Kristin Bennett, professor of mathematical sciences, has been named associate director of the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA).
Kristin Bennett
“Dr. Bennett has a well-deserved international reputation not just for her expertise in data analytics and exploration, but also for her world-class innovative approaches to advancing education in the field of data science and her forward-looking approach to bringing students into the area early in their academic careers,” said Jim Hendler, director of IDEA. “She is a great addition to IDEA’s leadership, and I look forward to working with her as we further establish the Rensselaer IDEA as a leader in the data sciences field.”
The Rensselaer IDEA is a campuswide institute that supports data-centric, interdisciplinary activities. We live in a data-driven, web-enabled, supercomputer-powered, globally interconnected world, and this poses significant new challenges to scientists and engineers throughout all of their disciplines. IDEA will enable research across campus to develop technologies for sensing the environment, collecting and analyzing this data, using it to simulate engineered, biological, and social systems, and applying these results to provide effectors, physical or cyber, that can help solve critical global challenges.
Bennett’s research focuses on extracting information from data using novel predictive and/or descriptive mathematical models, and data visualizations, and the applications of these methods to support decision making, and to accelerate discovery in science, engineering, public health, and business.