New York Times Names First Chief Data Scientist

The New York Times (NYT) has hired mathematician Professor Chris Wiggins as its first ever Chief Data Scientist, tasked with creating a Machine Learning division which will help the group uncover information about the way readers consume its content.

The paper was founded in 1851 and in addition to its printed daily edition has an online version which receives around 30 million unique visitors per month. Since the end of last year, Wiggins (pictured) has been on sabbatical from his role as Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics at Columbia's Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, while also working at the newspaper. He has now officially joined the NYT one day a week, while continuing in his role at the University.

At the NYT, he will lead a team of three or four people who will be tasked with using statistical methodologies applied to existing data, in order to understand why people subscribe to the newspaper and find ways to retain them.

Marc Frons, Chief Information Officer, comments: 'Data science in general and machine learning in particular are becoming central to the way we understand our customers and improve our products. We're thrilled to have Chris leading that effort.'

Web site: www.nytimes.com .