Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science

What Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science does

The Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science (CAIDS) is an academic research institute embedded within Tulane University that advances data science and AI literacy across the university's disciplines. Established with a $1.25 million gift from donors Libby and Robert Alexander, the institute operates through educational coursework, dedicated research laboratories, grant programs, and community engagement initiatives. It serves Tulane students, faculty, and a small set of external community partners, with all in-university services provided at no cost.

Core offerings include a numbered data science course sequence (DATA 1010 through DATA 4350), three specialized research laboratories — the D3L lab focused on computational social science and algorithmic discrimination, the Heartline platform for cardiovascular clinical question-answering, and the SMART-pred initiative for public health forecasting — seed grant programs ranging from $2,000 to $30,000, and an AI Innovation Internship program. Technical capabilities span retrieval-augmented generation for clinical Q&A, large language model fine-tuning, and predictive analytics with reported 91% accuracy on health-related forecasting. Affiliated faculty hold PhDs and have received recognition through awards and competitive fellowships.

CAIDS operates as a non-revenue-generating academic unit. Its funding sources include direct university allocation, competitive grants from bodies such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, NSF, and J-PAL, and donor contributions. The institute's model is internal-to-Tulane and externally collaborative rather than commercial: services are provided free to enrolled students and faculty, while external partnerships operate on a co-investment, grant, or community-engagement basis rather than fee-for-service.

Name

Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science

Legal name

Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science

Website

https://datainstitute.tulane.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science (CAIDS) is a Tulane University academic institute that advances data and AI literacy across disciplines via coursework, dedicated research labs, seed grants, and community-engaged programs for students, faculty, and external partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. University Funding: Primary funding from Tulane University as an institutional academic unit. Operations funded through university budget allocations for faculty, staff, and programming.
2. External Grants: Grant funding from foundations and government agencies including Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, J-PAL, and National Institute of Aging. Grants support specific research projects, student positions, and equipment.
3. Donor Gifts: Private donations such as the gift from Libby and Robert Alexander in support of data science at Tulane.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

CAIDS is an academic institute at Tulane University that delivers data literacy and AI literacy education through a structured DATA course series (DATA 1010 through DATA 4350), co-curricular student programs (peer mentoring, internships, leadership cohorts), faculty grant funding, statistical consulting, and applied research platforms such as the Heartline cardiovascular prevention platform and SMART-pred public health surveillance platform. All services are offered free of charge to Tulane students and faculty, with select community-engaged programming extended to New Orleans-area partner organizations.

Product overview

The Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science (CAIDS) is an academic institute at Tulane University that functions as a comprehensive educational platform rather than a single product company. CAIDS operates a suite of DATA courses (DATA 1010 through DATA 4350) covering data literacy, visualization, AI tools, machine learning, GIS, text analysis, network science, and data ethics. The institute complements classroom instruction with co-curricular student programs including the Data Peer Mentor Program, AI Innovation Internship Program, Data Research Internship Program, and Community-Engaged Data Program. CAIDS also provides research support services through its Statistical Consulting Center, Discrimination Disparities and Data Lab (D3L), and various faculty grant programs. Additionally, CAIDS faculty lead AI-powered research platforms including the Heartline cardiovascular prevention platform and the SMART-pred public health surveillance platform. The institute serves students, faculty, and the broader New Orleans community through workshops, events, and outreach programming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Discrimination, Disparities, and Data Lab (D3L): A multi-disciplinary team doing data-driven research documenting and understanding discrimination and socio-economic disparities.
• Statistical Consulting Center
• Data Research Internship Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 91% test accuracy achieved by SMART-pred platform in Alzheimer screening case study
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability11 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.

