Patrick Ball Honored with Degree at Claremont Graduate University
15CGU Commencement-The 2015 Commencement exercises for Claremont Graduate University. May 16, 2015.
We’re happy to announce that our executive director, Patrick Ball, has been presented an honorary degree from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. University President Deborah Freund presented the degree to Patrick at the university’s 88th annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2015. The degree conferred was Doctor of Science honoris causa.
“We at CGU are thrilled that Patrick Ball accepted our Honorary Degree invitation and joined us for commencement,” said Thomas Horan, CGU Professor and Director, Center for Information Systems and Technology. “Patrick’s work stands as a model for conducting first-rate statistic analyses in a manner that can have meaningful impacts around the world, such as he has done with his pursuit of global human rights.”
Patrick was one of four data scientists to be honored with an honorary degree by Claremont Graduate University this year. The other recipients are Jeff Jonas, IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist of Context Computing; Jean-Baptiste Michel, founder of Quantified Labs; and Fernanda Viégas, co-leader of Google’s “Big Picture” data visualization group in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
CGU Big Data-Big Data Commencement panel discussion and dinner at Claremont Graduate University, May 15, 2015.
The degree statement mentions Patrick’s work in Yugoslavia, Guatemala, and Sierra Leone, and states: “Unconstrained by traditional academic boundaries, you bring together mathematical statistics, computer science, demography, and social science to advance your work. You harness the emerging power of big data analysis, but with careful attention to how and when it can be used most effectively, accurately and—perhaps most importantly—responsibly.”
“It was a tremendous honor to be given this degree by Claremont Graduate University,” Patrick said. “I am proud to accept it in the name of the victims of mass violence who have never been documented by name. If we cannot name them, at least they should be counted.”
On the day before commencement, May 15, Patrick participated in a “Big Data” plenary panel, where he addressed a crowd of more than 100 people at the university during a forum on the potential and limitations of big data. The event was moderated by Thomas Horan, and the panel was composed of Patrick, Jeff Jonas, Jean-Baptiste Michel, Fernanda Viégas, and Mukesh Aghi, President of the United States-India Business Council.
About Claremont Graduate University
15CGU Commencement-The 2015 Commencement exercises for Claremont Graduate University. May 16, 2015.
Founded in 1925, Claremont Graduate University is the graduate university of the Claremont Colleges. Its five academic schools conduct leading-edge research and award masters and doctoral degrees in 24 disciplines. Because the world’s problems are not simple nor easily defined, diverse faculty and students research and study across the traditional discipline boundaries to create new and practical solutions for the major problems affecting the world. A Southern California-based graduate school devoted entirely to graduate research and study, CGU boasts a low student-to-faculty ratio.
Images: Courtesy of Claremont Graduate University.