Claudia Perlich Researchers at the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights brought home a gold of their own this week. A team of researchers won the
The cream of the crop
“Winning the KDD Cup is an honor for your career and your studies,” says IBM researcher and team leader Claudia Perlich. “It’s something we’re very proud of.”
And proud she should be. The contest is the oldest and first of its kind. Although no monetary award was at stake, the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining group at IBM Research received a Bravo Award from IBM, a plaque by the competition organizers and research bragging rights. The team, which calls itself the IBM Research Prediction Modeling Group, bested more than 200 submissions for the premier scientific award. (See sidebar for a list of the winning team members.)
“It was mostly based on interests and prior collaboration and participation in competitions,” Perlich says of the team selection. “I sent an email to most people who might be interested, including summer students and interns. Most of them responded and came to the first informal meeting. After a few weeks the group was reduced to the core five people.”
Stepping up to the plate
This year’s challenge focused on the early detection of breast cancer from X-ray images of the breast. The challenge usually includes two tasks and a separate winner can be named for each. IBM researchers won both of the tasks this year as well as one in the 2007 KDD Cup Competition. The topic also varies each year, with previous competitions using Netflix movie reviews and pulmonary embolisms as the challenge subjects.
The first task was complicated. After participants examined images of breast tissue, they were responsible for ranking patients on the likelihood of having cancer. The team then was asked to write software that could read the images. For the second task, competitors had to compile a list of cancer-free samples that would be compared with real-life results for accuracy. To stay in the running, the team had to score correctly on every sample.
“We actually turned in three versions because you could submit multiples using different team members,” Perlich says. “We turned in a liberal one, a conservative one and another right in the middle. It worked!”
The road to victory
The win is big news for Perlich. She was on the 2007 team and has been competing in the contest since she was a graduate student. And the KDD Cup hasn’t seen the last of her.
“It’s definitely something to look forward to," she says. "I’m very proud of it and will do it every year, no matter what the challenge is and no matter what it is we have to find out. It’s the competition.”
Perlich observes that the road to victory wasn’t easy. “Everyone of course has different working styles and strengths and weaknesses," she says. "Some were enthusiastic and some were less. But throughout the process you learn to work with others, especially if you’ve worked with them before.”
The Tokyo Research Laboratory also submitted entries and fared well, bringing more IBM presence into the forefront.
Team manager Rick Lawrence points out the overall benefits for IBM Research. “This significantly enhances the reputation of IBM and our group,” he says. “It helps with recruiting and it helps with our image.”
“That’s just it,” Perlich added. “It’s a huge success and a big honor. We’re happy to bring it back to IBM.”
Last updated on August 29, 2008