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A BID TO HOST KDD 2018Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.The 24th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining

Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A MESSAGE FROM LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CHAIR . . . . . . 4

SEATTLE BID LEADERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ABOUT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PROPOSED DATES AND VENUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

ACCOMMODATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

TRANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

LETTERS OF SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The 24th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining

On behalf of the data mining community in the Pacific Northwest, it is our pleasure to invite the worldwide community of the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference (KDD) to Seattle, WA, in August 2018.

Seattle and the greater Puget Sound are home to leading research and development in data science where academic institutions, such as the University of Washington, and well-established industry leaders including Amazon, Microsoft, and Tableau provide the perfect backdrop for innovation and excellence. Other major technology companies such as eBay, Facebook, Groupon, and Google have significant development efforts and numerous scientists in the greater Puget Sound. The region’s vibrant economy is also a hotbed for a wide variety of startups, making it an international hub for networking and the exchange of ideas to advance the field of data science. The Puget Sound is also home to innovators who advance the field of data mining and machine learning by enabling real-world solutions that impact industrial and commercial sectors:

• Boeing is at the forefront of predictive maintenance.• Costco, Nordstrom, Amazon, and Starbucks have revolutionized our technology expectations in retail

customer solutions.• Zillow and Redfin, two major real-estate websites, use data and predictive analysis to innovate the way

we buy and sell our homes.

Seattle is also home to some of the largest nonprofits in the world including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As is evident, Seattle is fast becoming an important KDD innovation center from tools and services at its core to the most innovative and advanced world-changing applications.

Over the last few years this region has been very well represented at KDD conferences with several hundred attendees joining the community each year. The local ACM SIGKDD Seattle chapter has been formed and engages in regular chapter activities. Faculty and students from CSE, eScience Institute, and the Center for Data Science regularly disseminate their best advances through KDD as the venue of choice, as do researchers at prestigious research centers such as Microsoft Research, Amazon, Boeing Research, the Allen Institute, and others in the area. Together, these institutions are notable and very well-recognized for research excellence in many fields related to data mining, namely statistics, databases, and machine learning.

The KDD event will be hosted during the peak of summer: our most beautiful season. Summer brings out the best in nature and urban life here. Sweeping views of Mt. Rainier, the Cascades, and the Olympic mountains provide endless vistas complemented by nearby beaches and attractions within the city. Seattle is home to many museums, theaters, and world-class restaurants. Its waterfront is home to Seattle’s newest icon, the Great Wheel, as well as its aquarium, sculpture park, and many local restaurants and shops. The waterfront also offers ferries across Elliott Bay, with amazing views of downtown Seattle, the Cascade mountains, and, of course, the Space Needle. Seattle is also home to one of the oldest continuously operating public markets in the USA, the Pike Place Market. All of these attractions are in easy walking distance from the conference center and the hotels in the surrounding area.

Cruise ships to Alaska also leave from here and can be arranged in advance, enabling some interesting pre- and post-conference options, including visits to the Canadian destinations Victoria and Vancouver. We would welcome opportunities to collaborate and arrange such events in Alaska.

Thank you for the opportunity to present our bid and please join us in Seattle in 2018!

Sincerely,

Dr. Markus Weimer and Prof. Ankur Teredesai

3 | INTRODUCTION


INTRODUCTION

Early commitments from local industry partners have reached $200,000 in support of this event.

As the local arrangements chair, I want to share with you why Seattle will serve as an excellent host city for KDD 2018. First and foremost, the local SIGKDD is a vibrant and active community. In my role as a chapter officer since 2014, I have seen the excitement and genuine effort that this community brings to our meetings and events. The chapter would apply that same enthusiasm to the 2018 conference here in Seattle. A number of us, including myself, have served as reviewers and presenters for earlier conferences. That experience will serve us and KDD well for an event here in Seattle.

