ICS News Archive

Hasso Plattner Institute Opens New Research School Branch at UCI

The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) is very pleased to announce the opening of a new HPI Research School branch for doctoral students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), well known for its academic achievements and high quality education. The new “HPI Research Center in Machine Learning and Data Science at UC Irvine” aims to promote research and educational activities in these two fields between the two leading universities. Through this partnership, up to 15 UCI scholarship holders will be jointly supervised by 8 professors from UCI's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences while closely being integrated into HPI's research activities.

“HPI at UCI” will be part of the wider HPI research network which already entails two HPI Research Schools based in Potsdam and branches in China, Israel and South Africa. The network offers post-doctoral researchers and doctoral students an excellent research environment and close supervision. All scholarship holders are jointly supervised by several professors, not just by their primary dissertation advisor. The members also have the opportunity to discuss their research projects in a joint seminar once a week. Twice a year they get together for two-day retreats where they present their research in more depth. They also participate in scientific workshops and symposia.

“We are pleased that the University of California, Irvine joins our graduate school in training promising young computer scientists and data experts,” says HPI director Professor Christoph Meinel. “The new HPI Center at UCI will enable highly talented computer scientists to jointly investigate and work closely together on projects in the important areas of Data Science and Machine Learning.”

Professor Felix Naumann: “The cooperation with the UCI is a great opportunity to expand our research focus in the data-driven sciences. UCI is among the top universities in this field and we all look very much forward to future collaboration opportunities.”

“We are thrilled by this opportunity to further study the issues that arise when machine learning is applied to important scientific, commercial, and societal problems,” says Professor Erik Sudderth, who holds a joint appointment in computer science and statistics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and will be serving as Director of HPI at UCI. “We will work with our colleagues at HPI to make Artificial Intelligence more adaptive, safe, and human-centered.”

“This international collaboration will create an unparalleled research environment for exploring Artificial Intelligence technologies that have a positive impact on our world,” says Professor Marios Papaefthymiou, Dean of the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. “I look forward to the outcomes of this tremendous partnership between two of the world’s leaders in computing and information technology research and education.”

Profile of the Hasso Plattner Institute
The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam is Germany’s university excellence center for digital engineering. With its bachelor‘s and master’s degree programs in “IT Systems Engineering,” the Faculty of Digital Engineering, established jointly by HPI and the University of Potsdam, offers an especially practical and engineering-oriented study program in computer science that is unique throughout Germany. At present, more than 500 students are enrolled in the program. HPI consistently earns a top-notch place in the CHE University Ranking. The HPI School of Design Thinking is Europe’s first innovation school for university students. It is based on the Stanford model of the d.school and offers 240 places annually for a supplementary study. At HPI there are currently thirteen professors and over 50 guest professors and lecturers. HPI conducts research noted for its high standard of excellence in its IT topic areas. PhD candidates carry out research at the HPI Research School in Potsdam and its branches in Cape Town, Haifa, Nanjing and at the recently opened office in New York. The focus of HPI’s teaching and research is on the foundations and applications of large, highly complex and networked IT systems. In addition, HPI concentrates on the development and research of user-oriented innovations for all areas of life.

Press Release originally posted on the HPI website.