Urban Science and Data

The Opportunity:

Arete is helping to carving out a space for the University in the growing field of urban science and data.  By putting together a robust portfolio of projects with diverse faculty and scientists, the University is leveraging data analytics and high performance computing to solve problems that cities face.  Components of this overall portfolio include: the creation of the Urban Center for Computation and Data; the Living Cities Lab, a research collaboration between the University and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, an architectural firm which plans city-scale redevelopment efforts for clients around the world; LakeSIM, a computational planning tool which connects urban planning with scientific models for large-scale planning (a collaboration between Argonne and McCaffery Interests, the developer of the 600 acre Chicago Lakeside brownfield development site); a prospective sociological study of the neighborhoods surrounding Lakeside; and the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Data Science for the Social Good Fellowship Program, an initiative in which student fellows in computer science, programming, and statistics work with academic and business advisors on projects of social import.

What We did for them:

• Collaborate with National Labs
• Engage external partners and community leaders
• Launch center or institute, from conception to hiring dedicated staff

Project Leads: Charlie Catlett, Rayid Ghani, Kate Cagney

Website:  www.urbanccd.org; www.dssg.io