Our local chapter has 485 members and we consistently pack our regular venues for monthly meetings where we host hackathons and talks. In addition to our chapter there are a number of other groups that have membership as high or higher than ours who are exactly the kind of attendees and/or speakers that the KDD conference inspires to participate. Local R, Python, Hadoop, and Spark groups contribute to a large, committed audience for content focused on data mining, machine learning, advanced analytics, and innovative ways to manage and use data for business and social good.

Seattle is a data technology center. We are home to companies including Microsoft, Amazon, and Expedia. Our talent base is deep and has led to Facebook, Google, and Twitter establishing data science and development centers here in the greater Puget Sound area. With close to a thousand tech startups and almost 100 venture capital firms, it is safe to say that Seattle can and will provide a ready and willing audience for the 2018 conference.

I, personally, am associated with Microsoft and have been working within their very large data science team for four years. Recently, Microsoft hosted PyData Seattle 2015. Since it was hosted on the Microsoft Campus, our space was limited. However, we had more than 1,000 registered attendees. Happily, with a venue the size of the Washington State Convention Center, KDD will be able to provide enough room for the many content tracks that will attract speakers, attendees, and sponsors from across the entire data science ecosystem.

Seattle is also a world-class tourist destination, especially during the month of August. Whatever the preference—indoor or outdoor—the city and its surrounding area are filled with attractions that will provide our speakers and attendees with additional incentive for making the trip and investment to what will be an excellent KDD 2018.

Thank you for your consideration,

Syed Fahad Allam Shah

4 | A MESSAGE FROM LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CHAIR


WELCOME

Yehuda Koren, Program Co-ChairYehuda Koren is a staff research scientist at Google. Prior to this, he was a senior research scientist at Yahoo! Research and a principal

staff member of AT&T Labs-Research. He received a PhD in computer science from The Weizmann Institute. His main research interests are recommender systems, data mining, web search, automated question answering, machine learning, and information visualization. He led the team that won the two progress awards in the Netflix Prize competition, and was part of the team that won the Netflix Grand Prize. Dr. Koren has more than 50 research publications and several patents to his credit. He was awarded the best paper awards at INFOVIS 2005, KDD 2009, and RecSys 2011. He served as program co-chair of KDD 2013 and RecSys 2014, as a senior program committee member at conferences like KDD, ICDM, RecSys, WSDM, and CIKM, and on the editorial board of IEEE TKDE and ACM TIST.

Markus Weimer, General Co-ChairDr. Markus Weimer is a principal scientist with the Cloud Information Services Laboratory (CISL) at Microsoft. His

research interest lies in large-scale machine learning techniques, systems therefore and applications thereof. As part of this work, he cofounded and serves as the current chair of Apache REEF, a standard library for big data applications on resource managers. Markus frequently participates in the program committees of NIPS, ICML, KDD, ECML, and JMLR among others. He co-organized KDD Cup 2011 and serves as KDD Cup chair in 2016.

Markus gives tutorials about machine learning systems at SIGMOD and organizes several incarnations of the Learning Systems workshop at NIPS. Through his research he proposes more realistic and novel problems to the machine learning community, namely resource-elastic and geo-distributed machine learning.

Prior to his work at Microsoft, Markus was a scientist with Yahoo! Labs in Sunnyvale, CA. In this role, he worked on practical machine learning systems, including the first theoretically sound data-parallel stochastic gradient descent.

Ankur Teredesai, General Co-ChairAnkur M. Teredesai is a professor of computer science and systems at the Institute of Technology, University of Washington

Tacoma. His research spans data science with its applications for societal impact and social good.

Ankur has significant industry experience, having held various positions at C-DAC Pune, Microsoft, IBM T.J. Watson Labs, and a variety of technology startups. He has published more than 70 papers on data mining and machine learning. His recent applied research contributions include cost and risk prediction for readmission due to chronic conditions such as heart failure.

He heads the Center for Data Science, and serves as the information officer for ACM SIGKDD (Special Interest Group in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining). He is currently an associate editor for ACM SIGKDD Explorations and IEEE Transactions on Big Data and serves on program committees of major international conferences in data mining, machine learning, and related areas. Ankur serves as the graduate program coordinator (GPC) for the MS in computer science and systems, and is the cofounder of the information technology degree program at University of Washington Tacoma.

