René Vidal, core faculty member of the Institute for Computational Medicine, has been named director of the new Johns Hopkins Mathematical Institute for Data Science (MINDS).

The MINDS Institute will focus on developing the fundamental mathematical, statistical, and computational principles underlying the analysis and interpretation of massive amounts of complex high-dimensional data. In addition, institute researchers will help develop unified curricula for new undergraduate and graduate programs in the Theoretical Foundations of Data Science. The institute, which will launch at a symposium on Friday, Nov. 3, will foster interactions among data scientists through seminars, and summer workshops.

Inaugural faculty members have appointments in the departments of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics.

Vidal is also a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Vision Dynamics and Learning Lab.