The Harvard Data Science Initiative is pleased to announce support for two new faculty research projects that address pressing challenges in political science and policy evaluation. Measuring Partisan Gerrymandering in State Legislatures Kosuke Imai, Professor of Government and of Statistics, seeks to develop new computational methods to quantify the extent of partisan gerrymandering in state…
Meet the 2025 SPUDS Fellows
Each summer, the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) hosts the Summer Program for Undergraduates in Data Science (SPUDS), a ten-week immersive research program co-sponsored by Harvard College. As a part of the Harvard Summer Undergraduate Research Villages, SPUDS provides undergraduates with substantive research experience, mentorship from leading Harvard faculty, and the opportunity to join a…
Newly Funded: Two Postdoctoral Fellow Research Projects
We are excited to announce the 2025 recipients of the Harvard Data Science Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fund awards. From advancing human health to transforming biodiversity research, these projects reflect the HDSI’s mission to support data-driven research with broad scientific and societal impact. Jennifer Leestma – Restoring Human Mobility Through Intelligent Muscle Stimulation Jennifer Leestma, a…
Connecting Data Science to Agricultural Resilience
Recapping the 2025 Regenerative Agriculture Science and Policy Forum, co-hosted by HDSI and Indigo Ag “Agriculture and food systems are among the most urgent domains for advancing public-good outcomes through data science,” says Elizabeth Langdon-Gray, executive director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI). This view shaped the June 2025 Regenerative Agriculture Science and Policy Forum,…
Newly Funded: Improving Trust in Scientific Research Among Patients
Gordon McKay professor of Computer Science Krzystof Gajos received HDSI funding to create a new platform that helps foster trust with individuals with movement disorders by allowing them to view and explore their own data, helping them feel more informed and engaged in the research process. Understanding how people move and behave can help scientists…
Newly Funded – The Proposal Pivot Engine
With funding from the HDSI, Professor S. Bryn Austin and team are developing the Proposal Pivot Engine (PPE), a data-driven tool to help researchers adapt their proposals for non-federal funding sources like philanthropic organizations and industry partners. The prototype will use natural language processing and machine learning to analyze proposals, map funding ecosystems, and generate…
Newly Funded – Climate Stress, Nutrition, and Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa
This project, led by Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition Walter C. Willett will use machine learning to analyze existing Africa/HSPH Partnership for Cohort Research and Training (PaCT) data for patterns between climate stress, diet, and disease risk; while testing smartphone-based real-time data collection in sub-Saharan Africa. The research aims to identify vulnerable populations affected by…
Protecting continued progress in data science
To our colleagues, friends, and supporters, Recently, we have witnessed unprecedented attacks on scientific discovery, scholarship, and students, especially international ones. We are in an extraordinary and perilous moment that demands a steadfast response. As Harvard University defends academic freedom, we recommit ourselves to advancing the science of data, and we invite you to support our…
Newly Funded – A Question-Answering Dataset for AI Agents in Modern Chip Design
Vijay Janapa Reddi (Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) and the Edge Computing Lab aim to expand QuArch v0.5, the first dataset of 1,500 validated question-answer pairs designed to test and improve language models specifically for microprocessor design. The expansion will cover more advanced topics and establish a public leaderboard, creating a…
Announcing Two New AWS Impact Computing Projects
The HDSI is excited to announce the launch of two new research projects supported by the AWS Impact Computing Project at the HDSI. The project titles and principal investigators can be viewed here. These new awards bring the total number of funded projects under the AWS sponsored research program to eight, furthering and expanding research aimed at generating…
Newly Funded – Trust at First Sight: How We Process and Accept Scientific Information through Visualizations
An Wang Professor of Computer Science, Hanspeter Pfister, and former HDSI Postdoc Carolina Nobre (now an Assistant Professor at University of Toronto) follow up on their previous Trust in Science award to explore how people process and trust scientific information when it’s presented through data visualizations, such as graphs and charts. Using eye-tracking technology, researchers…
Human vs. AI – or is it?
A reflection on the 2025 HDSI Winter Workshop By Erin Kiesewetter On the morning of Friday, March 7, I sat at the kitchen table with my three roommates, discussing our co-op assignments for the day. One would be transcribing transcripts for a political journalism discussion; another would be placing orders for inventory; and another would…