Partnerships

MassMutual and UVM Expand Groundbreaking Data Science Partnership

$5 million gift establishes MassMutual Center for Complex Systems and Data Science

Expanding its relationship with the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Complex Systems Center, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) will provide $5 million in funding to further advance study and research in the field of data science and analytics.

The funding, to be provided over five years beginning in 2019, will include the establishment of the MassMutual Center of Excellence for Complex Systems and Data Science, which will initiate research projects and programs aimed at better understanding human wellness through data analytics, as well as programming to cultivate a strong pipeline of data science talent.

CA Technologies Doctoral Fellowships in Complex Systems and Data Science

We're are very excited to announce our new support for Doctoral Fellowships in Complex Systems and Data Science from CA Technologies.

CA Technologies, a global software firm, has made a gift of $300,000 to the University of Vermont to establish and fund doctoral fellowships in complex systems and data science. The fellowships will provide a competitive tuition and stipend package for up to two Ph.D. students per year for a minimum of three years. Preference will be given to women and candidates that are underrepresented in STEM.

The UVM PhD in Complex Systems and Data Science is now accepting applications. CA Technology Fellows will be chosen from the PhD in Complex Systems and Data Science applicants.

MITRE Corporation and Research Collaboration for Socio-technical Systems

The Complex Systems Center has had a long term connection with the MITRE Corporation led by an embedded MITRE engineer, Dr. Brian Tivnan.

MITRE has provided support for faculty and students in support of a wide range of research including measuring and understanding large-scale population health and happiness, (see hedonometer.org), and the vulnerability and inefficiencies of global financial systems.

MITRE is currently supporting students carrying out massive-data-driven research into the workings of the US financial system.

The goal of this Vermont Complex Systems Center project at the University of Vermont is to deepen understanding of how people, teams and organizations thrive in technology-rich settings, especially in open-source projects and communities. The Google Open-Source Programs Office, a division of Google that manages Google’s use and release of open source software and promotes open source programming, has provided the University of Vermont (UVM) Complex Systems Center a $1 million unrestricted gift to support open source research. The Google award will establish a collaboration between the Google Open Source team and UVM to begin building a community-oriented body of research focused on understanding how open source platforms are used and what makes technology-rich environments thrive.

The University of Vermont Complex Systems team has identified the initial research projects that will be conducted with the award. They include:

• How people, teams, and organizations thrive in technology-rich settings.
• Trade-offs between organizational structure and the spread of ideas and information.
• Investigating how scientists and software developers use computational and collaborative tools and platforms.
• Understanding what conditions allow individuals and communities to succeed in open source software and open science.