About IDEAL

Go here for the new IDEAL Phase 2 website.

About IDEAL: The Institute for Data, Econometrics, Algorithms, and Learning, or IDEAL, is a multi-institution and transdisciplinary institute led by the University of Illinois Chicago in collaboration with Northwestern University; Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago; the University of Chicago; and Illinois Institute of Technology, in partnership with members of the Learning Theory team at Google. The institute involves more than 60 researchers working on key aspects of the foundations of data science across computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, statistics, and fields such as economics, operations research and law. Research will center around the foundations of machine learning, high-dimensional data analysis and inference, and data science and society. Topics include foundations of deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning and logic, network inference, high-dimensional data analysis, trustworthiness and reliability, fairness, and data science with strategic agents.

The Phase II project combines and builds upon the complementary strengths of two Phase I TRIPODS institutes — IDEAL Phase I (2019-2022) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Foundations of Data Science Institute. See below for more information about the IDEAL Phase I institute. The IDEAL (Phase II) website will be updated soon.  

IDEAL Phase I

The Institute for Data, Econometrics, Algorithms, and Learning (IDEAL) is a multi-discipline (computer science, statistics, economics, electrical engineering, and operations research) and multi-institution (Northwestern University, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, and University of Chicago) collaborative institute that focuses on key aspects of the theoretical foundations of data science. The institute will support the study of foundational problems related to machine learning, high-dimensional data analysis and optimization in both strategic and non-strategic environments. The primary activity of the institute will be thematically focused quarters which will coordinate graduate course work with workshops and external visitors. The institute will facilitate collaboration between Chicago-area institutions through a number of initiatives, and across multiple disciplines. Several components of the research agenda have direct applications areas, and institute will involve practitioners in development economics, online markets, public policy, as well as data scientists.

Upcoming Special Quarter

The primary activity of the institute are thematically focused quarters which will coordinate graduate course work, visiting predoctoral fellows, workshops, and external visitors. Visit the special quarters page to see all of our upcoming special quarters.

Fall 2022

IDEAL Special Quarter on Data Economics

 September 20 – December 16, 2022

Featured News

New NSF awards will advance theoretical foundations of data science research through interdisciplinary collaborations

July 29, 2022 Data science is an expanding field that requires the expertise of computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and statisticians to handle the complex analysis of ever-larger data...

Advancing the Theoretical Foundations of Data Science- IDEAL received a five-year, $10 million Phase II award from NSF

Jul 29, 2022 Michelle Mohney Accelerating transformative advances in the theoretical foundations of data science, the Institute for Data, Econometrics, Algorithms, and Learning (IDEAL) unites a team...

Annie Liang Receives NSF CAREER Award

The award will support research at the intersection of economic theory and computer science May 16, 2022 Michelle Mohney Annie Liang Northwestern’s Annie Liang has received a Faculty Early Career...

Showcasing the Work and Perspectives of Early-Career Researchers

Postdoctoral scholars in computer science organized a virtual workshop featuring presentations by junior researchers in theoretical computer science JAN 31, 2022 On December 9-10, the Northwestern...

Hartline Named 2021 Economic Theory Fellow

SAET recognizes substantial contributions to the field of economic theory JAN 5, 2022 Northwestern Engineering’s Jason Hartline has been named a Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET)...

Alumni Profile: Yiding Feng, Microsoft Research Lab – New England

Feng received his PhD in computer science in 2021 and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research Lab – New England JAN 18, 2022 Yiding Feng Yiding Feng (PhD ’21) is a postdoctoral...

Exploring New Directions on Robustness in Machine Learning

On November 16, IDEAL hosted a workshop focused on new directions on robustness in machine learning as part of the fall 2021 special quarter. JAN 3, 2022 Machine learning systems are widely deployed...

Join Us

Are you interested in participating in our special quarters? Are you already a participant and you need more information?

Our Sponsors

IDEAL (Phase 1) is a HDR TRIPODS institute supported by the National Science Foundation under award CCF 1934931. The Phase II operations of the IDEAL is supported by the National Science Foundation through the TRIPODS HDR program (under the awards EECS 2216970, 2217023, 2216926, 2216912, 2216899).