Mission: Columbia

Columbia: Data Science Design

Problem
New data science institute. Needed industry. There was no site yet.
Action
User research with computer science leaders (CTOs). Then a brand-new public + private site. Academia meets capital.
Result
Affiliates +600%. 3 sponsors → 20+. Industry reach and revenue potential went vertical. Correct direction.
Industry Affiliates Program one-sheet for Columbia’s Data Science Institute held against the Manhattan skyline, promoting the industry website, private events and affiliate benefits.

Challenge

Columbia stood up data science. Mayor Bloomberg’s grant required a public and private site so industry and academia could actually talk to each other. Brand new. No inherited stack.

Response

User research with computer science leaders, CTOs. Then I built and grew a multi-user CMS that connected industry partners to faculty and students at Columbia University. Not a brochure. A machine.

The process was design thinking: discover, define, design, develop. Stakeholder interviews, comparative reviews, content audits, card sorts, IA, personas, sketches, wireframes, visual design, web development, user testing, maintenance. First principles. Then we shipped.

UX personas for the Data Science Institute website: industry partner, faculty and student archetypes with goals and behaviors.
Content strategy map for the site: sections, content types and publishing workflow.

User research wrote the requirements. Authenticated users got the real payload: private file library, exclusive video conferences, direct faculty access. Public got the research (Bloomberg + Columbia) plus news, events, and videos. Two surfaces. One system.

Data Science Industry website: affiliates page with a logo grid of corporate partners including Bloomberg, Cisco and Goldman Sachs.
Website page featuring Bloomberg-sponsored research at the institute.
Recruiting page connecting industry affiliates with data science students.
Students page showcasing profiles and capstone work.
Research centers overview page.
Cybersecurity research center page.
Faculty profile page in the computer science section.
Computer science research listing page.
Event page for a 2017 institute industry symposium.
Members-only event video archive page.
Three laptops running the Data Science Institute site: Bloomberg-sponsored natural-language research feature, patent-analysis research page and faculty research sidebar.
Three laptops running the Data Science Institute site: Bloomberg-sponsored natural-language research feature, patent-analysis research page and faculty research sidebar.