Subject: HMC alum, Robert M. Bell, shares Netflix $1M prize!
Dear HMC Community Members,
Robert M. Bell (HMC '72, mathematics major) is featured prominently in today's New York Times. He was a member of the BellKor team that officially won the $1 million Netflix prize this morning.
The objective of the contest was to develop a software system that more accurately predicts the movies that customers would like to watch. The requirement was that the new system give a 10% improvement over the existing Netflix system.
This work is at the intersection of mathematics and computer science and uses techniques in machine learning among others. You can learn more about it at...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.netflixprize.com/
Best regards,
Ran
