Harvard Data Science Institute (HDSI): 2025 Highlights
The Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) is an interfaculty initiative at Harvard University that brings together leading scientists, statisticians, and experts from across academia to advance data science for education and societal impact. Since its launch in 2017, the HDSI has served as a catalyst for tackling global challenges, informing data-driven policy, and shaping the new science of data.
In 2025, the HDSI launched seven projects in ongoing collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) through the AWS Impact Computing Project. This partnership aims to harness data science and high-performance computing to develop methods, platforms, and datasets that turn complex global challenges into actionable solutions for society. Supported projects will advance knowledge in the areas of social determinants of health, food security, and biomedical/climate change.
HDSI hosted several exciting events. Its annual Winter Workshop in early March invited students, faculty, practitioners, and leaders to learn about and explore AI and large language models (LLMs). Over two days, experts convened to discuss the infrastructure, implication, and impact of AI and LLMs in society.
The second annual Vine to Mind Symposium, co-hosted with EHL Business and Hospitality School and the Harvard Data Science Review (HDSR) in Lausanne, Switzerland, convened luminaries from the wine realm and pioneering minds from the world of research. Sessions were held to shed light on winemaking traditions and contemporary data science and AI technologies, and to distill the future of viticulture with data-driven insight, innovation, and collaboration.
At the Regenerative Agriculture Science and Policy Forum, co-hosted with Indigo Ag, a company that develops tools to support sustainable farming, researchers, growers, technologists, policymakers, and investors came together to explore how data science can accelerate regenerative agriculture and align environmental goals with economic incentives. Participants debated and identified technical hurdles and actionable strategies for measuring soil health, resilience, and carbon storage.
The HDSI also co-hosted the Inaugural AI Summit with the HDSR and Archerman Capitol. The goal was simple yet ambitious: bring together scholars, technologists, executives, industry leaders, and students to explore the frontiers and future of artificial intelligence.
Throughout the year the HDSI granted over $3.5 Million through 31 faculty awards, welcomed 23 new faculty affiliates, and housed 9 undergraduates for a residential Summer Program in Undergraduate Data Science (SPUDS). The popular Causal Inference seminar series, which invites faculty from universities across the nation to present their current causal inference research in-person on the Harvard campus, continued to be a great success, along with its Industry Seminar series, hosting speakers from different companies, including Duo Security,
