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"Microsoft is to launch a new research center in New York which will push its research in a new direction and complement its existing teams with a series of specialist researchers, 14 of whom have joined from Yahoo,\u00A0AllThingsD reports.\r\n\r\nThe new lab will become the thirteenth Microsoft Research office worldwide, but it is being heralded as a particularly significant addition, according to researchers who will work directly with the New York team.\r\n\r\nDanah Boyd, a member of Social Media Collective at\u00A0Microsoft's New England site, says that new the new lab will complement the organisation's existing structure and help provide a bridge with her lab for future research:\r\nWe\u2019ve long noted the need for data science types who can bridge between us. And now, to my utter delight, a new lab is emerging to complement our lab.\r\n\r\nThe folks who are going to serve as the founding members of the new NYC lab are computer scientists, physicists, experimental economists, and data scientists.\r\n\r\nMany of them are interested in social network analysis and big data problems but \u2013 or shall I say crucially \u2013 they all see the value in collaborating with ethnographers. In other words, we\u2019re building a cross-lab team that\u2019ll create new possible interdisciplinary collaborations that make my heart go pitter patter.\r\nYahoo recently laid off 2,000 employees as part of cost cutting, however the new recruitments haven't been brought in as a group -- in the way the Washington Post is reportedly hiring Digg's tech team -- says\u00A0Jennifer Chayes.\r\n\r\nChayes manages the New York group and will also look after the new site in her role as managing director of both centers:\r\nI don\u2019t feel like we hired a group; I feel like we hired 15 amazing individuals, some of which became available because there were some problems at Yahoo.\r\nThe hires were likely influenced by renowned social scientist\u00A0Duncan Watts, who ATD reported as switching from the struggle firm to Microsoft this weekend. At the time it wasn't clear on Watt's fit, but it is part of a new push from the organisation.\r\n\r\nWriting on her Microsoft blog, Chayes admits that the company didn't originally envisage a new office but after talking to the new recruits, it was decided that an expansion was the most logical option:\r\nAs we in Microsoft Research connected with them to begin a meaningful dialogue about their plans and aspirations, we began to fully appreciate not only their individual talents and expertise, but also their uncanny ability to work together with unrivaled energy and passion. The conversations left me and other Microsoft Research researchers inspired to expand our East Coast presence.\r\nOn the subject of the two labs working together, Chaynes says that there areas of expertise are &amp;quot;distinct but highly complementary&amp;quot; and she expects that &amp;quot;the whole will be much greater than the sum of its parts.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nThe 15 staff at the New York site will plug into the existing\u00A0Microsoft Research network of more than 850 Ph.D. researchers, who focus on more than 55 areas of computing. The company's research arm works with a range of leading organisations, including\u00A0universities, governments and other industry researchers.\r\n\r\nWe've reached out to Microsoft for more details about the lab, and we will update this post with any new information that we're given.\r\n\r\nUpdate: Microsoft has provided TNW with a statement to further explain its new hires and the role of the center.\r\nWe are expecting to sign on 15 distinguished Microsoft researchers including thought leaders Duncan Watts, David Pennock and John Langford.\u00A0 These new researchers, who come to us from Yahoo! Labs, represent some of the best and brightest minds in research.\r\n\r\nMSRNYC researchers will work together with others in Microsoft Research and in academia to advance the state of the art in social science (both computational and behavioral), computational economics and prediction markets, machine learning, and information retrieval."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/05/03/new-microsoft-research-lab-in-new-york-to-provide-distinct-but-complimentary-expertise/>