NYU Center for Data Science
@nyudatascience.bsky.social
Official account of the NYU Center for Data Science, the home of the Undergraduate, Master’s, and Ph.D. programs in data science. cds.nyu.edu
Research from CDS Asst Prof @mengyer.bsky.social and Courant PhD student Christopher Hoang shows how the Midway Network learns object recognition and motion jointly from raw video, using motion latents and a gating unit to model real dynamics.
nyudatascience.medium.com/watching-the...
nyudatascience.medium.com/watching-the...
Watching the World Go By: New AI Architecture Learns Motion and Meaning Simultaneously
A CDS/Courant study from Mengye Ren and Christopher Hoang teaches both object recognition and motion understanding directly from raw video.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Research from CDS Asst Prof @mengyer.bsky.social and Courant PhD student Christopher Hoang shows how the Midway Network learns object recognition and motion jointly from raw video, using motion latents and a gating unit to model real dynamics.
nyudatascience.medium.com/watching-the...
nyudatascience.medium.com/watching-the...
CDS graduate students recently connected with Professor of Computer Science, Engineering and Data Science Juliana Freire over lunch.
The intimate session brought together about a dozen MS and PhD students to connect with Freire outside the classroom.
The intimate session brought together about a dozen MS and PhD students to connect with Freire outside the classroom.
December 18, 2025 at 6:01 PM
CDS graduate students recently connected with Professor of Computer Science, Engineering and Data Science Juliana Freire over lunch.
The intimate session brought together about a dozen MS and PhD students to connect with Freire outside the classroom.
The intimate session brought together about a dozen MS and PhD students to connect with Freire outside the classroom.
CDS Clinical Professor Pascal Wallisch shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Becca Rinehart.
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist in our graduate programs. Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Part 1 of 2
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist in our graduate programs. Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Part 1 of 2
December 18, 2025 at 4:25 PM
CDS Clinical Professor Pascal Wallisch shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Becca Rinehart.
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist in our graduate programs. Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Part 1 of 2
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist in our graduate programs. Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Part 1 of 2
New work by CDS Faculty Fellow @shauli.bsky.social, CDS Assoc. Prof. @tallinzen.bsky.social, and CDS Prof. @joanbruna.bsky.social reveals how and why LLMs learn to encode truth as a physical direction in internal space — even without explicit labels.
nyudatascience.medium.com/the-geometry...
nyudatascience.medium.com/the-geometry...
The Geometry of Truth: How AI Spontaneously Learns to Separate Fact from Fiction
CDS researchers uncover how LLMs learn to physically encode truth — without being told what’s true.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:54 PM
New work by CDS Faculty Fellow @shauli.bsky.social, CDS Assoc. Prof. @tallinzen.bsky.social, and CDS Prof. @joanbruna.bsky.social reveals how and why LLMs learn to encode truth as a physical direction in internal space — even without explicit labels.
nyudatascience.medium.com/the-geometry...
nyudatascience.medium.com/the-geometry...
CDS Prof. and Turing Award winner @yann-lecun.bsky.social will leave Meta at the end of the year, and is launching a startup focused on “world models”—AI systems that learn by observing and simulating physical environments.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/t...
Yann LeCun, a Pioneering A.I. Scientist, Leaves Meta
www.nytimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:31 PM
CDS Prof. and Turing Award winner @yann-lecun.bsky.social will leave Meta at the end of the year, and is launching a startup focused on “world models”—AI systems that learn by observing and simulating physical environments.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/t...
CDS Interim Director and Associate Professor Carlos Fernandez-Granda shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Vidhi Manek.
Applications for our graduate programs are open!
Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
1/2
Applications for our graduate programs are open!
Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
1/2
December 16, 2025 at 8:10 PM
CDS Interim Director and Associate Professor Carlos Fernandez-Granda shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Vidhi Manek.
Applications for our graduate programs are open!
Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
1/2
Applications for our graduate programs are open!
Apply now: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
1/2
Women in Data Science held an Alumni Fireside Chat recently at CDS.
Alumni shared career insights during a panel discussion, then current students connected with graduates in small groups for personalized advice on paths in data science and related fields.
