The following article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Monday, February 28, 2005.

Discovery Informatics Program
Finding a Home at CofC

Hurdle No. 1: To understand the new scientific field called Discovery Informatics, one must first imagine the vastness and speed of the information flood now spilling into the world's databases and hard drives.

So let's put it in context. All the books in the Library of Congress, the world's largest library, represent roughly 20 terabytes of information.

In 2005, our global civilization generates and stores at least that much information every day.

Now: Imagine reading the entire Library of Congress each day in a search for subtle patterns that could lead to new discoveries. Except it's more difficult than that. Since many of the best discoveries come from unanticipated observations, you must be able to spot these patterns on the fly, sometimes without even knowing what you're looking for.

Therefore, Hurdle No. 2: Imagine a computer capable of reading that torrent as it streaks by. Imagine a program that crawls endlessly through enormous archives of stored data. Not a tool – a partner.

Now imagine that one day your computer pops up, right out of the blue, and says something like, "There's an interesting correlation between late-night diaper sales and late-night beer sales in convenience and grocery stores. Would you like to investigate this further?"

That's Discovery Informatics, an emerging science that is on track to become the newest undergraduate major at the College of Charleston – and the first program of its kind in the United States.

SIGNAL AND STATIC

General informatics, also known as information science, is defined as the study of how information is structured, created, stored, retrieved, managed and communicated. It also can look at how we use information in organizations and systems.

"Data-mining" informatics has helped NASA spot changes in global climate; aided biologists in the quest to map the human genome; even given University of South Carolina physicists the ability to look for new quantum particles in old particle-smasher experiments.

But at the field's leading edge, Discovery Informatics attempts to bridge the gap between the limits of human intelligence and the mind-boggling ocean of information that human intelligence created.

"In the old statistical model, you had to have the questions first," said Jim Young, a mathematics professor and the director of the Discovery Informatics program. "This will find the questions for you. These tools can sort of come up with questions that you didn't even know about."

That's a pretty big statement, but don't miss the point: The College of Charleston isn't out to win any Nobel Prizes with this new program. Young makes it clear that universities with informatics doctoral programs will continue to produce the advanced theories: Charleston will produce the practical tools that put those theories to work, plus graduates who can operate and apply them.

"That's an outstanding idea," said Robert Chapman, a state research scientist with the Department of Natural Resources who works at Charleston's Hollings Marine Lab. "Believe me, there is an enormous employability area for this here. We need rafts of bachelor's and master's degree graduates who can do this, and they're very hard to find."

To forge that connection between theory and practice, the college plans to partner its D.I. program with 12 other degree fields. The approach is intended to teach informatics students how to apply D.I. techniques to specific problems, but also there is hope that D.I. will give professors in other departments new opportunities for original research. That's no small matter at the college, where the traditional emphasis has been on teaching undergraduates.

So if the D.I. major winds up giving a clever little boost to the rest of the school as well – well, that turns out to be one of the things Dean Norine Noonan had in mind from the start.

"Yes, it is very clever, and, in fact, Clemson and Carolina are very envious that they didn't think of it first," said Noonan, dean of the college's School of Science and Mathematics. "And (President Lee Higdon) was intrigued about the opportunity to bring the college some distinctiveness."

A group of faculty members assembled its proposal in 2004, burning much of its $10,000 budget on plane tickets and hotel rooms as it toured informatics programs at other universities. The group's idea won preliminary approval from a committee of the S.C. Commission on Higher Education in January, and a final vote is scheduled Thursday.

SECOND DECADE

To its proponents, the various forms of informatics represent a revolution in the making – although, in fairness to its critics, there are those at the college who worry that it's just so much esoteric horse-hockey.

Some of that skepticism might be a function of novelty. Informatics originated just 10 years ago and Discovery Informatics wasn't even a term until 2003, said Christopher Starr, a computer science professor at the college who has been one of the leaders in assembling the major. So far, the needs of researchers and business have been "co-drivers" of the informatics movement, he said.

But government is taking it seriously, too, and it's not too difficult to imagine why. The ability to find digital needles in data haystacks is a nifty trick for a variety of government interests: intelligence, counterintelligence, law enforcement, etc. Young points out that the National Security Agency, which specializes in eavesdropping on international communications, has become one of the best job markets for new statisticians.

And guess who else is snapping up graduates these days? Google.

At the beginning, though, the big push came from biology, a field that long has struggled under the weight of its own data. Genomics involves huge sets of information. Drug trials are slow and expensive.

"The ignorance is boundless," said Chapman, who is credited with founding the science of marine genomics. "It's kind of like trying to study the North Pole when you don't know where the North Pole is. That's where we're at."

Traditional science begins with an observation and a prediction, which then is tested. But bioinformatics arose when scientists began to see that the traditional approach often missed unexpected – and sometimes far more important – issues. Using machines to look for patterns in vast piles of data offered a way around the human-observation bottleneck.

"It picks out things that are not obvious," said Chapman. "Everybody can more or less pick out a cyclical pattern ... but some patterns are more subtle."

Today, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences officially lists discovery science and traditional hypothesis-driven science as "complementary approaches."

For now, college officials are looking forward to getting their program up and running for the fall. They expect they'll be able to recruit students across the country, and hope that success with the Discovery Informatics program will raise the school's national profile. Universities that offer informatics master's degrees have indicated that they'll take "as many graduates as we can send them," Noonan said.

"We felt that this was the wave of the future, frankly," Noonan said.

If all goes well with Thursday's vote, the College of Charleston is about to find out just how far that wave will take it.

Discovery Informatics? Say what?

In simple terms, it's the study of computer and mathematical techniques that get useful information from large streams or collections of data, the science of getting new ideas from existing information.

Why is that important?

The availability of cheap information transmission and storage (a terabyte of data can be stored on about $40 worth of DVDs) opens new possibilities. On the flip side, that's just far more information than a single human being can absorb. Result: These new capacities require new and better techniques.

But how is that really different from what computers do now?

With a few exceptions, modern computers are built to do what they're told. A Discovery Informatics computer actually suggests new topics for humans to study.

What does the College of Charleston have in mind?

The college will launch an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree program in Discovery Informatics, the first of its kind in the country, this fall. The program would most likely require hiring two additional faculty members and max out at about 50 students in its fourth year. The college is hoping to fund additional costs through grants. The school also will offer a minor in D.I.

What does the degree require?

Three components: math, 10 courses; computer science, seven courses; and two courses designed specifically for the D.I. program. Students must also demonstrate competency in another field of study, or "cognate." There are currently 12: biomechanics, customer relationship management, e-commerce, economics, exercise physiology, geology, molecular biology, organismal biology, physics and astronomy, psychology, sociology, and supply chain management.

Why are all those other subjects involved?

Universities will continue to create the big theories, but the college intends to define its role as turning those theories into practical tools, and that requires a working knowledge of the jobs people do. The college also hopes to apply D.I. techniques in other departments.

How does this affect the rest of us?

It might not, and some members of the faculty will be skeptical until the program proves its worth. In the best-case scenario, the program produces successful graduates, raises the college's profile and provides a boost – direct or indirect – to local researchers and businesses.

How do I find out more?

Contact Renée McCauley, Director
Discovery Informatics Program
Department of Computer Science
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC 29424
843-953-3187