Sam Altman photo credit: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Innovation thrives at NYU Silver in ways that are transforming social work research and practice. Our Constance and Martin Silver Center on Data Science and Social Equity (C+M Silver Center) continues to grow under the new leadership of our inaugural Constance and Martin Silver Endowed Professor in Data Science and Prevention, Dr. Ruopeng An, prompting the renowned tech entrepreneur, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to state, “I am excited about the Center’s work to leverage AI for social equity. This is an important time to determine how our future will play out.”
Advancing Social Equity Through AI
The Center supports scholarship and early development of innovations in the field of data science for social equity impact, including research that harnesses data science and artificial intelligence. Its work includes developing and nurturing the scientific skill set of NYU Silver faculty, doctoral students, and researchers. The Center aligns with the Grand Challenges for Social Work’s charge to Harness Technology for Social Good.
Since its inception, the Center has awarded faculty research grants, hosted the 2023 Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, presented data science Symposia at the 2023 and 2024 Society for Social Work and Research Conferences (which will continue at the 2025 conference) and launched an ongoing C+M Silver Center Speaker Series with top scholars.
Funding Research to Improves Lives
In its latest round of faculty research funding, the Center awarded grants supporting two pilot projects using predictive analytics. Dr. Jordan DeVylder is developing a machine learning algorithm to predict outcomes among young adults with psychotic experiences, while Drs. Rohini Pahwa and Kathrine Sullivan are using an AI-driven approach to measure the effects of social support on trauma survivors’ risk of developing PTSD. Prior funded research includes using “big data” to identify mental health “hotspots of need” and key drivers of service usage among young adults in New York; understand Asian American responses to racism in the time of COVID-19; and measure person-centered care in behavioral health settings.
About The Center and Ruopeng An
The Center was established in June 2021 as part of a visionary $16 million gift from Dr. Constance Silver and Martin Silver to NYU Silver to harness the emerging power of big data to identify the root causes of society’s most pressing challenges and achieve broad and transformational social impact.
That gift also funded the establishment of the Endowed Professorship in Data Science and Prevention at NYU Silver, which Dr. An now holds. He is an internationally-recognized scholar in applying artificial intelligence to address public health disparities and social inequities, as well as a leading expert in obesity epidemiology and policy evaluation and a noted interdisciplinary data scientist. He is among 7 NYU Silver faculty members who rank among the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world, according to researchers from Elsevier and Stanford University.