EDBT/ICDT Joint Session on Research Challenges


March 28th, 14:00-15:30, Auditorium

Participants:

  • Neoklis (Alkis) Polyzotis, Google Research
  • Wang-Chiew Tan, Megagon Labs
  • Ihab Ilyas, University of Waterloo
  • Benny Kimelfeld, Technion
  • Julia Stoyanovich, New York University (moderator)

Abstract: This year's Research Challenges session focuses on two broad areas of data management research and practice, under the overarching theme of "fundamentals, systems, and translation". The session will include brief presentations, a debate-style interactive segment, and plenty of opportunities for questions from the audience.

The first area is data cleaning and data integration. Despite decades of research, the data cleaning and integration challenges are far from “solved” in practice. Are we looking at the "wrong" research problems? Are we lacking robust engineering methods? Are the problems intrinsically so complex that a workable technical solution is unlikely? These questions will be debated by Wang-Chiew Tan and Ihab Ilyas.

The second area is databases and machine learning. As a community, we have been trying to understand how to negotiate the DB / ML interface. How do we embed ML primitives in a database, and to which fundamental and data engineering research questions does this give rise? Can we effectively use ML to help solve some of the most difficult DB problems? And, once again, how do we avoid working on the “wrong” research problems? These questions will be debated by Benny Kimelfeld and Alkis Polyzotis.