This talk was held at the 10th meeting on February 3rd 2014 by Dr. Thilo Stadelmann. Many companies are struggling with Big Data. Some argue that Big Data is the new answer to all problems while others are more critical about it. What is common to many discussions with IT professionals is that almost everyone has a different understanding of the topic. Moreover, many enterprises find it very hard to recruit the perfect data scientist to solve Big Data problems. In this talk we give an overview of our understanding of data science and present the driving factors for the newly established Datalab at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. The goal of the lab is to establish a sound curriculum and research agenda to prepare data scientists for the ever-increasing demand from industry and to allow industry partners collaborate with academia to solve problems that go beyond everyday routines.

1. Educating Data Scientists of the Future
Dr. Kurt Stockinger (presented by Dr. Thilo Stadelmann)
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Zurich University of Applied Sciences
03.02.2014 @ 10th Swiss Big Data User Group Meeting, Zurich, CH
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2. Zurich University of Applied Sciences
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Dates back to Technikum in Winterthur, Switzerland
Founded in 1874
Since 2007 it is called ZHAW:
• Integration of various universities of applied sciences in canton Zurich
• Largest university of applied sciences in Switzerland with more than 10,000
students
• Campuses in Zurich, Winterthur and Wädenswil
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Most famous lecturer:
• 1901: Albert Einstein
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3. 140,000-190,000 Data Scientists Missing
in 2018 in the US Only
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4. Definition of Data Science
Definition of data science [Wikipedia]:
Incorporates math, statistics, data engineering, pattern recognition and learning,
advanced computing, visualization, uncertainty modeling, data warehousing, and
high performance computing.
Used interchangeably with competitive intelligence or business analytics.
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5. Google Trends “Data Scientist”
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6. The Major Waves of the Data Tsunami
Wave 1 - Large-Scale Science:
CERN – High Energy Physics
Astrophysics
Bioinformatics
Wave 2 – Web companies:
Search engines:
Google, Yahoo
eCommerce:
Amazon, eBay
Wave 3 - Social Networks:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
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7. Data Science Opportunities
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8. Datalab = Data Science @ ZHAW
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One of the first Data Science Labs in Europe
Collaboration of computer scientists, statisticians, mathematicians and
physicists for solving Data Science problemens:
• Institut for Applied Information Technology
• www.init.zhaw.ch
• Institut for Data Analysis and Process Design
• www.idp.zhaw.ch
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9. Our Definition of Data Scientist
T. Stadelmann, K. Stockinger, M. Braschler, M. Cieliebak, G. Baudinot, O. Dürr, A. Ruckstuhl,
Applied Data Science in Europe. In: European Computer Science Summit. ECSS 2013. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IEEE.
http://pd.zhaw.ch/publikation/upload/204718.pdf
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10. 10
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11. DAS Data Science with
Precision
Diploma of Advanced Studies – planned start: fall 2014
Content – 3 modules (part time, one afternoon + evening per week):
• CAS Information Engineering:
• Information Retrieval & Text Analysis
• Data Warehousing & Big Data
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CAS Data Analysis:
• Statisticis
• Regression Analysis, Clustering, Classification
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Data Science Applications:
• Machine Learning
• Data Visualization
• Data Protection Laws and Data Security
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12. Summary
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Data Science is currently one of the hottest fields in computer science
• Data Science workshop in Winterthur, March 2014
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Data Scientists are a very rare but highly demanded “species”
• We are working on a curriculum for educating data scientists
• DAS Data Science planned for fall semester 2014
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Contact:
• Kurt.Stockinger@zhaw.ch
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