• The Water InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Community-engaged summer data internship program placing Tulane students to work on data-related social impact projects with The Water Institute in New Orleans.
• Agenda For ChildrencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Community-engaged data internships placing students with Agenda For Children to support data literacy and STEM engagement for New Orleans children and families.
• Junior League of New OrleanscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Collaboration on The Status of Women in New Orleans 2024 report. CAIDS Data Research Internship Program created data visualizations for the comprehensive report on women's status.
• Center for Community-Engaged AI (CEAI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint program hosting the CEAI Lunch and Learn Series. CAIDS is a founding partner in this center that researches how AI can be used with community direction to solve pressing societal problems. CAIDS faculty affiliated with CEAI.
• Center for Public Service (CPS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTri-institutional grant program with CAIDS and CEAI offering grants up to $10,000 for data, AI, and community-engaged research projects. CPS contributes funding and community engagement expertise.
• Center for Engaged Learning & Teaching (CELT)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-presenters of the AI Mastery Workshop Series held in CELT classroom in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. CELT provides classroom space and co-branding for AI education workshops.
• Newcomb InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Newcomb-Tulane College's Newcomb Institute for digital humanities projects. CAIDS Data Research Interns work on interdisciplinary digital scholarship with social and cultural frameworks in partnership with Newcomb Institute.
• Newcomb-Tulane College Office of Undergraduate Research & FellowshipssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsor of Academic Enrichment Grants for Undergraduate Data Projects, providing up to $2,500 per student for data-focused research.
• H-TML (Humanities, Technology, and Media Lab)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCampus partner providing resources and co-sponsorship for faculty around research and teaching in data-focused areas.
• NTC College Programs First-Year ExperiencesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership supporting Faculty TIDES Grants program for developing data-centered First Year Seminars at Tulane.
• KallionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner for Data Research Internship Program with digital humanities and archival projects.
• Center for Sport at TulaneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for Data Research Internship Program supporting pro sports front office data analysis projects.
• Mary Amelia Center for Women's Health Equity ResearchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner for data research internship program focused on women's health equity research.
• Louisiana Department of HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on SMART-pred platform development for AI-driven public health surveillance. Contributing to validation and real-world implementation of disease detection systems.
• Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical MedicinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint seed grant program for AI/ML in public health research. Co-funded initiative supporting projects like SMART-pred platform with up to $30,000 per award.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Harvard Data Science Initiative: Harvard's university-wide data science initiative providing research support, training, and educational resources. Comparable to CAIDS as a university-wide data science hub but with significantly greater research funding and global academic reach.
• Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS): UC Berkeley's division addressing data science education, research, and societal impact. Shares CAIDS' focus on data literacy across disciplines and equity-minded pedagogy, but operates at a much larger R1 university scale with established data science undergraduate programs.
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing: MIT's computing college integrating AI, data science, and computational research across disciplines. Shares CAIDS' interdisciplinary approach to AI/data education but at a much larger institutional scale with deep industry partnerships and external research funding.
• Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI): Stanford's flagship AI research institute focused on multidisciplinary AI research, education, and policy. Comparable to CAIDS as a university-based AI/data science hub with research labs, but operates at vastly larger scale with global influence and significant external funding.
• Carnegie Mellon Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy: CMU's college combining data science, AI, and public policy education. Comparable to CAIDS in its intersection of data science with social impact and public health applications, though at a much larger scale with established degree programs.

Direct peers

• Tulane Center for Community-Engaged AI (CEAI): Tulane's internal center researching how AI can be used with community direction to solve societal problems. CAIDS is a founding partner of CEAI, making it the closest direct peer within the same institution with overlapping community-engaged AI research and educational programming.
• Georgia Tech Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS): Georgia Tech's university-wide data science institute supporting interdisciplinary research and education. Shares CAIDS' model of providing data science infrastructure, training, and research support across an entire university community.
• Columbia Data Science Institute: Columbia University's data science institute integrating data science research and education across disciplines. Shares CAIDS' model of university-wide data literacy programs, faculty grants, and cross-disciplinary research support.
• NYU Center for Data Science: NYU's data science center offering undergraduate and graduate programs, research, and industry partnerships. Comparable to CAIDS in its role as a centralized university data science hub offering interdisciplinary educational and research programming.
• University of Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS): University-wide data science institute offering educational programs, research support, and faculty training. Directly comparable to CAIDS as a university-based data science institute providing courses, workshops, grants, and consulting services to internal students and faculty.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TulaneCAIDS
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/@TulaneCAIDS
• Facebookfacebook.com/61550020236069
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/connolly-alexander-institute-for-data-science
• Instagraminstagram.com/tulanecaids
• TikToktiktok.com/@tulanecaids

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science