Syed Fahad Allam Shah, Local Arrangements ChairFahad has been associated with Microsoft working as a data scientist for more than

four years. He received his PhD from UCF in social network mining. He has served as officer for the Seattle SIGKDD chapter since 2014; has been involved with the research community serving as the program committee for FLAIRS since 2011; and was a reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence & AI in Games 2011, and a subreviewer for KDD 2012 and CIM 2013 conferences.

5 | SEATTLE BID LEADERSHIP


SEATTLE BID LEADERSHIP

ClimateOn average, there are 152 sunny days per year in Seattle, Washington. The July high is around 75 degrees. Seattle’s climate is classified as oceanic or temperate marine, with cool, wet winters and warm, relatively dry summers. Like much of the Pacific Northwest, according to the Köppen climate classification, it has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate. Other climate classification systems, such as Trewartha, place it firmly in the Oceanic zone, like much of Western Europe.

Time ZoneSeattle is on the Pacific Standard Time Zone which is three hours behind New York.

SeattleWith an estimated 662,400 residents as of 2015, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. As of July 2013 it was the fastest-growing major city in the United States, and remained in the top five in May 2015 with an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. The Seattle metropolitan area has approximately 3.6 million inhabitants and is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Seattle is a laid-back city that takes its coffee very seriously. When visiting the city, there is no need for a car. Walk Score rated Seattle as the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities. Conference delegates will enjoy strolling Seattle’s historic waterfront, sampling local cuisine, and shopping amongst Seattle’s eclectic retailers.

“Seattle is for people who love culture, but refuse to sacrifice their wild nature to attain it.”

– Kimberly Kinrade, Seduced by Innocence

6 | ABOUT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON


ABOUT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Arts and CultureOverall, Seattle’s arts scene mirrors its inhabitants. For every traditionalist, there’s a non-traditionalist: for every serious piece of art, there’s something to make you laugh. Seattleites’ love of arts and culture is evident in its rich variety of events offered every year.

FoodSeattle is home to world-famous chefs. In 2014, about two dozen Seattle chefs and restaurants were nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award.

“…To some extent, Seattle remains a frontier metropolis, a place where people can experiment with their lives, and change and grow and make things happen.”

– Tom Robbins

Best New Restaurant: Aragona and Bar Sajor

Outstanding Bar Program: Canon

Outstanding Chef: Johnathan Sundstrom of Lark

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Neil Robertson of Crumble & Flake Patisserie

Outstanding Restaurant: Canlis

Outstanding Restaurateur: Rick and Ann Yoder of Wild Ginger

Outstanding Service: Café Juanita in Kirkland

Rising Star Chef of the Year (under 30 years of age): Chris Weber of Herbfarm in Woodinville and Blaine Wetzel of The Willows Inn on Lummi Island

Best Chef Northwest:

• Chris Ainsworth of Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen in Walla Walla

• Eric Donnelly of RockCreek

• Renee Erickson of The Whale Wins

• Jason Franey of Canlis

• Nathan Lockwood of Altura

• Brendan McGill of Hitchcock on Bainbridge Island

• Dustin Ronspies of Art of the Table

• Ethan Stowell of Staple & Fancy

• Jason Stratton of Spinasse

• Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule

“Today is fair. Tomorrow may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change.”

– Chief Seattle

Escape the CityIn less than 30 minutes you can enjoy breathtaking natural vistas, hiking, kayaking, whale watching, and water sports. Surrounded by water and mountains, Seattle offers a wide range of excursions for every type of adventurer.

7 | ABOUT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON


PROPOSED DATESAugust 11 through 16, 2018August 18 through 23, 2018

VENUE Washington State Convention Center | 800 Convention Place, Seattle, WA 98101-2350The renowned Washington State Convention Center is our premier meeting and event space, featuring 61 meeting rooms, four ballrooms, and six exhibit halls, as well as a number of cozy seating areas for intimate conversation. All meeting rooms and ballrooms are fully carpeted and beautifully appointed, and each space is equipped with advanced connectivity and audio/visual support.

