2014年大数据行业最顶尖的人才有哪些？《财富》选出20位明星

    微软研究院计算生态与环境科学小组负责人德鲁•帕维斯

    微软（Microsoft）内部有一个叫做“比尔评论”（Bill Reviews）的保留节目，也就是员工们可以在创始人兼董事长比尔•盖茨面前提出自己的创意。当微软研究院剑桥实验室（Microsoft Research’s Cambridge Labs）的计算机学负责人史蒂夫•艾默特在一次“比尔评论”中提出，要由剑桥实验室出资，在公司内部建立一个生态学研究小组时，“那真是一次糟糕得出名的会议。”——时任普林斯顿大学（Princeton University）生态学家的德鲁•帕维斯如是说。但是最后比尔•盖茨改变了主意，很快微软聘请了帕维斯作为这个小组的领头人，负责建立地球生态系统的预测模型。自从微软的“蓝天”研究部门成立后，帕维斯已经带领科研团队开发了一个模拟地球所有生命的“马丁利模型”。这个项目可谓雄心勃勃，虽然有些“唐吉诃德”色彩，但它的部分成果说不定最终也能应用于实际。帕维斯表示：“国民经济中发生的每一件事，都可以放在一定的环境因素中考量。”他随口道出全世界面临的几大最严重的挑战，包括人口老龄化、癌症、食品安全、气候变化和替代能源等问题。对于生态学和生物学，帕维斯补充道：“这些东西将成为21世纪经济的核心驱动力。”

    Drew Purves, Head of the Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group, Microsoft Research

    When Stephen Emmott, head of computational science at Microsoft Research’s Cambridge Labs, pitched the idea of having the lab sponsor an internal ecology group at one of the company’s “Bill Reviews”—where employees present in front of founder and chairman Bill Gates—“it was a “famously bad meeting,” says Drew Purves, then a Princeton University ecologist. “He thought it was the most ridiculous thing.” But Gates ended up changing his mind, and soon Microsoft hired Purves to lead a group tasked with building predictive models of Earth’s systems. Since landing in Microsoft’s blue skies research division, Purves has helped develop “The Madingley Model,” a simulation of all life on Earth. The project is ambitious—quixotic, even—but it may eventually generate practical applications. “Everything that happens within the economy fits within an environmental context,” Purves says, rattling off some of the world’s most daunting challenges, including aging populations, cancer, food security, climate change and alternative sources of energy. Of ecology and biology, he added, “these things will be the key driver of 21st century economy.” —Robert Hackett