Purdue research team receives NSF grant for work on data quality

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A team of Purdue University researchers received a planning award of close to $100,000 from the National Science Foundation.

The award, totaling $99,938, funds a project on assuring data quality and reproducing research results and is being led by Elisa Bertino, a professor of computer science.

Bertino said that data quality is critical for the effective and sound use of data. The project will organize two invitational workshops to guide the design of novel data quality methods and software tools.

“This project addresses a real challenge in today’s big data ecosystem,” she said. “A critical requirement for the use of data in any application or domain is to make sure that data does not have errors and is complete and up to date.”

The funding is part of the NSF Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs program. The Purdue project is part of the Midwest Big Data Hub, one of four established by the NSF.

The project takes a multidisciplinary perspective, with co-investigators Sylvie Brouder, a professor in the College of Agriculture, and Sorin Matei, a professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication.

“More data is not always the same as better data,” Matei said. “Our project will reach out to scholars, practitioners and researchers who deal with the challenges of being deluged by quick, yet messy, data all the time.”

Brouder noted quality data-intensive approaches are significant in agriculture in areas ranging from simultaneous optimization of profitability to efficient use of natural resources. 

Writer: Brian L. Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu 

Sources: Elisa Bertino, 765-496-2399, bertino@purdue.edu

Sylvie Brouder, 765-496-1489, sbrouder@purdue.edu

Sorin Matei, 765-494-3429, smatei@purdue.edu