Institute for Data Science

WHAT WE DO

The Institute for Data Science works with faculty, students, and the community and promotes the advance of data science and machine learning.

  • Email:

    ids@olemiss.edu
  • Office Location:

    Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, 313 Lyceum
  • Phone:

    662-915-7583
  • Office Hours

    8:00 - 5:00, Monday - Friday

Goals

For faculty: provide opportunities for existing and future faculty to engage in, collaborate on, and compete for sponsored research projects that advance data science and machine learning methods or apply them to solve problems of importance to society, by giving support in grant writing and data analysis.

For students: provide opportunities for students in existing programs to develop analytics skills through new courses, workshops, summer internships, and faculty-mentored research experiences.

For external connections: provide a unified interface to large and small companies and non-governmental organizations looking to engage data science experts in the ethical use of data to create new enterprise, solve business problems, and improve society.

 

Mission

Fostering interdisciplinary research and education in multidisciplinary grand-challenge areas;

Strengthening and expanding the University network by enhancing relationships with world-class researchers and establishing links and creative partnerships with industry leaders, community, and government stakeholders;

Supporting current graduate and undergraduate degree offerings involving data science and analytical skills.

Institute Faculty and Staff

Panduka Nagahawatte

Panduka Nagahawatte

  • Director of the Institute for Data Science
Lori Nichols

Lori Nichols

  • Data Scientist
Hong Xiao

Hong Xiao

  • Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science

Affiliated Faculty and Staff

For faculty and research staff who are interested in collaboration with IDS,  please fill out this form and tell us more about yourself.
Richard Balkin

Richard Balkin

  • Chair and Professor of Counselor Education
John Bentley

John Bentley

  • Professor of Pharmacy Administration and Marketing and Research Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management Pharmacy Administration
Yunhee Chang

Yunhee Chang

  • Professor of Nutrition and Hospitality Management
Yixin Chen

Yixin Chen

  • Chair and Professor of Computer and Information Science
Amar Chittiboyina

Amar Chittiboyina

  • Principal Scientist and Associate Director of the National Center for Natural Products Research
Jiayu Fang

Jiayu Fang

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate
Matthew Jessee

Matthew Jessee

  • Assistant Professor of Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management
Minsoo Kang

Minsoo Kang

  • Professor of Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management
Jing Li

Jing Li

  • Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Research Assistant Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Ryan Parsons

Ryan Parsons

  • Assistant Professor of Sociology and Southern Studies
Joseph Wellman

Joseph Wellman

  • Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Experimental Training

Partnerships

You’re welcome to partner with us!  Please contact ids@olemiss.edu for more details.

Please fill out this form if you want to tell us more about yourself.

Resources

See our recommended data science resouces, both free and paid.

Free software

R: good for statistical modeling and bioinformatics analysis. Rstudio is a premium IDE for R and home for R Shiny web applications.   Find Cheatsheets for R here.

Python: good for machine learning.Deep learning packages include Pytorch, Tensorflow and Keras. Find cheatsheets for Python here.

Orange: complete workflow package for data mining.

Free software for university users

Mathematica: Go here, find the “Mathematica” and download.

Matlab: Go here, find the “Matlab” and download.

Tableau: Go here. Viewers can just sign in using their webID. Producers in the university need to send request using this form. Students can get a free desktop version here.

Paid software

Prism: easy to use for those who have fewer knowledge on statistics and coding, with user interface and a lot of help and tutorials.

SAS: is a commercial statistics software that has been widely used in health care and social science.

Raw data for “An Analysis of the Jackson Mississippi Water Crisis using Social and News Media” paper: JWC_raw_data

LibGuide: Check the University of Mississippi Libraries for research data management resources.

EDRES: Check the Educational Research and Design website at Ole Miss for inspiration in growing, learning, and expanding your research agenda beyond the basics of statistics.