DIMACS 1997-1999 Special Year on Massive Data Sets: Overview
The emergence of the computer as an essential tool in scientific research
and as an essential ingredient in commercial systems has led to the
emergence of massive amounts of data of critical importance for a broad
variety of applications, including (but certainly not limited to)
astrophysical models, genetic sequencing, geographic information systems,
ecological models, weather prediction, telecommunications applications,
commercial digital video and audio, digital libraries, government information
systems, and biological models for medical applications.
Researchers in all of these applications currently face amounts of data in
the terabyte range (with data sets in the petabyte range possible in the
foreseeable future) and face daunting computational problems in organizing
and extracting useful information from these massive data sets.
This special year will seek to stimulate new research on addressing these
problems. Our goals are to:
- Learn common properties among diverse applications and identify
fundamental computational problems that transcend particular
applications;
- Relate these to core problems in computer science and discrete
mathematics;
- Discover fundamental limitations on performance;
- Develop and analyze new practical algorithms;
- Establish partnerships with researchers in other areas, with the goal
of developing solutions for specific scientific and commercial problems.
Index of Special Year on Massive Data Sets
DIMACS Home Page
Contacting the Center
Document last modified on October 30, 1998.