Washington State Convention Center Offers:205,700 total square feet of dedicated heavy-load exhibit space20 covered bays at two loading docks45,000 total square feet of carpeted ballroom spaces, divisible into four separate ballrooms57,000 square feet of carpeted meeting space, divisible into 61 versatile meeting rooms

Level 1 Entrances, Shops & ServicesLevel 2 Meeting RoomsLevel 3 Meeting RoomsLevel 4 Exhibition HallsLevel 5 Show OfficesLevel 6 Ballrooms & Meeting Rooms

8 | PROPOSED DATES AND VENUE


PROPOSED DATES AND VENUE

South Lobby

South Lobby Exterior

Level 6 South Lobby

Outside at Night

The Conference Center Meeting Room

The Conference Lobby

9 | PROPOSED DATES AND VENUE


1 Hilton | 1301 Sixth Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Located in the heart of the city, virtually in the center of all Seattle popular attractions—the Hilton is in easy walking distance of hundreds of restaurants, retail shops, and major companies. Capacity: 80 (40 sgl’s, 40 dbl’s)

2 Vintage Park | 1100 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Vintage Park Hotel is located in the heart of downtown Seattle—a very walkable location and close to major shopping, dining, theater, the Seattle Waterfront, Pike Place Market, etc.Capacity: 30 (15 sgl’s, 15 dbl’s)

3 Inn at WAC | 1325 6th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101The Inn at WAC is two blocks from the Washington State Convention Center and in the heart of Seattle’s tourist, shopping, and dining district, near hundreds of restaurants and stores as well.Capacity: 40 (20 sgl’s, 20 dbl’s)

4 The Westin | 1900 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101The Westin offers close proximity to popular Seattle attractions such as Pike Place Market, Seattle Art Museum, glass museum, theaters, and a huge variety of dining options.Capacity: 400 (190 sgl’s, 190 dbl’s, 4 suite, 16 staff)

5 Crowne Plaza | 1113 6th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Seattle’s Crowne Plaza is about four blocks or a 10-minute walk to shopping, dining, museums, and the waterfront.Capacity: 200 (65 sgl’s, 125 dbl’s, 10 suite)

6 W Hotel | 1112 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101W’s hip location puts guests in the heart of downtown, accessible to the city’s best restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Within blocks of the property, one can discover the famous Pike Place Market, Seattle Center, Seattle Waterfront, Benaroya Symphony Hall, and Westlake Shopping Center. Capacity: 200 (65 sgl’s, 125 dbl’s, 10 suite)

ACCOMMODATIONS

10 | ACCOMMODATIONS


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7 Hotel Monaco | 1101 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Hotel Monaco is in close proximity/walking distance to major shopping, dining, Seattle Waterfront, Pike Place Market, etc.Capacity: 60 (22 sgl’s, 38 dbl’s)

8 Homewood Suites | 1011 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101The Homewood Suites Convention Center by Hilton hotel is steps from the convention center and dining options in the Capitol Hill and Downtown neighborhoods. Some staff favorites include Starbucks’ new roastery, Serious Pie, Terra Plata, Loulay, Pike Place Market, and much more!Capacity: 45 (45 sgl’s)

9 The Fairmont Olympic Hotel | 411 University St, Seattle, WA 98101The Fairmont Olympic is footsteps from world-class shopping, and three blocks from the Washington State Convention Center. The 24-hour concierge is an amazing resource for guests, providing ideas and directions on what to see and do while in Seattle!Capacity: 100 (65 sgl’s, 35 dbl’s)

10 Warwick Seattle | 401 Lenora St, Seattle, WA 98121The Warwick Seattle Hotel is within walking distance of Pike Place Market, the historic Seattle Waterfront, and the Seattle Center (Space Needle, Experience Music Project, Seattle Opera, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet). Also located just a few blocks away is the business and shopping district, and the Washington State Convention Center.Capacity: 87 (35 sgl’s, 50 dbl’s, 1 suite, 1 staff)