Alumni shared career insights during a panel discussion, then current students connected with graduates in small groups for personalized advice on paths in data science and related fields.
December 16, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Women in Data Science held an Alumni Fireside Chat recently at CDS.
Alumni shared career insights during a panel discussion, then current students connected with graduates in small groups for personalized advice on paths in data science and related fields.
Alumni shared career insights during a panel discussion, then current students connected with graduates in small groups for personalized advice on paths in data science and related fields.
Alumni Advice: Data Scientist Josh Torres graduated with a DS major in 2025 and now works at Antefixa.
His advice?
Go to class and do the work on time.
It's much easier than letting it pile up.
His advice?
Go to class and do the work on time.
It's much easier than letting it pile up.
December 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Alumni Advice: Data Scientist Josh Torres graduated with a DS major in 2025 and now works at Antefixa.
His advice?
Go to class and do the work on time.
It's much easier than letting it pile up.
His advice?
Go to class and do the work on time.
It's much easier than letting it pile up.
🎤CDS grad students took the mic at GCBG Karaoke Night last Friday. 🎶
MS and PhD students gathered in the CDS Open Space for singing, Mediterranean food, and drinks—hosted by the Graduate Student Community Building Group.
MS and PhD students gathered in the CDS Open Space for singing, Mediterranean food, and drinks—hosted by the Graduate Student Community Building Group.
December 15, 2025 at 4:35 PM
🎤CDS grad students took the mic at GCBG Karaoke Night last Friday. 🎶
MS and PhD students gathered in the CDS Open Space for singing, Mediterranean food, and drinks—hosted by the Graduate Student Community Building Group.
MS and PhD students gathered in the CDS Open Space for singing, Mediterranean food, and drinks—hosted by the Graduate Student Community Building Group.
CDS Assistant Professor @neurograce.bsky.social shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Becca Rinehart.
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist. Applications for our graduate programs are open: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist. Applications for our graduate programs are open: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
December 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
CDS Assistant Professor @neurograce.bsky.social shares essential skills for data science grads in conversation with MS Admissions Ambassador Becca Rinehart.
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist. Applications for our graduate programs are open: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
Gain the skills needed to succeed as a data scientist. Applications for our graduate programs are open: cds.nyu.edu/ms-and-phd-a...
CDS Prof @kempelab.bsky.social and collaborators show that soft-token training on chain of thought + hard-token inference yields better performance and robustness in LLM reasoning tasks.
As @natashabutt.bsky.social put it: “Best to train soft, infer hard!”
nyudatascience.medium.com/soft-tokens-...
As @natashabutt.bsky.social put it: “Best to train soft, infer hard!”
nyudatascience.medium.com/soft-tokens-...
Soft Tokens, Hard Truths: A New Approach to Training Chain-of-Thought in Large Language Models
In large language models, training the CoT phase with soft tokens yields more diverse reasoning paths and better generalization.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:27 PM
CDS Prof @kempelab.bsky.social and collaborators show that soft-token training on chain of thought + hard-token inference yields better performance and robustness in LLM reasoning tasks.
As @natashabutt.bsky.social put it: “Best to train soft, infer hard!”
nyudatascience.medium.com/soft-tokens-...
As @natashabutt.bsky.social put it: “Best to train soft, infer hard!”
nyudatascience.medium.com/soft-tokens-...
Reposted by NYU Center for Data Science
Excited to share our new research on local RL without backprop!
CDS Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science @mengyer.bsky.social and co-author Frank Wu introduce ARQ, a new learning algorithm that skips backpropagation in favor of a more biologically plausible and computationally efficient method.
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
Ditching Backpropagation: A New Method Mimics How Brains Learn to Make Decisions
Mengye Ren and Frank Wu introduce a biologically-inspired learning algo that outperforms traditional methods without using backpropagation.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Excited to share our new research on local RL without backprop!
Reposted by NYU Center for Data Science
Excited to share our new research on local RL without backprop!
CDS Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science @mengyer.bsky.social and co-author Frank Wu introduce ARQ, a new learning algorithm that skips backpropagation in favor of a more biologically plausible and computationally efficient method.
