Researchers at a new University of Pittsburgh institute will use big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer modeling and simulation to take a whack at reducing, preventing or solving vexing problems like the opioid epidemic, climate change, global poverty and disease.
Pitt's School of Computing and Information will launch the Modeling and Managing Complicated Systems Institute, Paul Cohen, the founding dean of the school, announced Monday at the opening of the Modeling the World Systems Conference.
"If you understand the world that you're in, you can design interventions to make it a better world," Cohen said in a video announcing the institute. "That's what we're aiming for."
The institute will run massive data sets through AI or machine learning algorithms and create computer models or simulations to try to help researchers better understand cancer, traffic patterns, financial transactions and other systems. If scientists can figure out what drives the systems, good and bad, they can engineer tweaks to optimize or eliminate certain systems.
The institute will bring together researchers from across the university and from businesses, foundations, governments and other institutions to collaborate. Doctors, public health researchers, engineers, sociologists, government officials, business leaders and environmental advocates will work side-by-side with computer scientists.
"This institute is designed to apply the latest that we know about artificial intelligence and machine learning to understanding incredibly complex interacting systems," Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in the video. "These are typically some of the most difficult things to understand, and yet, they are so important to every thing we do."
Pitt opened the School of Computing and Information in the fall.
Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aaupperlee@tribweb.com, 412-336-8448 or via Twitter @tinynotebook.
