News Roundup: School of Data Science Celebrates Grand Opening of New Home

The University of Virginia's School of Data Science celebrated a truly historic moment last week with the opening of its new building at Charlottesville's Emmet-Ivy Corridor.

The grand opening featured remarks from a distinguished panel of speakers, a digital countdown, and an open house for invited guests. 

We have compiled some of the news stories capturing all of the key moments from this momentous day. 

UVA Today highlighted remarks from several of the day's speakers, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who addressed the students in the crowd. 

“What an exciting moment to be a student here right now. And I am in awe of the vision and the commitment that must be brought together in order to be the first to have a school of data science. The first to see the opportunity, but even more so, to bring together the resources and the capabilities in order to deliver on it — it’s a huge milestone.”

Virginia Business magazine led with a lighthearted statement from UVA President Jim Ryan about how the founding principle of the School of Data Science as a "school without walls" wasn't in fact literally true. 

“I was a little surprised and somewhat disappointed, if I’m being honest, when I came here yesterday for a tour and I realized [school without walls] was just a metaphor, in spite of the practical need for walls."

The story went on to cite Ryan's expressed hope that "the theory of 'school without walls' continues to animate this place."

Virginia public radio station Radio IQ reported on how Jaffray Woodriff in his speech described his path to success, which ultimately allowed the Quantitative Foundation, the private family foundation of Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff, to make a historic donation to establish the school and make the new building possible. 

Woodriff was fascinated by baseball statistics as a child, particularly the work of Bill James, but eventually switched his focus, which he recounted to the audience.

"At the age of 18, after 7 years of studying baseball, I had a profound moment of practicality. I abandoned baseball statistics and switched my focus to the financial markets, and luckily I had the courage and optimism to bet on myself heavily."

The Cavalier Daily, UVA's independent student-run newspaper, spoke to students at the event, including first-year student Anna Yao, who said she planned to apply to the newly created data science major. 

“Coming here, seeing the building, seeing different research on display shows just how impactful and how much intention there is in this [program]. Actually, being able to see it and stand in it makes it a lot more real, and I'm really excited to apply and learn more about the program.”

Charlottesville's CBS19 News spoke to Arlyn Burgess, associate dean for administration at the School of Data Science, who led planning and design efforts for the building at the School. Burgess described some of the facility's new features and how they were meant to reflect the School's values.

"We have this big, beautiful, open atrium, we have the exposed steel, we have this big staircase in the middle of the building, literally people meeting on the stairs and collaborating on data science projects."

In a separate story, CBS19 also featured Matthew Burtner, a UVA music professor, whose work "Reef Generations" is a finalist in the Data is ART competition. A presentation and ceremony will be held May 8 at the new building, its first public event.

NBC29 was also at the grand opening event and reported on the remarks of Phil Bourne, founding dean of the School of Data Science. 

“We designed the building to live up to the principles that we tried to put in place for the school. It’s an unbelievable opportunity to be able to create and found a school it’s only the 12th time it’s happened in over 200-year history of the university."

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