the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.computer.org\/web\/awards\/kanai\u0022\u003E2001 IEEE Kanai Award for Distributed Computing\u003C\/a\u003Eand the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/awards.acm.org\/award_winners\/spector_CR79707\u0022\u003E2016 ACM Software Systems Award\u003C\/a\u003E. In 2018-19, Dr. Spector lectured widely as a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pbk.org\/VisitingScholars\/Scholars\/Alfred-Spector\u0022\u003EPhi Beta Kappa Scholar\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and has been a member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/amturing.acm.org\/committee.cfm\u0022\u003EACM Turing Award Committee\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; As to government service,\u0026nbsp; Spector was a member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/asb.army.mil\/\u0022\u003EArmy Science Board\u003C\/a\u003E, and he chaired the NSF\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/cise\/advisory.jsp\u0022\u003ECISE Advisory Board\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; He has had extensive international experience due to broad responsibilities at IBM, Google, and Two Sigma.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently, Spector has lectured widely on the growing importance of computer science across all disciplines based on the evocative phrase, CS+X.\u0026nbsp; More recently, he has written and lectured on the societal implications of data science -- both the great benefits and the unintended consequences. He has participated in many committees on education and technology-related policy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":" Opportunities \u0026 Perils of Data Science "}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2021-09-30 18:34:42","changed_gmt":"2021-10-04 13:49:57","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2021-10-15T15:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2021-10-15T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2021-10-15T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2021-10-15 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2021-10-15 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2021-10-15 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"651276":{"id":"651276","type":"image","title":"Alfred Spector","body":null,"created":"1633026957","gmt_created":"2021-09-30 18:35:57","changed":"1633026957","gmt_changed":"2021-09-30 18:35:57","alt":"Alfred Spector","file":{"fid":"247106","name":"Headshot_of_Alfred_Spector.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Headshot_of_Alfred_Spector.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Headshot_of_Alfred_Spector.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":199725,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Headshot_of_Alfred_Spector.jpg?itok=LFn-ZKs4"}}},"media_ids":["651276"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}