11 Alexis Hotel | 1007 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98104Located in the heart of downtown Seattle—perfect location and very walkable as it is close to major shopping, dining, theater, Pike Place Market, Seattle Waterfront, etc.Capacity: 30 (15 sgl’s, 15 dbl’s)

12 Grand Hyatt Seattle | 721 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101Located in the heart of Seattle’s thriving retail and theater district, adjacent to the Washington State Convention Center, the Grand Hyatt Seattle is steps from Pike Place Market, Seattle Waterfront, and the Space Needle.Capacity: 250 (225 sgl’s, 25 dbl’s)

13 Mayflower Park Hotel | 405 Olive Way, Seattle, WA 98101Very centrally located in the Downtown Seattle shopping and entertainment district, with many amazing restaurants, attractions (notably Pike Place Market), and shopping all within close walking distance.Capacity: 77 (55 sgl’s, 20 dbl’s, 2 staff)

14 Hyatt at Olive 8 | 1635 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Nestled in the theater district of downtown Seattle, this stunning hotel is walking distance to Seattle’s most famous attractions, shopping, and restaurants. A few blocks outside the magnificent glass doors are historic Pike Place Market and the Puget Sound.Capacity: 175 (157 sgl’s, 18 dbl’s)

15 Palladian | 2000 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121Located near the center of all that Seattle has to offer, on the seam of Belltown and the Retail Core, the new Palladian Hotel is within walking distance of landmarks like Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and Seattle’s best new restaurants, live music, cafés, and boutiques. Capacity: 20 (15 sgl’s, 5 dbl’s)

16 Four Seasons | 99 Union Street, Seattle, WA 98101Walking distance to Pike Place Market, Seattle Art Museum, the Great Wheel, shopping, restaurants, and the waterfront.Capacity: 40 (30 sgl’s, 10 dbl’s)

17 Motif Seattle | 1415 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101Motif Seattle is in the heart of the city, close to all the shopping, dining, theaters, and museums. Within walking distance: Fifth Avenue Theatre, Seattle Art Museum, Pike Place Market, Westlake Shopping Center, Pacific Place Shopping Center, Seattle Convention & Visitors Bureau, Benaroya Hall, multiple restaurants.Capacity: 75 (50 sgl’s, 22 dbl’s, 1 suite, 2 staff)

11 | ACCOMMODATIONS


Metro Buses The “Metro” public bus system, which operates throughout Seattle and King County, is one of the most extensive and highly praised in the nation. Having been honored twice as the best-run large public transportation system in North America, Metro operates a fleet of approximately 1,300 vehicles—including standard and articulated coaches, electric trolleys, dual-powered buses, hybrid diesel-electric buses, and streetcars—which serve an annual ridership of more than 100 million.

In addition to service on Downtown’s surface streets, Metro operates a 1.3-mile bus tunnel underneath Downtown Seattle, making stops at Convention Place, Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and Chinatown-International District.

To find a route, maps, and fare information for travel throughout and into Downtown Seattle, visit Metro online at metro.kingcounty.gov. Also view the Maps page to find information about other bus route maps.

The Seattle MonorailThe nation’s first full-scale commercial monorail system provides a fun, quick, and convenient link from Downtown Seattle to the Seattle Center daily (Mon – Fri: 7:30am – 11pm; Sat and Sun: 8:30am – 11pm). Departing every 10 minutes, the one-mile trip takes just two minutes. In Downtown Seattle, hop on the monorail at Westlake Center at 5th Ave and Pine Street. The Seattle Center station is located near the Space Needle. Learn more at seattlemonorail.com.

12 | TRANSPORTATION


TRANSPORTATION

Seattle Street Car – South Lake Union LineThe South Lake Union streetcar links Seattle’s vibrant retail core to the fast-growing Denny Triangle and South Lake Union neighborhoods, as well as the new 12-acre Lake Union Park. Visit seattlestreetcar.org for a route map, ticket prices, and hours of operation.

