加州大学圣地亚哥分校（UCSD）成立了新的计算、信息与数据科学学院（SCIDS），该学院将圣地亚哥超级计算机中心（SDSC）和哈利西奥格鲁数据科学研究所（HDSI）整合在一起，旨在应对人工智能和数据科学领域日益增长的技能需求，并推动该领域变革性研究。SCIDS旨在解决当今一些最紧迫的挑战，从气候变化到公共卫生，该学院不仅培养技术技能，还鼓励负责任地利用数据驱动见解来改善社会。

🎉 **整合基础机构**：SCIDS整合了其合作伙伴机构SDSC和HDSI的基础优势。SDSC成立于1985年，是超级计算和HPC研究的先驱力量，最初是向美国国家科学基金会提议为学术界提供“科学与工程超级计算中心”的资金，以解决学术界缺乏先进计算资源的问题。该提议是美国国家科学基金会批准的第一个非主动提交的提议，并导致SDSC（以及其他四个超级计算中心）成立，获得了1.7亿美元的拨款。 除了为UCSD研究人员提供内部计算和数据资源外，SDSC还是一个研究力量，推动了数据存储和云计算的进步，并在大型数据管理、预测分析、健康IT服务、工作流程自动化和互联网分析领域建立了卓越中心。 哈利西奥格鲁数据科学研究所（HDSI）成立于2018年，得到了计算机科学与工程校友塔内尔·哈利西奥格鲁 ’96 的慈善支持。HDSI拥有来自计算机科学到通信等领域的跨学科研究团队，探索新的计算方法、新的数学模型，并指导学生了解数据科学的社会和伦理影响。

🚀 **推动计算研究**：SDSC的传统与HDSI的创新数据科学项目相结合，使SCIDS成为计算研究和人工智能教育的强大引擎，使其能够“实现新的协同效应，并在创造新兴领域的人才方面实现巨大的新可能性”。 “新学院将加速将基础研究转化为实践，解决从气候变化缓解（野火、极端天气、水资源管理和抗逆性农业）到社会正义问题（粮食安全、住房短缺、大规模枪击事件和平等获得机会）再到医疗保健（个性化医疗和公共卫生）等社会问题。” 为了培养新一代数据科学领袖，SCIDS组建了由50名来自16个不同学术领域的学者组成的教师队伍。该学院的专业知识涵盖计算机科学、社会科学和工程学，强调理论理解和实践经验，为学生做好准备，以适应性强、符合道德的处理数据的方式应对复杂的挑战。

🌐 **全球趋势**：UCSD成立SCIDS的决定与全球趋势一致，在全球趋势中，教育机构正在重新思考数据科学和人工智能在学术界及其他领域的意义。随着数据在各个行业决策中越来越重要，对接受过这些领域全面培训的专业人才的需求空前高涨。SCIDS的目标是成为满足这一需求的领导者，为其学生提供超越技术能力的技能，包括批判性思维、伦理推理和社会意识。

UC San Diego has taken a bold step to meet the growing demand for skills in artificial intelligence and data science. The university’s new School of Computing, Information, and Data Sciences (SCIDS) unites the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI), positioning the university at the forefront of transformative research in these fields.

Established as an interdisciplinary hub, SCIDS aims to address some of today’s most pressing challenges—from climate change to public health. The school is designed not just to foster technical skills but also to encourage the responsible use of data-driven insights to improve society.

“UC San Diego’s new School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences (SCIDS) meets a critical need in modern society to transform data into actionable knowledge across disciplines to advance data science and AI education. This effort requires attracting, training and cultivating talented researchers, staff and students at all levels across the university,” says the new school’s website.

“SCIDS meets a critical need in modern society to transform data into actionable knowledge,” SCIDS Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said in a recent article by UC San Diego Today. “Computing and data literacy are key to meeting the needs of students and the state of California, advancing critical research areas like the future of artificial intelligence and bolstering the university’s mission of public service.”

Integrating Foundational Institutions 

SCIDS integrates the foundational strengths of its partner institutions, SDSC and HDSI. Founded in 1985, SDSC is a pioneering force in supercomputing and HPC research that began as a proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation to fund a “Center for Scientific and Engineering Supercomputing,” to address a lack of advanced computing resources in academia. The proposal was the first unsolicited submission to be approved by the NSF and led to the founding of SDSC (and four other supercomputing centers) with a $170M grant.

Aside from providing in-house computational and data resources for UCSD researchers, SDSC is a research powerhouse fueling advances in data storage and cloud computing and has founded Centers of Excellence in the areas of large-scale data management, predictive analytics, health IT services, workflow automation and internet analysis.

The Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI) was established in 2018 with philanthropic support from Taner Halıcıoğlu ’96, an alumnus of computer science and engineering. HDSI features an interdisciplinary team of researchers from areas ranging from computer science to communications who explore new computational methods, new mathematical models and guide students through the societal and ethical impacts of data science. 

SCIDS To Supercharge Computational Research 

This legacy of SDSC combined with HDSI’s innovative data science programs positions SCIDS to become a powerful engine for computational research and AI education, allowing it to “involve new synergies and realize tremendous new possibilities in creating talent in emerging areas,” said Rajesh Gupta, distinguished professor of computer science and engineering, interim dean of SCIDS, and the founding and current director of HDSI, as quoted in UC San Diego Today.

“The new school will accelerate the translation of foundational research into practice on societal problems ranging from climate change mitigation (wildfires, extreme weather, water management and resilient agriculture) to social justice issues (food security, housing shortages, mass shootings and equal access to opportunity) to health care (personalized medicine and public health),” says Frank Würthwein, the director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and professor in the Department of Physics and the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, as quoted by UC San Diego Today.

To cultivate a new generation of leaders in data science, SCIDS has assembled a faculty roster of 50 researchers across 16 diverse academic domains. With expertise spanning computer science, social sciences, and engineering, the school emphasizes both theoretical understanding and hands-on experience, preparing students to meet complex challenges with an adaptable, ethical approach to data. 

UCSD’s decision to launch SCIDS aligns with a global trend in which educational institutions are rethinking the role of data science and AI in academia and beyond. As data becomes increasingly central to decision-making in various industries, the demand for well-rounded professionals trained in these areas is at an all-time high. SCIDS aims to be a leader in meeting this demand, equipping its students with skills that extend beyond technical competence to include critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and societal awareness.