DATA-LIFE is an interdisciplinary education experience involving students and faculty from NYU-CUSP (Center for Urban Science + Progress of the New York University), from Computer Science & Engineering (Data Science Lab) and Design at Politecnico di Milano.

Four to six students, from NYU and from Politecnico di Milano, will join together to solve problems within the data science context. Under the supervision of the faculty of both universities, this activity will give students the opportunity to work collaboratively with real world application.

Problems will cross the disciplines of data management, machine learning, data analysis, statistics and mathematics, data visualization and user experience design. Students will craft their solutions by developing the methodology, software, visualization, and high-performance elements, testing, completing the solution, and finally producing final papers that may be submitted for publication.

This joint venture will provide an exciting project work and research opportunity for students in data science to apply their work to the problems of society.

The project focuses on the analysis of the social response in terms of impact, visibility and localization of popular, city-scale events on social media platforms.

The project takes the two Fashion Weeks of Milano and New York as exemplary cases. The aim of the project will be to understand the role of fashion brands, events, and attendees, studying their impact on city life and possible similarities or differences between the social reactions  of the two cities.

This proposal focuses on two key areas:

• the development of methods for analyzing social media data
• the development of data analysis, data visualization and social impact models

The project aims at defining a high-level model, a method, and a set of practices that support representation live, city-scale events in terms of dynamics of citizens, visitors, and event participants. The project will analyze how the urban ecosystem is impacted by such events, thus enabling data-driven decision making processes and delivering added value to city stakeholders, including citizens, tourists and visitors, public bodies, and businesses.

The project will be scheduled along the following phases:

– End of January: Polimi faculty and students travel to NY to kick-off the project at CUSP.

– Around March-April: NYU faculty and students travel to Milan.

– February to July: Student teams interact to develop their project under the osmosis of the capstone course, jointly tutored by Polimi Faculty.

– End of July: Final presentation of results take place simultaneously in Milan and NY.

This program will select students currently attending the second year of the Master (Laurea Magistrale) of Politecnico di Milano, two from Information Engineering and one from Design. Applicants should have obtained at least 40 CFU during their first year of Master studies, with an average grade above 25/30. Applications must be sent by email to Laura Caldirola (laura.caldirola@polimi.it). The application must include as attachments: an up-to-date record of exams, the English proficiency certificate, a CV (including a description of experiences of programming and of group projects); and  a motivation letter explaining the candidate’s interest in this educational opportunity. Students may be interviewed by the selection committee. Selected students must attend the two full-immersion periods of January in NY and of March at Politecnico. They will autonomously organize their travel and their local accommodation; Politecnico will reimburse their expenses based on receipts. In addition to the full-immersion period, they are expected to work throughout the semester by using the format of the Capstone Course, by interacting with professors of Politecnico and NYU. They are expected to deliver a public presentation of their results at the end of the program.

The Data-Life program is being offered as a part of the NYU – CUPS Capstone course, so students signing up for this program must commit to taking this course during the spring semester. Students are required to be on campus and participate in program activities with peers from Politecnico in January. Students must be available to travel to Milan during the week of spring break, in March. Students must commit to collaborating with peers at Politecnico throughout the entire spring semester and will be expected to deliver a public presentation of their results at the end of the program. CUPS may cover airfare, double occupancy hotel and some meals. Students are required to pay for some meals and additional expenses. Applications should be submitted according to the Capstone Course rules.

Upon acceptance, they will sign a letter where they indicate that they agree and understand the obligations of the program; failure to comply will result in loosing their right to benefits.

POLIMI FACULTY STEFANO CERI. Professor of Data Management at Politecnico di Milano. stefano.ceri@polimi.it MARCO BRAMBILLA. Professor of Web Science and Digital Innovation at Politecnico di Milano. marco.brambilla@polimi.it PAOLA BERTOLA. Professor of Design, Politecnico di Milano. paola.bertola@polimi.it MICHELE MAURI. Assistant Professor of Information Design, Politecnico di Milano. michele.mauri@polimi.it

NYU-CUSP FACULTY Name Professor of