Speaker Details

Biography

Dr. Sauer, M.D., M.B.A., & M.S., is an expert in the domains of systems thinking, human relations, and international operations. As a catalyst, author, philosopher and scientist his proven approaches are both innovative and pragmatic. Over the past three decades he has delivered organizational improvements and profitable business growths. He is a co-founder of Supercourse, (http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/) a preventative healthcare network of over 56000 scientists in 174 countries. He has served as a CEO, executive, adviser, and consultant to large enterprises as well as start-up ventures. His tenure has included Banamex (Health Services executive), AT&T and DEC, and CEO of Cerner International. As Senior Partner, Dr. Sauer addresses significant problems in the domain of real-time business intelligence and situational awareness at CrossInnovation (www.crossinnovation.net). He is also the CEO of Trans AM Group, an international organization that fosters relationships and trade between the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Dr. Sauer is a board member of Baker University, the International Relations Council Kansas City and a former board member of The American Red Cross, Kansas City Chapter.

Abstract

The “Supercourse Statistical Help Desk” in the Era of Big Data

A Pathway to Unleashing Human Intelligence: The “Supercourse Statistical Help Desk” in the Era of Big Data By: Susan Bennett, Mihwa Cha, Ron LaPorte and Francois Sauer Phase 1 - Globalization and Complexity: Help Wanted The Columbian Exchange is a term used to capture the consequences to North American Native Indians when European settlers introduced new ideas, animals, plants, and diseases to which the Indians were not yet exposed. Today, the Modern Columbian Exchange is occurring at a global scale, caused by unprecedented global travel and the virtualization of our world through the Internet’s expanded interconnectivity and interactivity. This globalization increases complexity. As a result we now need, more than ever before, a new type of diversity to cope with it: the ability to address “problem definition and solutions” from multiple perspectives. These multiple perspectives are needed to tame this exploding complexity in order to be effective. The Supercourse Statistical Help Desk provides all of us with the opportunity to reap the benefits of the Modern Columbian Exchange while minimizing the unintended consequences: we can now ensure that scientists from around the world have access to the frameworks, tools and expertise needed to expose and publish the much needed scientific variety required to tame the current complexity. Phase 2 - New Discoveries We propose that the evolution of the Supercourse Statistical Help Desk needs to address the next vexing challenge: how to stimulate the creativity of scientists in discovering new associations? The era of Big Data has provided us with a tsunami of diverse data. It is no longer possible to extract creative and novel hypotheses solely from one’s own observations. Today machine learning and networks of associations can be used to leverage our ability to identify new relationships revealing associations and relationships that we cannot see humanly because our capacity to capture and process independent variables is physiologically limited. The Modern Columbian Exchange is not only about “Big Data”, but also the “Big Network” integrating the experience and creativity of scientists. The global scientific community offers a “Big Network” of people collecting and generating data while providing an immense repository of tacit knowledge. To tame the current complexity we not only want to leverage ‘data mining’, but also ‘people mining’. These are not independent concepts. They need each other. “Big Data” alone, without the multiple perspectives, is not worth much: data does not speak for itself. And people without “Big Data” and its tools are also limited. In this era of Big Data, how will scientists discover new associations or generate new hypotheses? A viable path forward exists in: a) a willingness to contribute their observations and co-create with other global stakeholders in their quest to expand our understanding of complex systems; and, b) to concurrently find ‘the needle in a haystack’ through the use “Big Data” tools. Fortunately there are several technologies – approaches and software – that could be shared across a common infrastructure and knowledge base to support the global scientific community to create and test new knowledge. The “Supercourse Statistical Help Desk” offers a unique pathway toward unleashing human awareness and intelligence. It is a dance between a network of scientists and the mining of data. It collaboratively blazes a new trail towards the creation of new scientific discoveries. And it presents us with an opportunity to leverage the emerging power of “Big Data” along with the accumulated academic experience and creativity of the scientific community to tame complexity!