Caltech's Chen Institute Unites Neuroscience and Big Data

A half decade after its inception, the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech has expanded to include a new center in data science and artificial intelligence (AI).

Breakthrough techniques in neuroscience generate enormous data sets, such as recordings of the ongoing activities of thousands of neurons and videos of complex animal behavior. But often, neuroscientists have not had formal training in the data science and machine learning methods required to analyze and interpret big data.

Now, the Chen Institute will develop the Chen Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DataSAI). Lior Pachter (BS ’94), Bren Professor of Computational Biology and Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Pietro Perona, Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering, will serve as co-directors of DataSAI. The Chen Institute is directed by David J. Anderson, Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Anderson also holds the inaugural Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience Leadership Chair.

The center will sponsor programs including a data science and AI boot camp, as well as workshops for students to learn how to interpret large data sets. Caltech students will also have access to the technical equipment to generate and analyze data, and the center will provide them with opportunities for summer internships at off-campus research centers specializing in data science and AI. Says Pachter: “We are all very excited about the opportunity to develop a program that could lead to the establishment of the Chen Institute at Caltech as an international center for training neuroscience students in data science and artificial intelligence.”