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Partnerships

CDAC engages with government, industry, and academic partners from around the world to solve critical challenges, spur new ideas, and accelerate innovation.

Why CDAC?

The center is a university-wide focus point for launching new research, training the next generation of computing leaders, and developing valuable prototypes and software. As part of the research incubator program, CDAC has invested nearly $1.2M over the past year in 14 interdisciplinary data science and computing research projects involving 35 faculty members from 28 unique departments.

UChicago Data Science Ecosystem

Students

  • 2,600+ CS undergraduate enrollments (including non-CS majors)
  • 4 data, statistics, computing undergraduate major programs
  • 9 data, statistics, computing master’s programs offered across 7 departments and schools

Faculty & Research

  • 91 Nobel Prize winners
  • $1.5B+ R&D budget (UC + national labs)
  • 35 Computer Science faculty
  • 21 Statistics faculty

Engagement Opportunities

Industry Affiliate Program

The CDAC affiliates program is a mechanism that connects industry partners to CDAC research, emerging technologies, and talent acquisition opportunities. Members are given unprecedented access to a leading academic center, faculty, and students focused on the next generation of interdisciplinary computing- and data-driven research across the University of Chicago. The mission of the CDAC affiliates program is to lower barriers to collaboration and encourage mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships.

Benefits include:

  • Access to cutting edge research and emerging technologies through:
    • Bi-annual Research Summit
    • Access to lectures, publications, workshops, and networking events
    • Guest lectures
    • Visiting Scientist Program
  • Engagement with students in computing, AI, and data-driven research through:

Partners will also benefit from access to resources and expertise at the University of Chicago, two affiliated national labs, and a close relationship with the Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Corporate Sponsored Research

Sponsored research allows companies to leverage deep faculty expertise, build relationships, and access unique facilities and resources. Companies support a faculty-led research project on a topic of mutual interest that may provide insight or a proof of concept that can inform corporate research and development.

Strategic Partnerships

We facilitate the creation of both internal and multi-institutional partnerships or consortium to identify and execute shared goals. We have engaged with organizations such as the Army Research Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Polsky Center, and the Wall Street Journal. Examples of partnerships can include:

  • Interdisciplinary seed funding around strategic topics
  • Exploratory workshops to identity shared goals and mutually beneficial outcomes
  • Joint research centers

Exploratory Convenings

We partner with organizations both within the University of Chicago and beyond to organize workshops, expert or keynote speaker talks, working groups, or other convenings focused on novel, interdisciplinary, data-driven or computing research topics.

If you are interested in more information about partnership opportunities please contact Julia Lane, Executive Director, Center for Data and Computing (CDAC), jlane2@uchicago.edu.