Colby Receives Major Gift to Establish the McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences
New center will embed computational and data sciences across the curriculum and be distinctive among the liberal arts
As Colby College prepares for major investments in its science programs, the College announced the establishment of the McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences. Founded with a $10-million gift from Trustee Richard M. McVey P’12, ‘16 this center will speed scientific discovery, provide a leading-edge educational program, and support the use of computational tools and methods across the College’s entire curriculum.
The McVey Center will join Colby’s sector-leading Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence to offer scholarly and teaching resources that are unparalleled in a liberal arts setting. The timing is critical, as scientific discovery is driving innovation across industries and transforming the prospects of everything from human health to the future of our planet.
The McVey Center will provide students with the necessary computational and data science knowledge and practical expertise that employers in almost every sector are demanding while offering faculty significant resources and support to integrate these powerful tools into their courses and research. The new center will also enable Colby to launch new applied fields of study that are likely to include public health, biomedical engineering, and environmental engineering, to name a few. It is part of a much broader set of planned investments in programs and facilities that will make Colby a national leader in scientific education and a key science hub in Maine that addresses the state’s needs and fuels Maine’s growing innovation ecosystem.
“Computational power and modeling are rapidly expanding human knowledge and driving revolutionary change,” said Colby President David A. Greene. “This is certainly true in the natural sciences, but it is also rapidly changing many social science, interdisciplinary, and humanistic fields. Marrying computation with experimentation, theory, and qualitative methodologies has proven to be a major accelerant of discovery and learning. Rick McVey has been at the forefront of this work with the world-leading firm he founded, MarketAxess, and now he is making it possible for Colby students and faculty to pioneer new ways of learning by applying data science to a broad-based liberal arts curriculum. It’s a spectacular gift that both builds on current programs and opens the door for exciting new directions in teaching and research. I could not be more grateful for his foresight and generosity.”
Over the last several years Colby has invested significantly in the computational and data sciences. Highlights include offering a series of new majors in data science, computational biology, and environmental computation, as well as launching the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the first cross-disciplinary institute for AI at a liberal arts college. In 2019 the College also developed an initiative focused on integrating data science across the curriculum, thanks to a generous $2-million gift from McVey.
“It is exciting to support Colby’s expansive programming for computational and data science and AI. What is most compelling to me is the multiplier effect of this gift for Colby students and faculty, including the research opportunities it will create. Data science skills and domain knowledge are both essential across all majors to prepare students for successful careers in today’s economy,” said McVey, who is the founder and executive chairman of financial technology firm MarketAxess.
Planning, Training, Funding
The McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences, which will have its own physical location on campus and eventually be part of the College’s future comprehensive sciences complex, will be led by a director who is an acknowledged expert in computational science methods. In addition to being responsible for strategically planning the development of the computational sciences at Colby, the director will oversee research support, training, and curricula development, as well as procuring state-of-the-art software and hardware for the center.
“What is so amazing about this transformative gift is that the McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences will support both teaching and research,” said Provost and Dean of Faculty Margaret McFadden. “It will enable our faculty to bring cutting-edge computational techniques to courses across the curriculum while also supporting faculty in expanding their groundbreaking research—from modeling environmental systems to conducting genomic analysis to inventing new forms of literary analysis. With these extraordinary resources, there is no limit to what our students and faculty will be able to accomplish.”
“What is so amazing about this transformative gift is that the McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences will support both teaching and research.”
Provost and Dean of Faculty Margaret McFadden
Another important goal of the McVey Center for Computational and Data Sciences is to contribute to the growing technology ecosystem in Maine, including attracting businesses and research to the area. To that end, it is expected that the new center will help expand funding opportunities from government grantors to position Colby and Maine as a center of excellence for computational and data science.
“Rick McVey has been at the forefront of understanding the growing power of data across all disciplines,” commented Matt Proto, vice president and chief institutional advancement officer at Colby. “His guidance in helping Colby evolve its data science expertise has been invaluable and will continue to have a major impact in preparing our students with the necessary tools to wrestle the world’s most complex challenges in our rapidly changing world.”
