Big Data Research Initiative in the Obama Administration

by Marcos Ortiz

Obama administration unveiled a Big Data Research and Development Initiative with $200 million

I received a message now from Yanchang Zhao announcing this initiative from the Obama administration about this investment on Big Data tools. Here is the completed message:

Obama administration unveiled a Big Data Research and Development Initiative with $200 million on March 29, 2012, to improve the ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data. Six Federal departments and agencies are involved to to improve the tools and techniques needed to access, organize, and glean discoveries from huge volumes of digital data, and transform the ability to use Big Data for scientific discovery, environmental and biomedical research, education, and national security.

The Big Data initiative aims to:

  • Advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data.
  • Harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning; and
  • Expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies.

It includes:

  • National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health — Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering;
  • Department of Defense — Data to Decisions;
  • National Institutes of Health — 1,000 Genomes Project Data Available on Cloud;
  • Department of Energy — Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing;
  • US Geological Survey — Big Data for Earth System Science.

More details at available at:

Final Thoughts

Everyday, I talk with my colleagues about the key role that will play Big Data tools like Apache Hadoop, R, NoSQL platforms, and we are convinced that we are in the right path to success, getting deeper everyday in these amazing pieces of technologies and learning a lot in the process. So, look for the advice from Michael Driscoll (@medriscoll), former founder of DataSpora and current CEO of MetaMarkets Group for new and young Data Scientist: “Learn to munge, model and visualize data now, and you will be rewarded later”

Happy Hacking !!!