Link Light RailLink light rail connects Downtown Seattle with Sea-Tac International Airport, making stops in Seattle’s southeast neighborhoods along the way, including six stops in Downtown Seattle from SODO to Westlake Center. Visit soundtransit.org for a route map, ticket prices, and hours of operation.

Car SharingCar sharing helps reduce the need to own a car and it reduces driving. Car sharing allows people to have the convenience of a car when they need one without the hassles. Rent a car by the hour with Zipcar or for shorter trips by the minute with Car2Go and just pay for the time used.

13 | TRANSPORTATION


LETTERS OF INVITATION AND SUPPORT

Prof. Bing Liu President, SIGKDD C/O Department of Computer Science University of Illinois 851 S. Morgan St (M/C 152) Chicago, IL 60607-705

Dear Prof. Liu,

As a former KDD co-chair, and a long-time attendee and contributor of the conference, I would like to express my strongest support to the proposal of hosting KDD-2018 in Seattle, WA.

I have known the proposed general chair, Markus Weimer, since 2008. We have been working together at Yahoo! Research, and co-organized KDD-Cup 2011. During those years I have learned that Markus is not only a researcher with a deep understanding of data sciences, but also has exceptional organizational skills. I am confident that under his lead KDD-2018 is going to be one of the most successful and well-organized KDD conferences ever.

Markus asked me if I can join the effort as a program co-chair. I enthusiastically agreed, given my passion for the conference and appreciating the opportunity to collaborate with Markus once again. This is, of course, pending the blessing of the steering committee. I believe that I do bring valuable experience, having served as both KDD-2013 and RecSys-2014 program co-chair. My involvement with the KDD organization over the years also included being KDD-2010 Best Paper co-chair, KDD-Cup co-chair in 2011, and KDD-2012 tutorials co-chair. It might also be worth mentioning that I have been a member of KDD’s research senior program committee since 2010. If this proposal is accepted, I plan to invest significant efforts in the success of the conference.

Beyond this, Seattle as a world technology hub will be attractive to the large local professional community and the KDD chapter and I expect a stellar industry participation. Local companies include of course, Microsoft and Amazon, as well as many internet and data companies like Expedia, Tableau, Zillow, and Zulily. Relative proximity to Silicon Valley also ensures many of the better established companies have significant R&D offices in Seattle, like Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, eBay, and Uber. In addition, some leading data mining researchers are based at the University of Washington, including Magdalena Balazinska, Pedro Domingos, Oren Etzioni, Carlos Guestrin, and Dan Suciu.

Adding to the location appeal is the fact that Seattle is an exciting tourist destination, which offers many attractions and nearby nature trails, and is well connected by direct international flights.

I hope that the committee will consider placing KDD-2018 in Seattle favourably.

Sincerely,

Yehuda Koren Google

14 | LETTERS OF INVITATION AND SUPPORT


December 21, 2015

Mr. Bing Liu, President, SIGKDD C/O Department of Computer Science University of Illinois 851 S. Morgan St (M/C 152) Chicago, IL 60607-705

Re: Support for KDD 2018 in Seattle

Dear Mr. Liu:

I am very excited to support Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference (KDD), with the support of Microsoft. The Seattle area is filled with a number of highly visible companies and academic institutions, who are actively creating the most innovative ways to gather, store, and use data in pursuing both for-profit and nonprofit endeavors.

In the summer, Seattle is one of the most beautiful places in the world, combining the sea, lakes, mountains, amazing food, and great culture. With the KDD conference in August, delegates will see it at its best. The waterfront has its “Great Wheel,” acclaimed aquarium and outdoor sculpture park, and ferries crisscrossing Elliott Bay. It then gives way to one of the country’s oldest continuously operating public markets, Pike Place Market. Combined with Seattle’s museums, theaters, and many award-winning restaurants, we have a diverse and rich backdrop to the conference for our delegates to enjoy.

In addition to its beauty, Seattle is the home of the world’s most influential Cloud companies, Amazon and Microsoft, as well as Google’s Cloud team. We have a vibrant tech community, and a huge number of local folks eager to join the event. And, machine learning and data mining at the University of Washington are world-class, and folks there would be excited to participate and help support this event.

