March 24, 2023
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU)
The newly established Center for Data-Driven Discovery (CD3) will advance our understanding of the universe by using data science and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) techniques while working together with ongoing research projects, it was announced by the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) in February. The CD3 will launch on April 1, and will host its opening symposium on April 19 - 20.
As research projects aimed at unraveling the mysteries of the universe have gotten bigger over the years, so has the amount of data they have produced.
With ongoing projects such as the Hyper Suprime-Cam, which has been mapping the universe, its sister project the upcoming Prime Focus Spectrograph, and the LiteBIRD cosmic microwave background satellite due to be launched later in the decade, it was time for Kavli IPMU to establish its own center to help make new discoveries.
Following on from the institute’s own success of becoming an environment fostering collaborative and interdisciplinary research since its establishment in 2007, the CD3 will foster collaborations between fundamental science, data science and AI/ML, and social sciences. The CD3 will also contribute to diversity and inclusiveness in science.
The Inaugural Director of CD3 is Jia Liu, a Project Associate Professor at the Kavli IPMU. She said, “the mission of CD3 is to 'decode our universe’, using our programming codes to understand the fundamental physical laws of the universe. CD3 will meet our desperate need to cope with the large amount of incoming data. For example, our astronomy group is used to dealing with millions of galaxies; soon we will have billions of them. Our existing tools simply cannot handle such drastic increases. Such obstacles exist in multiple research groups within Kavli IPMU, from particle physics to cosmology. Through CD3, we are now more tightly connected by the shared desire to integrate data science & AI/ML to our daily research.”
“I am particularly excited to experiment with new forms of learning and interaction. The field of AI/ML is making explosive progress every day, and the usual textbook-reading approach is too slow for that. I strongly encourage our members to take active roles in our upcoming interactive workshops, crash courses in deep learning, collaborative coding sessions or what we call `hackathons’. Data is fun and I hope we can all enjoy playing with it!“
Kavli IPMU Director Hirosi Ooguri said, “When I became the Director of this Institute, one of the first things I did was to develop our long-term strategic plan for the next decade. The planning report, completed in fall 2019, pointed out that ‘astrophysical and cosmological science are entering into an era of data intensive, computationally-driven science’ and that ‘this will open up new interdisciplinary opportunities. The report then recommended ‘launching an analysis center for leading the data reduction analysis and/or physics analysis of datasets from (upcoming experiments and observations at the Kavli IPMU)."
“I am delighted that, with CD3, we are making this recommendation a reality. The Kavli IPMU has a proven track record of fostering interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations in mathematics, physics, and astronomy, and we will build on it and expand our network of collaborations to include data science. I believe that such collaborations will benefit not only fundamental sciences at the Kavli IPMU but also data science. CD3 will play a key role in facilitating such collaborations. I have been impressed by Jia's leadership in putting together this new Center and look forward to its development.”
Several large scale projects have already joined the center, including the Hyper Suprime-Cam galaxy survey, the Prime Focus Spectrograph project, LiteBIRD, Super-Kamiokande and Hyper-Kamiokande, and the particle physics Belle-II collaboration.
The center has already attracted current Kavli IPMU researchers to become members, and the center itself has set a goal of 50/50 participation rate of both men and women researchers.
The CD3 will be located inside the Kavli IPMU on Kashiwa Campus, The University of Tokyo. The center will host its opening symposium on April 19 and 20.
Related links
Center for Data-Driven Discovery website
About the Center for Data-Driven Discovery (video)
CD3 symposium (April 19-20)
Research contact
Jia Liu
Director, Center for Data-Driven Discovery (CD3)
Project Associate Professor, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU)
E-mail: jia.liu_at_ipmu.jp
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Media contact
Motoko Kakubayashi
Press officer
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), The University of Tokyo
E-mail: press_at_ipmu.jp
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