New York, NY – New York University’s Center for Urban Science & Progress (CUSP) today announced the launch of a new executive education program in urban informatics and city analytics, one of the only such programs of its kind in the world.

The three-day, cohort-style program will be led by CUSP faculty members, all of whom are widely regarded as foremost innovators in their respective specialties. The course will equip professionals from both the public and private sector with the skills to use large-scale datasets and analytics to address fundamental problems and challenges of city operations, planning and development.

“We’re finding that more and more professionals want to drill down on this material not just because they’re intellectually curious or because they think it will add value down the road – they’re beginning to realize that knowledge in this area is rapidly becoming a strategic imperative,” said Dr. Steven Koonin, Director of CUSP. “Much of the city data that can be used to improve service delivery, optimize operational and planning decisions, increase public engagement and improve problem solving already exists. The executive education program teaches professionals how to leverage existing data and turn it into insight that can catalyze data-driven policy.”

The program covers trends and challenges in data science for urban systems, such as data management and manipulation at scale, data mining and analytics, and information visualization, with a special focus on how to use data to develop and implement solutions for the most current and pressing challenges facing today’s cities.

Through case studies, group discussions, and professional development, participants will acquire a deeper understanding of the alignment of data and information with complex urban systems.

The program is geared toward leaders in organizations and government who would like to improve their ability to utilize, create and manage a data-driven approach to city operations, as well as to professionals who wish to learn how to observe, analyze and model cities and senior level executives who would like to enhance their data-driven management skills with the goal of extracting meaning and insight from data to improve cities around the world.

Participants can receive continuing professional education credit as applicable, for completing the program.

The first three-day program will be held January 27 – 29 at the CUSP campus in Downtown Brooklyn and additional cohorts will be held throughout the year on an ongoing basis.

CUSP welcomed its inaugural class of graduate students in August 2013. The NYU center was designated last year as part of the City’s groundbreaking Applied Sciences NYC initiative, which seeks to increase New York City’s capacity for applied sciences. Building on its mission to define the emerging field of Urban Informatics, CUSP will shape its students into the next generation of scientists who will understand urban data sources and how to manipulate and integrate large, diverse datasets. These skills will enable them to develop solutions to pressing urban problems that recognize and account for the constraints embedded in complex urban systems. 

About New York University’s Center for Urban Science & Progress

CUSP is a university-wide center whose research and education programs are focused on urban informatics. Using NYC as its lab, and building from its home in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, it integrates and applies NYU strengths in the natural, data, and social sciences to understand and improve cities throughout the world. CUSP offers a one-year MS degree in Applied Urban Science & Informatics. For more news and information on CUSP, please visit https://cusp.nyu.edu. Follow NYU CUSP on Twitter @NYU_CUSP.

CONTACTS: 

Kim Alfred, CUSP

917-392-0859
kim.alfred@nyu.edu

Elizabeth Latino, The Marino Organization
212-889-0808
elizabeth@themarino.org