I believe Seattle is ideally suited as a KDD conference destination.

Sincerely,

Carlos Guestrin President & CEO, Dato, Inc. Amazon Prof. of Machine Learning University of Washington





To Whom It May Concern,

I am pleased to support Microsoft and Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference (KDD). The greater Puget Sound area is filled with companies and academic institutions who are actively creating the most innovative ways to gather, store, and use data in pursuing both for-profit and nonprofit endeavors.

Tableau Software is on a mission to help people see and understand data. Our success is based in part on a breakthrough at Stanford University that combines database query and visualization, which means that KDD is one of our core academic conferences. We continue to innovate. Members of Tableau Research (https://research.tableau.com/) with their colleagues regularly attend KDD. Tableau Public is a free version of our technology for students and data journalists. Tableau Foundation has the related mission to promote the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world’s problems.

Tableau’s headquarters are in Seattle, which is a very popular tourist destination during the summer and the timing of the KDD conference in August means that delegates will see it at its best. The waterfront has its “Great Wheel,” acclaimed aquarium and outdoor sculpture park, and ferries crisscrossing Elliott Bay. It then gives way to one of the country’s oldest continuously operating public markets, Pike Place Market. Combined with Seattle’s museums, theaters, and many award-winning restaurants, we have a diverse and rich backdrop to the conference for our delegates to enjoy. Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area house some of today’s most advanced companies and academic programs in the field of data analytics. I believe it is ideally suited as a KDD conference destination.

Sincerely,

Jock D. Mackinlay VP for Research & Design Tableau Software

Sincerely,




Mr. Bing Liu President, SIGKDD C/O Department of Computer Science University of Illinois 851 S. Morgan St (M/C 152) Chicago, IL 60607-705

Mr. Bing Liu,

I am pleased to support Microsoft and Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference (KDD). The greater Puget Sound area is filled with technology companies and academic institutions who are actively creating the most innovative ways to gather, store, and use data in pursuing both for-profit and nonprofit endeavors.

The vision for my team at Microsoft is to transform the world’s data into operationalized intelligence. We have been partnering closely with the KDD conference in the last few years by delivering the keynote and various other sessions.

Seattle is a very popular tourist destination during the summer and the timing of the KDD conference in August means that delegates will see it at its best. The waterfront has its “Great Wheel,” acclaimed aquarium and outdoor sculpture park, and ferries crisscrossing Elliott Bay. It then gives way to one of the country’s oldest continuously operating public markets, Pike Place Market. Combined with Seattle’s museums, theaters, and many award-winning restaurants, we have a diverse and rich backdrop to the conference for our delegates to enjoy.

Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area house some of today’s most advanced companies and academic programs in the field of data analytics for healthcare, energy, transportation, and technology. I believe it is ideally suited as a KDD conference destination.

Sincerely,

Dr. Joseph Sirosh Corporate Vice President Azure Data Group




Prof. Bing Liu President, SIGKDD C/O Department of Computer Science University of Illinois 851 S. Morgan St (M/C 152) Chicago, IL 60607-705

Dear Mr. Liu:

I am writing to support Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 KDD conference. Google is just one of many data-driven companies that are active in the Seattle area. Seattle is quite a hotbed for machine learning and data mining. There are several data visualization and data mining companies within a short walk of my office in Seattle (e.g., Tableau and Dato). There is also a very strong machine learning academic program at the University of Washington.

Google itself has a strong presence in the Seattle area, with groups who apply statistics, data mining, and machine learning to large data sets in order to produce value for the company. I bet that we would get a strong turnout of Googlers to a KDD held in Seattle. We’d certainly be willing to help sponsor that year’s conference.

The other nice thing about Seattle is that it is more accessible and less expensive than the San Francisco Bay Area. KDD is a summer conference—that is when Seattle is at its best and most attractive. Seattle is filled with lake and ocean views, with lush expanses of green. The summertime is when it earns its sobriquet, “The Emerald City.” Summertime is when I commute to work by bike—the views from the Burke-Gilman urban bicycle trail are incomparable.

