diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4705e6b200b42..ea06cdb50be2d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -11,40 +11,53 @@ env:
   - secure: "PCzUFR8CHmw9lH84p4ygnojdF7Z8U5h7YfY0RyT+5K/aiQ1ZTU3ZkDTPI0/rR5FVMxsEEKEQKMcc5fvqW0PeD7Q2wRmluloKgT9w4EVEJ1ppKf7lITPcvZR2QgVOvjv4AfDtibLHFNiaSjzoqyJVjM4igjOu8WTlF3JfZcmOQjQ="
 
 matrix:
+    fast_finish: true
     include:
     - python: 2.6
       env:
       - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not network and not disabled"
       - CLIPBOARD=xclip
       - LOCALE_OVERRIDE="it_IT.UTF-8"
-      - JOB_NAME: "26_nslow_nnet" # ScatterCI Build name, 20 chars max
+      - JOB_NAME: "26_nslow_nnet"
     - python: 2.7
       env:
       - NOSE_ARGS="slow and not network and not disabled"
       - LOCALE_OVERRIDE="zh_CN.GB18030"
       - FULL_DEPS=true
       - JOB_TAG=_LOCALE
-      - JOB_NAME: "27_slow_nnet_LOCALE" # ScatterCI Build name, 20 chars max
+      - JOB_NAME: "27_slow_nnet_LOCALE"
     - python: 2.7
       env:
       - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not disabled"
       - FULL_DEPS=true
       - CLIPBOARD_GUI=gtk2
-      - JOB_NAME: "27_nslow" # ScatterCI Build name, 20 chars max
+      - JOB_NAME: "27_nslow"
       - DOC_BUILD=true # if rst files were changed, build docs in parallel with tests
     - python: 3.2
       env:
       - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not disabled"
       - FULL_DEPS=true
       - CLIPBOARD_GUI=qt4
-      - JOB_NAME: "32_nslow"  # ScatterCI Build name, 20 chars max
+      - JOB_NAME: "32_nslow"
     - python: 3.3
       env:
       - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not disabled"
       - FULL_DEPS=true
       - CLIPBOARD=xsel
-      - JOB_NAME: "33_nslow"  # ScatterCI Build name, 20 chars max
-
+      - JOB_NAME: "33_nslow"
+    - python: 2.7
+      env:
+      - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not disabled"
+      - JOB_NAME: "27_numpy_dev"
+      - JOB_TAG=_NUMPY_DEV
+      - NUMPY_BUILD=true # build numpy master from source
+    allow_failures:
+      - python: 2.7
+        env:
+        - NOSE_ARGS="not slow and not disabled"
+        - JOB_NAME: "27_numpy_dev"
+        - JOB_TAG=_NUMPY_DEV
+        - NUMPY_BUILD=true # build numpy master from source
 
 # allow importing from site-packages,
 # so apt-get python-x works for system pythons
diff --git a/ci/install.sh b/ci/install.sh
index 77755a26393c0..28dc350f3cf07 100755
--- a/ci/install.sh
+++ b/ci/install.sh
@@ -39,20 +39,36 @@ base_url=http://cache27diy-cpycloud.rhcloud.com
 wheel_box=${TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION}${JOB_TAG}
 PIP_ARGS+=" -I --use-wheel --find-links=$base_url/$wheel_box/ --allow-external --allow-insecure"
 
-# Force virtualenv to accept system_site_packages
-rm -f $VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/python$TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION/no-global-site-packages.txt
-
-
 if [ -n "$LOCALE_OVERRIDE" ]; then
     # make sure the locale is available
     # probably useless, since you would need to relogin
     time sudo locale-gen "$LOCALE_OVERRIDE"
 fi
 
-
 # we need these for numpy
 time sudo apt-get $APT_ARGS install libatlas-base-dev gfortran
 
+if [ -n "$NUMPY_BUILD" ]; then
+    # building numpy
+    curdir=$(pwd)
+    echo "building numpy: $curdir"
+
+    # remove the system installed numpy
+    pip uninstall numpy -y
+
+    # clone & install
+    git clone --branch master https://github.com/numpy/numpy.git numpy
+    cd numpy
+    time sudo python setup.py install
+
+    cd $curdir
+    numpy_version=$(python -c 'import numpy; print(numpy.__version__)')
+    echo "numpy: $numpy_version"
+else
+    # Force virtualenv to accept system_site_packages
+    rm -f $VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/python$TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION/no-global-site-packages.txt
+fi
+
 time pip install $PIP_ARGS -r ci/requirements-${wheel_box}.txt
 
 
@@ -98,6 +114,10 @@ export PATH=/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/lib64/ccache:$PATH
 which gcc
 ccache -z
 time pip install $(find dist | grep gz | head -n 1)
-# restore cython
-time pip install $PIP_ARGS  $(cat ci/requirements-${wheel_box}.txt | grep -i cython)
+
+# restore cython (if not numpy building)
+if [ -z "$NUMPY_BUILD" ]; then
+    time pip install $PIP_ARGS  $(cat ci/requirements-${wheel_box}.txt | grep -i cython)
+fi
+
 true
diff --git a/ci/requirements-2.7_NUMPY_DEV.txt b/ci/requirements-2.7_NUMPY_DEV.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..90fa8f11c1cfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/requirements-2.7_NUMPY_DEV.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+python-dateutil
+pytz==2013b
+cython==0.19.1