In Memoriam: Val Pentchev

The Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub team is saddened to announce the passing of our longtime colleague Valentin (Val) Pentchev on December 31, 2021. Val was most recently the PI…

MBDH partners on US Ignite Reverse Pitch challenge

part of Hub’s focus on Smart, Connected, and Resilient Communities

US Ignite Hackathon
UIUC collaborators and mentors meet with HackIllinois teams on US Ignite Challenge

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) was awarded a $20,000 grant from US Ignite to host a Smart Gigabit Communities Reverse Pitch Challenge. The MBDH, along with other local partners (see below), contributed towards matching the grant, bringing to $40,000 the total resources available to support the development of smart gigabit applications for the benefit of the local community. 

MBDH meeting on Smart & Resilient Communities

Co-located with the annual Midwest Big Data Hub All-Hands meeting in Omaha in 2017, 15 experts from several disciplines gathered on October 3rd to discuss community-oriented research topics, data and methods, and community engagement. They shared ideas and suggestions to launch a program focused on Smart & Resilient Communities.

New Report on “Keeping Data Science Broad”

A new report on the “Keeping Data Science Broad: Negotiating the Digital and Data Divide Among Higher Education Institutions” initiative was released by the South Big Data Hub and collaborators, including the Midwest Hub. This initiative brought together the BD Hubs community and other stakeholders to explore pathways for keeping data science education broadly inclusive. 

MBDH 2017 All-Hands Meeting Recap

by Keith Hollenkamp

On October 1-2, we hosted the Midwest Big Data Hub All-Hands Meeting at the beautiful Kiewit University in Omaha, Nebraska. Over the course of the two day event, researchers, academics, students, and more, connected over similar interests and attended panels all centered around this year’s theme: Data-Enabled Midwest Resilience.

Melissa Cragin, Executive Director of the MBDH, welcomes attendees to the All-Hands Meeting

An Introduction to Dr. William Gropp, MBDH PI

Dear MBDH Community,

I wanted to officially introduce myself as the new PI of the Midwest Big Data Hub. In a previous MBDH newsletter, it was announced that I would be taking over the role after the former PI, Dr. Ed Seidel, accepted the job of Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation for the University of Illinois System. It is with great enthusiasm that I join the MBDH community, and I’m eager to contribute to all the ways the Hub is expanding and enhancing the Midwest Big Data ecosystem.

A Note From Ed Seidel

Dear Friends and Colleagues of the Midwest Big Data Hub:

I’d like to let you all know that I have recently accepted the position of VP for Economic Development and Innovation for the University of Illinois System, and will no longer be the Director of NCSA. As a result, after consulting with MBDH leadership, NSF, and U of IL officials, we have decided that it is the best interests of the hub that we pass the PI role to Prof. Bill Gropp.

National Transportation Data Challenge

National Transportation Data Challenge Kicks Off on May 2-3!

The Big Data Regional Innovations Hubs have announced the Transportation Data Challenge, a series of community problem solving-sessions, data faires, hackathons, and demonstrations, held in collaboration with the U.S Department of Transportation, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Data Science Inc., and others.

The Machine Learning: Farm-To-Table Workshop

The Midwest Big Data Hub (MBDH) is partnering with the International Food Security at Illinois (IFSI) group at UIUC to bring together domain scientists from the Agriculture, Bioinformatics, Food-Energy-Water, and Food Security communities, along with computational experts. The objective of this workshop is to stimulate new data-driven R+D activity at the intersections of these communities. The meeting will be structured to enable new cross-community interactions and initiate grant proposals or publications.

NSF awards connect Midwest Big Data Hub and scientists to solve regional challenges

Circular diagram of the organization of research areas of the Midwest Big Data Hub

Today, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced $10 million in “Big Data Spokes” awards to initiate research in specific areas identified, supported, and organized by the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). $2.4 million in Big Data Spoke, Early­ Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) and planning awards will connect the Midwest Big Data Hub (MBDH) and midwestern data scientists, to support digital agriculture; community-driven and sustainable neuroscience data infrastructure; improved sensor technologies; citizen scientists and real-time air quality monitoring; and new data-to-decision systems in hazards management by partnering data scientists with emergency personnel.