Data science solutions: emphasis of Tec’s new hub

Tec de Monterrey has created the Data Science Hub, an ecosystem that will seek to promote development projects for industry and society in general, based on the analysis of information and data.

Juan Arturo Nolazco, director of the Data Science Hub, explained that matters such as the use of smartphones, the Internet of Things, and a large capacity for data storage have led to the need for better data analysis.

“Good data analysis helps to make decisions, to understand the behavior of phenomena, to design or propose solutions, to minimize search spaces, or even automatically activate mechanisms,” he explained.

At the hub’s launch, which took place virtually on August 25, it was stressed that it’ll be an open and collaborative platform.

“It’s an initiative that will seek collaboration and partnerships with companies, organizations, researchers, and governments, so as to increasingly expand its services portfolio,” said Manuel Zertuche, Dean of the Tec’s School of Engineering and Sciences.

The Dean added that the Data Science Hub has already been working on multiple projects for a year. What’s more, it forms part of the Tec’s strategy to create platforms on strategic themes, such as its Cybersecurity Hub and Artificial Intelligence Hub.

How the Tec’s Data Science Hub works

Nolazco explains that the hub addresses the data needs of different stakeholders such as organizations, governments, universities, and companies.

The Hub consolidates and generates partnerships, as well as resources, that favor the initiatives of these stakeholders, researchers, and laboratories from different disciplines, to name but a few.

One example of the work they do is in the Tec BASE Genome Sequencing Laboratory, which studies the human genome, where they analyze DNA data from bacteria, viruses, animals, and plants, among other things.

“The Data Science Hub is the liaison: we manage this if TEC Base lacks equipment or teachers.

“For example, we’re holding a few conferences with the University of Texas in San Antonio to promote the Tec BASE area,” Nolazco explained.

The director of the Data Science Hub pointed out that they already have some partners, such as Google, Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Mathworks.

The Data Science Hub’s strands of work

This Tec hub operates along four axes: Education, Awareness, Research, and Consultancy.

Here are some of the actions they’ll look to promote in each area, or that have already been implemented:

- Education (professional training and ongoing education)

The educational part of the Hub includes material management and courses on topics related to the use and management of data.

These courses include databases, the use of Artificial Intelligence in Machine Learning, and even learning certain programming languages.

In the area of education, the Hub also collaborates on graduate degrees, including master’s and doctorates like the Master’s Degree in Applied Artificial Intelligence, or an online Data Science certification program via the edX platform.

Nolazco explains that although some of these educational courses existed before the Hub, they are now seeking under this initiative to maximize educational efforts in data science.

“It’s part of what we want at the Hub, for people to know that research was already being carried out at the Tec. In a way, this serves to endorse what’s being carried out and has been carried out,” he said.

“Good data analysis helps to make decisions, to understand the behavior of phenomena, and to design or propose solutions,” Juan Nolazco, the Data Science Hub director.

- Research in various areas

Regarding support for internal and external research, Nolazco stresses that initiatives and projects to improve people’s quality of life will be promoted, allowing the correct use of data to speed up research.

They’re currently working on a few projects, such as genome sequencing, developing hyperfoods or superfoods that have the potential to fight diseases such as cancer, or fruit and coffee crop characterization.

Other areas where they’re working on projects include the healthcare sector, on the detection and prognosis of diseases such as diabetes.

They’re also collaborating on material design, education, mobility, smart factories and cities, and even on speech technology, among other things.

- Data Science Awareness

The hub will also set about to promote the proper use and management of data, as well as its importance to socioeconomic development.

“We’re looking to encourage people to make good decisions with data. To do so, we’re creating a competition for students called 10K,” he adds.

Similarly, they’re working with the Nuevo León government to create a Data Science competition and a prize for the Data Science graduate course.

- Consultancy applied to various disciplines

Another of the hub’s areas of work is to provide consultancy on matters related to data science to different disciplines.

Nolazco says that companies, universities, and anyone who’s interested, can ask for support from the hub’s experts.

“We’re gradually reaching out to companies to look for these partnerships. The Tec has a lot of experience in external consultancy,” concluded the director.

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