Between the strong presence of academic and industrial data mining, and the beautiful setting, I think Seattle is an ideal spot for KDD.

Sincerely,

John Platt Principal Scientist Google




January 4, 2016

Bing Liu President, SIGKDD C/O Department of Computer Science University of Illinois 851 S. Morgan St (M/C 152) Chicago, IL 60607

Subject: Letter of Support / KDD 2018 Seattle bid

My organization and I are delighted to support Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Boeing started as a company in the Seattle area a hundred years ago, in 1916. Now it is one of the leaders in the area in both fundamental and applied research in data mining and related areas, and it is one of the numerous companies that make the greater Puget Sound area a hotbed for innovation in data mining.

Together with other Puget Sound companies and academic institutions, Boeing is actively pursuing innovative ways to scalably process, gather, and store data, and to develop novel data mining methods, for commercial and nonprofit endeavors.

Should Seattle and the Puget Sound be selected as a site for KDD 2018, we will actively support the conference and a large number of our employees will be attending the conference.

The greater Puget Sound area houses some of today’s most advanced companies and academic programs in the field of data analytics. We believe that, at the center of it, Seattle is ideally suited as a KDD conference site.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Dragos Margineantu Boeing




January 6, 2016

Dear members of the SIGKDD Executive Committee,

I’m writing in support of Microsoft and Seattle’s bid to host KDD in 2018. Seattle is all around an ideal location for KDD. As one of the leading centers of information technology in the world, it has an unusual concentration of leading companies, startups, and research centers in data science and related areas. This will both ensure high local participation in the conference and make it more attractive for participants from around the world.

Seattle is also a wonderful city to visit in the summer, with mild, sunny weather and many attractions in and around the city that participants and their families will enjoy. It’s also easily reached by air, and has all the necessary infrastructure to host a major conference.

In sum, having KDD in Seattle in 2018 would lead to a very successful conference, and benefit both the region and the worldwide data science community. I hope you choose our beautiful city to take KDD to the next level. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further help.

Sincerely,

Pedro Domingos University of Washington




January 7, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to support Microsoft and Seattle’s bid to host the 2018 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference (KDD). The greater Puget Sound area is filled with companies and academic institutions who are actively creating the most innovative ways to gather, store, and use data in pursuing both for-profit and nonprofit endeavors.

AI2, founded in 2014, is the creation of Paul Allen. AI2 (www.allenai.org) was founded with the singular focus of conducting high-impact research and engineering in the field of artificial intelligence, all for the common good. We are a nonprofit institute focused on grand-challenge AI projects including Semantic Scholar and more. The institute now has 45 staff members, and over 20 PhD-level researchers in NLP, vision, and machine learning.

Seattle is a key location for the tech industry. It is also a very popular tourist destination during the summer; the timing of the KDD conference in August means that delegates will see it at its best. The waterfront has its “Great Wheel,” acclaimed aquarium and outdoor sculpture park, and ferries crisscrossing Elliott Bay. Our team is a fan of Lake Union, which is a perfect spot for us to kayak. And rain or shine, we run or bike on the nearby Burke-Gilman trail. Our team enjoys the delightful Fremont and Wallingford neighborhoods, which have nationally acclaimed restaurants that foodies enjoy.

Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area house some of today’s most advanced companies and academic programs in the field of data analytics. I believe it is ideally suited as a KDD conference destination.

Sincerely,

Oren Etzioni CEO Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence



Seattle is a vibrant data technology center with a ready and supportive audience for the 2018 KDD conference. Together with the larger Pacific Northwest, the city offers:

• A culture of innovation in data sciences spanning academic, commercial, and nonprofit organizations.

• Well-established industry leaders in data mining, including Boeing, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Costco, and Starbucks.

• Invaluable opportunities for local networking.• The renowned Washington State Convention Center event space.• A perfect backdrop with a stunning physical environment, walkable cityscape,

and world-class restaurants.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope you will select Seattle for 2018!

CONCLUSION

22 | CONCLUSION


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