Completion of Big Data Task Force Report and Next Steps

This message has been approved by Dr. Sally McRorie, Provost and Executive Vice President, and Dr. Gary K. Ostrander, Vice President for Research, for distribution to all faculty, deans, directors and department heads.

We are pleased to announce the completion of the work of the Health Big Data Task force, convened in January 2018 to explore the campus big data needs across our behavioral, biological, biomedical and health related research efforts.

The committee’s final report (available athttps://healthdata.magnet.fsu.edu/), building on an AAAS Research Competitiveness study, confirmed the need for a centralized Health Data Sciences Institute to address health-related big data needs across campus and recommended, as a next step, the formation of an implementation committee. This appointed committee, which we are delighted to report will be chaired by Dean Larry Dennis, will begin this summer to clarify structural and cyberstructural needs and offer a timeline for implementation, as well as identifying some potential “prototype” projects.

This effort is part of a larger university-wide effort to expand our big data resources for faculty and students. CIO Jane Livingston and representatives from across campus are examining our overall needs, and we are working to identify potential resources available over time to meet those needs. Although the focus of the Big Data Task Force was health-related research, we recognize it is necessary to consider both enterprise-wide system needs as well as other research and academic disciplines in order to avoid duplicative efforts now and going forward.

The Health Data Sciences Institute project is part of that overall effort, and is a joint, major, effort from the Provost’s office and the OVPR that will require a sustained and significant commitment of resources. The Institute, as currently envisioned, will include two research/training centers, one focusing on basic life and medical sciences, the other on applied clinical and social sciences, public health, and policy. It will focus on team projects that address research data challenges, will offer graduate student support, and will train graduates and undergraduates in the technical skills they will need for future career success (nearly 25% of our current graduate and 20% of graduating undergraduate students are involved in health-related programs). The centralization of infrastructure that the Institute will offer is expected to aid in the generation of external funding, particularly from the NIH, and to break down disciplinary silos. The NIH has by far the largest portfolio of research funding of any federal agency, and our alignment of resources to take advantage of this type of extramural funding is an important component of the strategic plan for accelerating research funding growth over the next decade at FSU.

We convey our warmest thanks to the task force for their hard work: Jim Clark, Larry Dennis, Rick Feiock, Peter Fraser, David Gilbert, Jeffrey Joyce, and Jean Phillips, along with Louis Brooks, Beth Hodges, Cathy Nipper, and Chris Schoborg.

We are excited about the opportunities this Institute will provide!!

-- Provost Sally McRorie & Vice President for Research Gary K. Ostrander

The time is now to develop FSU’s strategy to establish and grow Big Data expertise and capacity in the biological, social, and health sciences.  To achieve this purpose, Provost Sally McRorie and VPR Gary Ostrander appointed a multidisciplinary and multi-college Task Force to explore pragmatic and effective strategies that can lead to significant extramural funding in these domains through the development of Big Data infrastructure.  The Task Force has been meeting since January 2018 and has done a deep dive into our campus situation, as well as conducted interviews with successful Big Data experts at FSU and universities across the nation.  While we are focused on the biological, social, and health sciences, we hope our efforts will help inform and support other Big Data initiatives.

While the development of a Center or Institute composed of expert faculty, staff, and students may serve as the best initial investment in an FSU campus-wide strategy, the Task Force believes that other organizational options should be considered.  In order to design an effective blueprint for the next steps, the Task Force has invited a site visit team of experts from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to conduct an assessment and discovery process that will engage a wide group of FSU constituencies across our campus.

FSU is strongly committed to attaining Top 25 status among the US public universities within the next two to five years.  Achieving this goal, and then maintaining this USN&WR ranking will require continued investments in multiple performance domains--including all aspects of student life and educational achievements--as well as in robust research productivity to sustain pre-eminence.  Our Task Force has carefully studied the importance of Big Data capacity and expertise, and its potential to advance FSU significantly; in fact, the Task Force recognized that Big Data capacity is critical for making the kind of meaningful progress envisioned in the FSU Strategic Plan.  Certainly, FSU’s current focus on significantly expanding its federal, foundation, and industry funding portfolio for the biological, social, and health sciences will require Big Data capacities that are currently absent or limited.

Attracting top faculty and students requires significant research and education capacity in Big Data.  Sustained preeminence requires that FSU effectively competes in a turbulent and highly competitive higher education and research funding environment.

In the areas of the biological, social, and health sciences, Big Data capacity and expertise is an infrastructure norm necessary for university researchers to compete for major federal, foundation and industry contracts and awards. The stellar position of the FSU Mag Lab is a good example of how strategically targeted capacity building can attract significant and long-term sponsored projects.  This is an FSU success story to replicate! To accomplish the same success for FSU’s research applications to NIH, SAMHSA, HHS, etc. requires Big Data infrastructure; this also characterizes the race for private-sector foundation and industry contracts, as well as for the creation of FSU-generated intellectual property and patents. Big Data capacity and expertise are crucial for scientifically-driven innovation.

Because of the increasing emphasis among FSU’s competitor institutions on Big Data, data science, computational medicine, etc., it is imperative to develop highly competitive course offerings, labs, fieldwork, and other “hands on” experiences to attract top students. Florida’s performance metrics heavily focus on the instruction and the student experience.  Educational programs that attract high quality doctoral students who help advance research and attract numerous master’s students are crucial for the University to meet these criteria and to reach revenue targets. Prospective students have many options and we need to make the compelling case that FSU is their best option.   Employers are not only seeking graduates with STEAM and STEM backgrounds—they additionally expect new employees to demonstrate computational, data management and advanced data analytics skill sets on the first day of work.  It is important to note that these jobs are high-pay, high-demand, and rapidly growing in number and importance.

As we calculate the future research successes of 200 new faculty (many who are tenure-track researchers)--as well as for our current researchers working in FSU’s colleges, centers, and institutes-- it is evident that developing and implementing a Big Data strategy is essential for the future success of FSU research and education.

Task Force Members (alphabetical order):  Jim Clark (Social Work); Larry Dennis (Communication & Information); Rick Feiock (Social Sciences & Public Policy); Peter Fraser & Dave Gilbert (Arts & Sciences); Jeff Joyce (Medicine); Jean Phillips (Libraries)

Supported by: Louis Brooks (Libraries), Beth Hodges (Office of Proposal Development); Chris Schoborg (Graduate Student, Statistics)