N1005 IBM Research: IBM Social Good Fellowship

<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka Mojsilovi</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ć</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">led the creation of the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ibmresearch/will-crowdsourcing-and-data-stem-the-ebola-outbreak">Ebola Open Data Jam</a> in 2014. A community effort which helped </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">to identify, inventory and classify all open data sources related to the Ebola outbreak, it provided governments, aid agencies and researchers with free and open access to valuable open data related to the epidemic on the platform <a href="http://www.eboladata.org/">EbolaData.org</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzoZLgCztAuniuPHgf0aNBKaz0R4U__hIYzvDoMbASXtEFNGU6twNVZu-B6VGCOFSoZNTtkhWIhIZmq6EFFdoKYpVLDOD3DbeweMufXPWIBFMxXAhzMUWLNB4TAaqe_XyxcgshNUkfWU/s1600/kush_varshney1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzoZLgCztAuniuPHgf0aNBKaz0R4U__hIYzvDoMbASXtEFNGU6twNVZu-B6VGCOFSoZNTtkhWIhIZmq6EFFdoKYpVLDOD3DbeweMufXPWIBFMxXAhzMUWLNB4TAaqe_XyxcgshNUkfWU/s1600/kush_varshney1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Research scientist Kush Varshney</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Kush Varshney is a data ambassador for DataKind,</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> an organization that brings together leading data scientists with high impact social organizations to better analyze, model and visualize data in the service of humanity. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">He has led projects</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> with NGO <a href="http://www.datakind.org/projects/using-the-simple-to-be-radical"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">GiveDirectly</span></a> and <a href="http://krvarshney.github.io/pubs/GerardRSVKN_d4gx2015.pdf">Simpa Networks</a>. GiveDirectly delivers cash directly to <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ibmresearch/volunteers-and-algorithms-deliver-funds">extremely poor villagers</a> in Kenya and Uganda.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Using a combination of volunteers, satellite imagery, image processing and a machine learning-based algorithm, the team trained a system to identify the poorest villages based on the proportion of thatch to metal roofed homes, a simple yet effective proxy for poverty. A resulting <a href="http://krvarshney.github.io/pubs/AbelsonVS_kdd2014.pdf">paper</a>on the research was awarded the best social good paper at the 2014 <a href="http://www.kdd.org/kdd2014">KDD</a> Conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br /><a name="more"></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://asmarterplanet.com/files/2014/04/Saska1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://asmarterplanet.com/files/2014/04/Saska1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Fellow Saška Mojsilović</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">For Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka, an IBM Fellow (the company’s highest technical rank), putting her skills as a data scientist to societal issues is a professional responsibility. “</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">There are so many </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">disparities in the world from justice, to poverty, to hunger. We need to try to do something. If everyone did the best they could do – the world might go in a different direction. We have a responsibility as people and scientists. And we have a responsibility to raise new generations of data scientists to think and act the same.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">For Kush, an IBM Research scientist and member of Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka’s team, it’s also about following family example. “My grandfather was dedicated to many social causes in India throughout his life. He was an applied mathematician like me, but in his day, there was no data being collected in the social sector, so he used other means to make a difference. Today, I can use my expertise to create a better world.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Today, their sense of purpose has led to the founding of IBM’s <a href="http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/initiatives/IBMSocialGoodFellowship.html">Social Good Fellowship Program</a>. This new initiative invites graduate and post-doctoral students to apply their computer science and statistical skills to projects that address important social issues, such as health care, equality, the environment, sustainability, disaster response and more.</span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">As co-directors of the program, Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka and Kush bring a tremendous amount of knowledge, relationships and experience. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">They’re what you might call hands-on philanthropic scientists, who will pair students and scholars with IBM scientists and partner organizations to tackle some of the biggest challenges in our world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Open Data at a Tipping Point</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">The social good movement has taken root with many a corporation, entrepreneur and big thinker, with the simple aim of using technology to help create a better world. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Data science is one increasingly important way that social good can be made possible and an entire community has grown around it, fueled in large part by the fact we are no longer constrained by data.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidFWHu_1LLP1BxwoyCiZItg9sPMmL4pHOiV-15CW2TWE-6oMmmI_PPaHPq0xSnpignViNc_H9i8oV_HbxbiqglNjXWF01d9UYYGSGq9ILsCfy50x2KYWM_Il6eeGMqt_bPdlA74USuObs/s1600/KushVarshney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidFWHu_1LLP1BxwoyCiZItg9sPMmL4pHOiV-15CW2TWE-6oMmmI_PPaHPq0xSnpignViNc_H9i8oV_HbxbiqglNjXWF01d9UYYGSGq9ILsCfy50x2KYWM_Il6eeGMqt_bPdlA74USuObs/s640/KushVarshney.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Research scientists Raya Horesh (standing, far left), Dennis Wei (standing, center), Kush Varshney (sitting, right), and Saška Mojsilović (far right) with data science community members at the second Ebola Open Data Jam in 2015.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">“Everything from Internet activity, satellite imagery, social media, health records, news, scientific publications, economic data, weather data, and government records is all at our fingertips, giving us an opportunity, and a responsibility, to change the world for the better using data science,” said Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Two types of fellowships will be offered through the program. Starting this summer, IBM Research will bring on graduate students for a 12-week fellowship, and later in the year a postdoctoral scholar will be hired to complete a one-year fellowship. Each student will </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">be partnered up with one or more IBM Research mentors who will assist and guide the data scientists throughout their term. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Over time, Kush and Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka hope to expand the number of hires, partners, mentors, IBM labs, and scientific disciplines that make up the program.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">What’s notable about the IBM fellowship is that it’s the first corporate program </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">aimed exclusively at data science for social good, focused on advanced students with skills in computer or data science and analytics. IBM is now joining the data for good movement, which has so far been largely shaped by startups, non-profits, hackathons/challenges and university-based programs. Friends who are active players in this community, such as the <a href="http://dssg.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a> and <a href="http://www.datakind.org/">DataKind</a>, shared many lessons with Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka and Kush that were instrumental in helping shape the creation of the IBM effort.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Key to the success of the program is scoping. Well before any student starts, the IBM team will have worked with partners to secure and curate the relevant data, lay out the objectives and agree on outcomes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 310.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">For Kush and Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka, this program means more than </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">giving the next generation of data scientists projects with which to hone their skills and produce publishable results. It’s also helping them make an impact on humanity by </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">addressing issues important to the general population. And then there’s another type of giving with the involvement of IBM mentors. “I can’t even explain the amount of enthusiasm we have received for this program. Everyone wants to participate,” Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka says.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 310.0pt; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">NGOs, mission driven organizations or social enterprises interested in working with IBM on this effort and g</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">raduate students interested in becoming fellows</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">please visit <a href="http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/initiatives/IBMSocialGoodFellowship.html">IBM Social Good Fellowship</a> or email <a href="mailto:good@us.ibm.com"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">good@us.ibm.com</span></a>.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> Sa</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">š</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">ka and Kush are also tweeting at <a href="https://twitter.com/ibmsocialgood">@IBMSocialGood</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div>

Sa š ka Mojsilovi ć led the creation of the Ebola Open Data Jam in 2014. A community effort which helped to identify, inventory and classif...