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The University of Texas at Tyler Conducts Innovative Research with Advanced Data Analytics Lab

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May 2, 2017

Media Contact:  Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)

The University of Texas at Tyler's Data Analytics Lab offers students the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research with advanced technology, Dr. James Lumpkin, College of Business and Technology dean, announced.

Founded last year by associate professor of computer science Dr. Robert P. Schumaker, the lab has been a focal point of analytics work at The University of Texas at Tyler. Students and faculty conduct research in textual/financial prediction, sports analytics, healthcare informatics and business intelligence.

"This new Data Analytics Lab will expand the capability of our faculty and students to conduct relevant research in our data analytics program. This is one of the most important new academic fields, and this new lab enables the college to remain on the cutting edge," Lumpkin said.

The lab features eight high-end workstations, two powerful servers for analytics and machine learning as well as a prime network connection to National Science Foundation supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. The lab is funded by the college and the university's Office of Research and Technology Transfer.

Current research projects highlight healthcare informatics, textual/financial prediction and sports analytics.

"Healthcare analytics is a vast area, and I can envision the potential my research has to bring meaningful insights to the industry," said computer science graduate student Rohit Dixit of India, who is working with Schumaker on a project to improve prescription drug safety.

Healthcare Informatics
Through the TylerADE System, which uses machine learning on the Federal Drug Administration's Adverse Effects Reporting System, University of Texas at Tyler researchers improve prescription drug safety by identifying previously unknown but potentially dangerous drug combinations.

"By analyzing the combinations of several thousand drugs across millions of historical records, the TylerADE System will be able to compute a predicted drug severity score that can be used by pharmacists and physicians at the point of prescription to determine potential health hazards," Schumaker said.

Textual/Financial Prediction
Researchers combine textual financial news articles and machine learning to create a new class of high-frequency stock trading engine [HFT] that can recognize and adapt to immediate market changes, according to Schumaker.

"Knowing that major traders are now using HFT systems that rely on textual information, our newest area is to evaluate whether we can manipulate stock prices by adjusting press releases," he said.

"Our system looks at three aspects – the words used in a news release, market timing and media outlets – to build a type of press release engineering system that companies can use to manage their stock price," Schumaker added.

Sports Analytics
Researchers find relevant data from sports-related databases to produce forecasts. Projects include predicting winning in the National Football League using a sentiment analysis of Twitter and technical analysis strategies borrowed from Wall Street to determine relative public sentiment trajectories as a simple time-series signal.

"This project has shown unexpected promise that further technical trading techniques might also be ported into the sports wagering markets to improve odds-setting as well as more accurate predictions," Schumaker said.

For more information about the lab, contact Schumaker, 903.565.5578 or rschumaker@uttyler.edu or visit uttyler.edu/cs/data-analytics-lab/.

One of the 14 campuses of the UT System, The University of Texas at Tyler features excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees are available at The University of Texas at Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 10,000 high-ability students. The University of Texas at Tyler offers courses at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine as well as a location in Houston.

Relevant Research: Founded by Dr. Robert Schumaker (shown) in the computer science department, the Data Analytics Lab has been a focal point of analytics work at The University of Texas at Tyler.