“The report identifies five top recommendations, listed by priority. At the top of that list is a new University-wide institute on data science, aimed to integrate that growing field with mathematical modeling research.”
“The greater focus on data science would definitely help push the quantitative research of possibly all disciplines at Yale to a higher level — from medicine to physical sciences, social sciences and the humanities,” said Huibin Zhou, the chair of the statistics and data science department and a member of the Integrative Data Science panel.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/06/14/long-awaited-stem-report-calls-for-new-research-institutes/
And they will take the credit. No shock. No elite (especially a super elite) school would recognize “forefathers”…except Emory (who mentioned Northwestern as a part of the inspiration). Honestly even if they were going to implement an undergrad. curriculum in the area that looks very similar, all they have to say is: “Every other school is now looking to put money into data science” which is kind of true. It is a big agenda to enhance it at many universities.
Another difference between Yale and a place like Emory is that they have the resources to upgrade and build new STEM facilities at the drop of a pen. Emory may not even have the room anymore. I am curious to see if the University Strategic Plan supposedly coming out in the fall (should be somewhat interesting as McBride is fortunately an outsider who had a top administrative position at another elite school, Northwestern. Surely things they do right will inform some of the direction taking into account Emory’s unique set of challenges and opportunities) addresses how STEM may be developed more because quantitative life sciences initiatives is already in the ECAS strategic plan and other than the research fellows program (recruitment of elite post-docs), they probably need to start considering infrastructure (IT, Computing, etc)
@bernie12
How does Yale have undeveloped land on which to build new facilities?
I get that New Haven real estate is valued substantially less than Atlanta/Decatur’s but there’s got to be a limit.
Yale U has been around a lot longer than Emory. How is there still large tracts of land available to meet Yale’s needs?
How do you know the land is in New Haven? Article says West Campus, not New Haven main campus.
@ljberkow
You just answered the question…it has multiple campuses (or 2, I don’t know how many, but West Campus is sizeable and has lots of open space) and actually does have a decent amount of space left.
@BiffBrown : Why would time matter? There are things called location, master plans, and strategic land usage. Perhaps time and experience would make them superior at planning for growth. Emory’s first major master plan since its Atlanta move and the associated renderings seem to be in 2000. Something also tells me that Yale’s land is not halfway dominated by healthcare facilities. Apparently Emory recognized that issue: http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases/ER_Nov14.web.pdf
They did most of this stuff, but obviously the recession slowed things down (CLC has only started now. New hospital has only mid-400 beds which is short of the 700 they desired which may have allowed for demolishion: Another theme: Emory is reaching so much for space that it must almost always demolish and rebuild over the original OR axe green space which has happened a lot already…and I am sure they are reluctant to do much more of that). Theoretically, Briarcliff Campus has “West Campus” like potential, but is still amidst more of an “urban forest” (so not tons and tons of open land) plus…2009 recession.
demolition*
This is what Yale’s huge endowment has allowed it to do with its West Campus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eFpreLSMbo
Naturally Emory could only focus on the Clifton campus during most of this same period. Yale can do virtually whatever it pleases at any of its campuses so long as they have some vision for it.
Maybe Emory will reconsider some things as it goes towards new strategic planning, however Briarcliff (Emory’s West Campus) only has 42 acres apparently. I honestly feel as if C-mont was kind of the missed opportunity. I’m sure new master planning efforts would maybe focus on continued demolish/rebuilt sort of rearrangements where possible and honestly much space is wasted by parking decks that are above ground and even traditional parking lots like the one next to Peavine…which could technically host a facility affiliated with underground parking.
Also, got hospital bed number wrong. I think mid-4 may be between the old and new as the new only has 232. Perhaps the new CHOA and pediatrics projects on N. Druid Hills which are decently down the road/take lots of time will help (as Emory could take the Egleston building or build a new healthcare facility with the land if they don’t want to keep the building).
@bernie12
@ljberkow
I still think Emory should use the Oxford campus and surrounding area to build new things. Land in that area is much less expensive. New developments would also provide more of a bridge between main and Oxford campuses.
@bernie12 Yale’s decision to try to integrate QTM… I mean “statistics and data science” into traditionally non-quantitative undergrad disciplines is a dead give away that they’re thinking of Emory’s QTM.
