James Short, Ph.D.

Roles

• Lead Scientist - SDSC
• Co-Director - Center for Large-scale Data Systems research (CLDS), SDSC
• Director - BlockLAB, SDSC

Biography

Jim Short is a Lead Scientist and research staff member at SDSC. He is a data scientist interested in the economics of large-scale data systems, the valuation of data and information markets, and the economic incentives and management of data privacy and data sharing. In 2018 he founded SDSC’s new blockchain research laboratory, BlockLAB. The Lab’s research goals include exploring the principal technologies and business use cases in blockchains, distributed ledgers, digital transactions and smart contracts. He initiated SDSC’s annual data technology conferences, Data West in December, and the new Data East conference in June 2020, to be held in Washington DC. Short received his undergraduate, masters and PhD degrees from MIT. He is active in IT professional organizations and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several technology and business management journals.

Expertise

• Market adoption, business application and economics of blockchain
• Valuation of data and information markets
• Textual analysis of data (Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning)
• Corporate data policy and regulatory / legal frameworks

Current Projects

• BlockLAB - Blockchain and DLT research lab with the goal of defining, evaluating and reporting on the key technical, business and managerial questions posed by blockchain and distributed transaction ledger technologies, their commercial applications, and their potential for causing significant disruptions in industry and government.​