Abstract:

Computer Science (CS) and Statistics (Stats) are historically mutually exclusive but important fields of expertise. Therefore, their intersection was considered empty in the minds of both the experts and observers. Their only combination was, therefore through union. This was not useful because of lack of common interest. However, modernity forces previously independent subject disciplines to converge towards one another. One discovery is the intersection of CS and Stats at Operations Research (OR). Considering intersecting areas such as data science, which focuses on making sense of patterns within data for decision making, there is a need to consider multidisciplinary aspects offered by CS, Stats, and OR. Within a health science university, massive data are generated which builds up to big data. To deal with such big data, multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary expertise is required to analyse and map out strategies to solve medical problems. Thus such multidisciplinary expertise from CS, Stats, and OR come handy. In particular, Artificial Intelligence from CS must be exploited to drive OR to bring new developments in application domains. The existing amalgamations have not been exploited to the optimal levels. What are the dynamics of the intersection for optimal benefit to a health sciences higher education institution in a developing country? The paper explores relevant aspects for the two disciplines to benefit a new health sciences university in a developing country.

Keywords:

Computer science, statistics, operations research, discipline convergence, modernity, Artificial intelligence, data science.