KPMG Lighthouse, a long-standing participant and contributor with Columbia through the Data Science Institute’s Industry Affiliates program, has been providing Columbia’s Data Science Master’s students with real world learning opportunities for many years. This collaboration has been productive – providing KPMG with a pipeline of highly talented data scientists, and giving Columbia’s masters students an opportunity to work on industry-led project based research.

As data science innovation continues to progress, collaborations at the intersection of education and industry help students hone their technical skills while considering the broader impact their work will have on business needs. “The hardest challenge institutions face with AI technologies is really not the technology, but the lack of cross-skilled workforce who understand the nuances of combining deep technical prowess with common day challenges,” says Dr. Sreekar Krishna, KPMG Partner, and US National Leader Artificial Intelligence. “Successful realization of AI technologies will require a workforce of the future.”

“Leveraging the energy and talent of a new generation of data scientists, when coupled with the knowledge and expertise of industry leaders, is a fantastic pathway to solving the most complex problems we face in society,” adds Sharon Sputz, Executive Director of the Industry Affiliates program. “We are thrilled and honored to be a part of these collaborations.”

A key example of this collaboration is the recent KPMG Lighthouse Capstone project, conducted in the fall semester of 2022. This project is at the forefront of the national conversation on the climate crisis: the challenge of how to best electrify our roads to encourage balanced electric vehicles (EV) growth in communities.

The Biden Administration recently invested $5 billion in nationwide electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, with the hope that the funds can enable states to develop charging networks across rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach areas. The electronification of transportation holds a lot of potential to help reduce global emissions, but, to date, EVs have not been a realistic option for many communities. Inspired by the federal government’s push to increase EV use and reduce carbon emissions, KPMG Lighthouse brought this innovative data science project to students to find data-driven strategies for optimizing EV charging locations around the nation.

Under guidance from outstanding KPMG Lighthouse mentors, Columbia Master in Data Science students were charged with coming up with innovative ideas to grow and optimize EV infrastructure and make electronic transportation more accessible across the country.  The students were challenged to generate a new optimization model to suggest new locations which are evenly scattered around areas where higher traffic is presented but can also fill the gap around rural areas. The KPMG-Columbia team also identified a business application for the model they developed – to connect the technology component with the business side of the industry.

This project is one of many that supports KPMG’s pioneering work in the data, analytics and AI space. Through several initiatives such as the KPMG Modern Data Platform (MDP), KPMG Ignite, and KPMG Signals, the company is “equipped with the right people, tools and strategic alliances” to drive IT modernization and build data-driven enterprise solutions. More information about KPMG’s work in digital transformation can be found here.

Contributing Writer: Emily Halnon