MACHINE LEARNING AND DATA SCIENCE Written and edited by a team of experts in the field, this collection of papers reflects the most up-to-date and comprehensive current state of machine learning and data science for industry, government, and academia. Machine learning (ML) and data science (DS) are very active topics with an extensive scope, both in terms of theory and applications. They have been established as an important emergent scientific field and paradigm driving research evolution in such disciplines as statistics, computing science and intelligence science, and practical transformation in such domains as science, engineering, the public sector, business, social science, and lifestyle. Simultaneously, their applications provide important challenges that can often be addressed only with innovative machine learning and data science algorithms. These algorithms encompass the larger areas of artificial intelligence, data analytics, machine learning, pattern recognition, natural language understanding, and big data manipulation. They also tackle related new scientific challenges, ranging from data capture, creation, storage, retrieval, sharing, analysis, optimization, and visualization, to integrative analysis across heterogeneous and interdependent complex resources for better decision-making, collaboration, and, ultimately, value creation.