Celebrated ‘big data’ researcher comes to Montral

Montréal, QC – Dr. Andrea Lodi, one of the world’s most respected data scientists, has been appointed as the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in data science for real-time decision-making at Polytechnique Montréal.

Dr. Lodi, who has come to Canada from the University of Bologna, Italy. becomes the 23rd Canada Excellence Research Chair holder.

As the CERC in data science for real-time decision-making, Dr. Lodi’s work will focus on developing new methods of exploiting big data, creating algorithms to achieve optimized strategies for decision-making, which will help solve day-to-day problems in real time. Dr. Lodi will develop software that city planners in Canada and around the world can use to make optimal decisions concerning the scheduling of trains or subways, the assignment of telecommunication frequencies, or health-care management. This type of software has significant environmental benefits as it can be applied to natural resource management to control waste and overuse.

Polytechnique Montréal will receive up to $10 million in funding over seven years to support Dr. Lodi and his team’s ambitious research program.

The CERC Program is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

“The world is approaching significant future economic and social opportunities related to emerging technologies,” said Ted Hewitt, president, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. “The arrival at the Polytechnique Montréal of Andrea Lodi, one of the world’s leading researchers in the use of mathematical optimization and big data for real-time decision-making, will provide Canadians with crucial knowledge and insights, and help consolidate Canada’s position as a leader in big data management and its applications.”