@BiffBrown I’m not saying it isn’t. I’m just saying they certainly do not have to ever acknowledge it in any way (say they were at a professional meeting on higher education and some Emory faculty were present and a Yale administrator/faculty started discussing that plan…do you seriously think they would mention Emory? One would hope they would pay homage to some predecessors, but I wouldn’t bet on it because of the way these schools ultimately compete. They may acknowledge or discuss in informal or private conversations but not in formal speeches or press releases) primarily because it’s Yale (as we know, schools at that level of elite can essentially do no wrong and that every idea that comes from them is the best or “novel” and that they do or will do it the best), and because it is an area of rising emphasis at most universities looking to further enhance research efforts. Part of the reason Emory’s tends to mention what other schools it has inspired is precisely because it knows those schools will not mention inspiration beyond their own needs. Just doing that is a start for Emory which tends to be a bit too humble (usually it behaves in a way that suggests it doesn’t mind some other institution essentially taking its idea and marketing it better. In areas where it may lead, it never tended to broadcast as aggressively as it should and then this thread gets to deal with all the idiots who come on here and ask things like: “What is Emory good at?” or ignorantly imply that some other place is better or even substantially better in areas they clearly aren’t)
They can use Oxford campus for whatever, but due to the distance, it can’t be for anything core to the research mission of Emory. Those people want and essentially even need to be as close to the Atlanta campus as possible so that is just not realistic. Think about recruitment of new faculty who would work in such facilities. If you are trying to promote scientific and even interdisciplinary collaboration and may consider facilities for interdisciplinary endeavors, it is best for things to be proximal to already existing facilities. We all know that any new centers in STEM, for example will somehow relate themselves to the healthcare apparatus at Emory, and all of that is on main. Oxford campus needs to be used for what it is used for now, undergraduate education. It can have nice facilities for those purposes, but it would be futile to locate research any facilities all the way out there or really even near it.
@bernie12
Just looked up Yale’s West Campus. It’s in West Haven, 15-16 minutes away from New Haven if you take the interstate there.
There’s plenty of undeveloped land in the rural areas between Oxford and main and it should be relatively inexpensive. Being 20-30 minutes from main shouldn’t hinder collaboration given data sharing via intranets and Skype like technologies.
@BiffBrown : I get this feeling that Oxford isn’t “usually” 20-30 minutes. It is metro Atlanta. The “rural” areas you speak of are more suburban than anything else (you are likely talking about South Dekalb for example and maybe part of Rockdale County if you speak of rural). What about things like relative bikeability (not to say Clifton is amazing), access to public transport, etc? Those are all better and have potential to get better in more developed developed areas of metro Atlanta such as the Clifton area. Why skype when you can just have DIRECT access to everyone else on affiliated projects? I am sorry, but there is a huge difference. Unless there is a planned cluster of related facilities, which I would not recommend in those areas (Atlanta metro nor city does not need to lose more greenspace and definitely doesn’t need to lose more of its tree canopy), and definitely not in or near the Oxford campus, there is no point. I think this was more feasible at Yale perhaps because the main campus wasn’t already loaded with facilities serving some of the disciplinary and interdisciplinary areas they wanted to have a presence on West Campus. Emory kind of is. I am almost more willing to propose further, but minimized deforestation of the Clifton area. Perhaps areas like where Yerkes and stuff is, or they can gone ahead and stretch the potential of that area near North Druid Hills High. The 2nd Health Sciences Research Building is supposed to fill the rest of the plot of land that the first is on. It wouldn’t be too unreasonable to use that almost cleared land across from it and North Druid (more proximal to N. Decatur Road), to consider new facilities. Then there is the issue of whether or not they want to create new facilities for/with undergraduate accessible programs and space (say some miracle happened and biology/NBB wanted new digs that came along with some research space for faculty that specifically serve their departments as well as teaching space. That sort of thing cannot be outsourced…what if down the road QTM was serious enough to consider a facility or interdisciplinary space? Increased housing demands?), and those would have to stay on main.
Emory now considers ONE EMORY, including midtown campus. EUHM has some spaces on the north side and west side. should utilize them or some research buildings. Emory actually is fine regarding spaces. USC really needs a lot of space to build more, doing my doctorate here. UPC is totally packed, and HSC the medical campus somehow has very few acres left for future use. And here in LA the land is not as cheap as Atlanta. Feeling that those universities which are fast growing definitely requires another huge land grant, lol
@mgfammgfam : It can do better than fine. The double-edged sword strength and weakness of Atlanta is that the tree canopy is valued, so it looks like Emory has a lot left, when may not (I think past land-use plans and the previous master plan put lots of the most forested areas off-limits which has led to the “tear it down and build anew” scheme you see today).
@bernie12 Is Atlanta’s interest in maintaining forested areas enforced by strict laws or is it more of a custom/tradition?
I wish, half-century later, when I come back to visit my alma mater, I could still see the whole lullwater park.
@BiffBrown : I think some zoning ordinances have helped it in certain areas/neighborhoods of the city (of course most areas outside the perimeter are a free for all and there is still a lot of clear-cutting that happens, especially in many of the southern counties) . You are from Texas right (the Houston area?). At one point, Atlanta nearly dropped to Houston’s level of tree coverage at about 36% (I never knew Houston had so many trees, but to me Houston isn’t as “pretty” because its canopy isn’t as tall and the type of vegetation is just different, and Houston is flat. Atlanta’s canopy is so tall that it almost looks like either side of the financial districts are damned near uninhabited if you see aerial views. The only reason you can see some homes and stuff is because of the hills/topography) and I think this was 10 years ago. Now it is back up to 46% which is basically dead even with Nashville (a much less dense and developed city-Atlanta city is 3 times as dense as Nashville’s city-county thing. So basically, to get near Atlanta tree coverage in Nashville, you have to count all of Davidson county, lots of areas FAR outside the core of Nashville. 46% is just Atlanta which is less than a quarter of Fulton County geographically), so I think a mixture of zoning ordinances and private/non-profit foundations (treesAtlanta) have helped with replanting and the lot.