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
Ditching Backpropagation: A New Method Mimics How Brains Learn to Make Decisions
Mengye Ren and Frank Wu introduce a biologically-inspired learning algo that outperforms traditional methods without using backpropagation.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Excited to share our new research on local RL without backprop!
Season's Greetings from CDS!
We're inspired by our community's achievements this year, and we're celebrating becoming part of the new @nyucourant.bsky.social Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.
We wish you a season of warmth, happiness, and continued discovery.
We're inspired by our community's achievements this year, and we're celebrating becoming part of the new @nyucourant.bsky.social Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.
We wish you a season of warmth, happiness, and continued discovery.
December 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Season's Greetings from CDS!
We're inspired by our community's achievements this year, and we're celebrating becoming part of the new @nyucourant.bsky.social Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.
We wish you a season of warmth, happiness, and continued discovery.
We're inspired by our community's achievements this year, and we're celebrating becoming part of the new @nyucourant.bsky.social Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.
We wish you a season of warmth, happiness, and continued discovery.
CDS Prof. @yann-lecun.bsky.social has received the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, alongside Bengio, Hinton, Hopfield, Li, Huang & Dally, for work foundational to modern machine learning.
qeprize.org/winners/mode...
qeprize.org/winners/mode...
December 11, 2025 at 7:03 PM
CDS Prof. @yann-lecun.bsky.social has received the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, alongside Bengio, Hinton, Hopfield, Li, Huang & Dally, for work foundational to modern machine learning.
qeprize.org/winners/mode...
qeprize.org/winners/mode...
Alumni Advice: Software Engineer Adi Singhal graduated in 2022 with a CS/DS major and now works on agentic AI at Amazon.
His advice?
Sit in the first row.
Professors get to know you better, you ask more questions, and the cascading effects extend far beyond that single class.
His advice?
Sit in the first row.
Professors get to know you better, you ask more questions, and the cascading effects extend far beyond that single class.
December 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Alumni Advice: Software Engineer Adi Singhal graduated in 2022 with a CS/DS major and now works on agentic AI at Amazon.
His advice?
Sit in the first row.
Professors get to know you better, you ask more questions, and the cascading effects extend far beyond that single class.
His advice?
Sit in the first row.
Professors get to know you better, you ask more questions, and the cascading effects extend far beyond that single class.
PhD applications for Fall 2026 are due TODAY at 5pm EST! ⏰‼️ Apply Now: cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...
December 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
PhD applications for Fall 2026 are due TODAY at 5pm EST! ⏰‼️ Apply Now: cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...
Welcoming new faculty to CDS!
This fall, we welcomed Greg Durrett (@gregdnlp.bsky.social).
In Fall 2026, we'll welcome Jaume Vives-i-Bastida, Zongyi Li, Juan Carlos Perdomo Silva, and Pratyusha Sharma.
This fall, we welcomed Greg Durrett (@gregdnlp.bsky.social).
In Fall 2026, we'll welcome Jaume Vives-i-Bastida, Zongyi Li, Juan Carlos Perdomo Silva, and Pratyusha Sharma.
December 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Welcoming new faculty to CDS!
This fall, we welcomed Greg Durrett (@gregdnlp.bsky.social).
In Fall 2026, we'll welcome Jaume Vives-i-Bastida, Zongyi Li, Juan Carlos Perdomo Silva, and Pratyusha Sharma.
This fall, we welcomed Greg Durrett (@gregdnlp.bsky.social).
In Fall 2026, we'll welcome Jaume Vives-i-Bastida, Zongyi Li, Juan Carlos Perdomo Silva, and Pratyusha Sharma.
CDS Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science @mengyer.bsky.social and co-author Frank Wu introduce ARQ, a new learning algorithm that skips backpropagation in favor of a more biologically plausible and computationally efficient method.
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
Ditching Backpropagation: A New Method Mimics How Brains Learn to Make Decisions
Mengye Ren and Frank Wu introduce a biologically-inspired learning algo that outperforms traditional methods without using backpropagation.
nyudatascience.medium.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
CDS Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science @mengyer.bsky.social and co-author Frank Wu introduce ARQ, a new learning algorithm that skips backpropagation in favor of a more biologically plausible and computationally efficient method.
