The new Data Hub will be located on Hearst Avenue just north of Koshland Hall. (Illustration by Hulda Nelson)
Among the highlights of the launch of UC Berkeley’s $6 billion Light the Way Capital Campaign is the exciting announcement of a $252 million gift to seed construction of a new Data Hub that will serve as the future home for the Division of Computing, Data Science, & Society (CDSS).
The visionary Data Hub, which will bring together researchers from diverse disciplines to found new fields and facilitate groundbreaking innovations, will also serve students and draw together broad swathes of the Berkeley community. It will include features such as active-learning classrooms, robotics and other artificial intelligence laboratories, workroom spaces, and a full-sized lecture hall.
The extraordinarily generous gift—the largest in UC Berkeley’s history, made by an anonymous donor—is one indication of the CDSS’ pivotal role and ambitious goals in the Campaign, which continues through the end of 2023.
”The Division’s great fundraising success in its first few months of existence speaks to both the excellence of what we’ve already created and the huge potential for our transformational, multidisciplinary approach to fully harness the power of data and computing to take on critical societal challenges,” said Jennifer Chayes, Associate Provost of CDSS and Dean of the School of Information.
“We want to educate the next generation to approach data ethically and masterfully; advance the state of the art in the core of computing, data science, information, and statistics; found new interdisciplinary fields; and make real progress on issues of human and societal significance” she said. “UC Berkeley, with its creative, brilliant, and socially committed faculty and students, is the best place in the world to do this.”
In addition to raising a significant sum to complete the Data Hub building, CDSS fundraising will focus on growing our spectacular faculty and research, innovative educational programs, and strong industry partnerships.
Priorities include:
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Supporting new faculty positions in the core areas of computing, data science, information, and statistics, as well as interdisciplinary faculty and research positions in key focus areas of societal importance, such as responsible and ethical AI, biomedicine, and climate change and sustainability.
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Expanding learning and research opportunities for undergraduates and research and teaching opportunities for graduate students, so that fluency with data becomes a signature of Berkeley’s educational offerings at all levels.
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Continuing to strengthen and build extramural partnerships such as those through the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) lab and RISELab and industry affiliate programs at EECS, Statistics and the School of Information.
We encourage all of our community to join us in building support for the amazing work underway at CDSS, starting with the Big Give on Thursday, March 12!
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