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
nyudatascience.medium.com/ditching-bac...
Bingo, beers, and brainy conversations! 🎉
CDS grad students hit up GCBG's networking happy hour, where MS & PhD students mixed, mingled, and battled for CDS swag.
CDS grad students hit up GCBG's networking happy hour, where MS & PhD students mixed, mingled, and battled for CDS swag.
December 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Bingo, beers, and brainy conversations! 🎉
CDS grad students hit up GCBG's networking happy hour, where MS & PhD students mixed, mingled, and battled for CDS swag.
CDS grad students hit up GCBG's networking happy hour, where MS & PhD students mixed, mingled, and battled for CDS swag.
Alumni Advice: Data Scientist Abhinav Krishnan graduated from the Master's program in 2025 and now works at BCG.
His advice?
Tap into the alumni network.
CDS alumni around the world want to stay involved and have a lot to offer current students.
His advice?
Tap into the alumni network.
CDS alumni around the world want to stay involved and have a lot to offer current students.
December 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Alumni Advice: Data Scientist Abhinav Krishnan graduated from the Master's program in 2025 and now works at BCG.
His advice?
Tap into the alumni network.
CDS alumni around the world want to stay involved and have a lot to offer current students.
His advice?
Tap into the alumni network.
CDS alumni around the world want to stay involved and have a lot to offer current students.
CDS Interim Director Carlos Fernandez-Granda presented on AI-powered denoising for scientific discovery at a recent colloquium.
Read more: kangningthu.github.io/AI-powered-d...
Read more: kangningthu.github.io/AI-powered-d...
December 9, 2025 at 4:03 PM
CDS Interim Director Carlos Fernandez-Granda presented on AI-powered denoising for scientific discovery at a recent colloquium.
Read more: kangningthu.github.io/AI-powered-d...
Read more: kangningthu.github.io/AI-powered-d...
Alumni Advice: Daniel Drafta graduated in 2023 with a CS/DS joint major and now studies biomedical informatics at NYU's med school.
His advice?
Stay open to changing directions.
Your interests evolve with experience, so trust your gut instinct — you'll ultimately make the right choice.
His advice?
Stay open to changing directions.
Your interests evolve with experience, so trust your gut instinct — you'll ultimately make the right choice.
December 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Alumni Advice: Daniel Drafta graduated in 2023 with a CS/DS joint major and now studies biomedical informatics at NYU's med school.
His advice?
Stay open to changing directions.
Your interests evolve with experience, so trust your gut instinct — you'll ultimately make the right choice.
His advice?
Stay open to changing directions.
Your interests evolve with experience, so trust your gut instinct — you'll ultimately make the right choice.
CDS alumni Jenny Le (Rockstar Games), Yihao Larry Zhong (Nvidia), and Daniel Drafta (biomedical informatics) shared career stories at a recent undergrad panel.
Key advice:
✅Embrace imposter syndrome
✅Leverage NYC connections
✅Focus on realistic skill matches in job searches
Key advice:
✅Embrace imposter syndrome
✅Leverage NYC connections
✅Focus on realistic skill matches in job searches
December 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
CDS alumni Jenny Le (Rockstar Games), Yihao Larry Zhong (Nvidia), and Daniel Drafta (biomedical informatics) shared career stories at a recent undergrad panel.
Key advice:
✅Embrace imposter syndrome
✅Leverage NYC connections
✅Focus on realistic skill matches in job searches
Key advice:
✅Embrace imposter syndrome
✅Leverage NYC connections
✅Focus on realistic skill matches in job searches
⏰ DEADLINE EXTENDED: PhD in Data Science applications for Fall 2026 are now due Thursday Dec 11 at 5:00pm EST‼️
✏️ Apply now! cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...
✏️ Apply now! cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...
December 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
⏰ DEADLINE EXTENDED: PhD in Data Science applications for Fall 2026 are now due Thursday Dec 11 at 5:00pm EST‼️
✏️ Apply now! cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...
✏️ Apply now! cds.nyu.edu/phd-admissio...