Frequently Asked Questions

Faculty members and technical personnel at any US university who carry out biomedical, clinical and healthcare research that is data-intensive.  You don’t need to be an expert in data-intensive research, but you should already have had experience carrying out research with a lot of data.

Technical personnel includes non-faculty researchers, who may be staff, postdocs or students. They should be people who take significant responsibilities in a research project, including the design of the project, data treatment and analysis, and dissemination.

Build stronger data science and AI skills, make your research more rigorous and reproducible. Strengthen your teaching skills. Get to know colleagues from around the country and build research collaboration.

Learn cutting-edge data science and artificial intelligence (AI) methods for biomedical and healthcare research, ensure the rigor and reproducibility of your projects, and network with fellow attendees from around the country. At the end of the bootcamp, trainees will submit an implementation plan, and in the year after, with the support of a designated mentor, implement new skills in research and teaching. After completing this activity, participants will carry out better research and develop their own training activities in data science rigor and reproducibility.

Objectives:

• Design and implement a training program in their home institution that replicates the key elements of this research collaboration training program.
• Carry out better data and AI-intensive research.

Our program will benefit researchers using any type of biomedical data, including multi-omics data, imaging and sensor data, health record data and population data. How intensive is intensive? We leave this definition up to you. If you think our curriculum will benefit your research, then apply!

A trainee team consists of one trainee who is a university faculty member and one trainee who is a technical staff member. Scientific research is typically done in teams with diverse skills. This is especially the case for applied data science, including biomedical data science, which is by definition interdisciplinary. For example, we may have a data scientist and a programmer working with a biomedical scientist PI, and all three have important roles to play in achieving rigor and reproducibility. So, it is not enough if only one member of the team understands the conceptual and technical requirements for research rigor and reproducibility. Teaming up trainees with different job functions will also the team members to benefit from each other’s perspectives and expertise during the bootcamp and after.

No. If you want to apply with a colleague as a team, you can indicate this on the application form. Otherwise, we will select a teammate for you based on complementary skills, research interest and background.

We strive to build a diverse trainee community and the word “diversity” means many things to us.

We will support scientific, professional, demographic and institutional diversity.

Scientifically, we welcome researchers whose research may range anywhere from understanding biological processes to disease mechanisms to improving health management at both personal and population levels. They may use any type of biomedical data, including but not limited to multi-omics data, imaging and sensor data, health record data and population data.

Professionally, we welcome researchers at all career stages whose primary goal is research or to use research as an educational tool.

Demographically, we strive to build a trainee community where no demographic group is underrepresented.

Institutionally, we welcome trainees from large research universities and from institutions with much smaller research endeavors, trainees from national and regional institutions, and trainees from Minority-Serving Institutions. We also strongly encourage trainees from institutions that have limited resources (see the Scholarship section).

The program has three components.

1. Bootcamp – The six-day bootcamp consists of large-group lectures, small group intensive learning (lectures and group discussion), team projects and individualized learning. Additional sessions include research pitches and collaboration discussion, and grant writing sessions.
2. Mentored implementation –  Trainees meet regularly with a mentor during the following year and apply new skills and tools to their research.
3. Virtual Celebration – At the end of the one-year implementation phase, trainees attend a virtual event to report their accomplishments, reconnect with the cohort, and to officially complete the training program. 

May 12 – 17, 2025 at Jackson State University – Jackson, MS

June 16 – 21, 2025 at University of Texas – San Antonio – San Antonio, TX

Note: Both sessions offer the same curriculum.  On the application, you can select your preferred session/location. 

No. Trainees must be in-person at the bootcamp location.

Yes. The mentor meetings are held virtually.

Yes! We are training faculty and technical personnel pairs. We highly encourage Trainees to form a team (up to two members). Each team member will need to fill out an application form. Please include the other team member’s name on your application.

Yes! If you apply as an individual, we will choose a partner for you.

Registration for this event is FREE.

Participation in the training program is free of charge. Each attendee is required to make their own travel arrangements, covering expenses such as airfare, hotel reservations, transportation, and food, unless they receive a scholarship from the program.

The bootcamp does not provide meals, and while there may be food and beverage options during certain breaks or meetings, this is not guaranteed.

We will provide regional hotel information when you are accepted to the program.

Yes. We offer full and partial scholarships, especially to applicants from institutions with limited resources and those with professional and / or demographic backgrounds that are underrepresented in biomedical sciences. You may indicate the need for a scholarship in the application form.

Business casual.

Fully participate! Benefit from this program as much as you can, and help make the trainee community a supportive and collaborative place for all!

Trainees should be committed to attend the summer bootcamp in full. At the end of the bootcamp, trainees will submit an implementation plan, and in the year after, with the support of a designated mentor, implement new skills in their research and teaching. Trainees should be committed to meeting with their mentors at least three times during the implementation phase, and continuing to communicate and collaborate with their bootcamp teammate.

One of the bootcamp instructors will be assigned to each trainee team as the mentor. In the year after the bootcamp, while the trainees implement new skills and tools in their research and teaching, the mentors and trainee teams will meet at least three times to discuss progress, address challenges, and seek additional resources and support. The mentors will also offer monthly drop-in meetings open to all trainees from all years.

Fully participate! Benefit from this program as much as you can, and help make the trainee community a supportive and collaborative place for all!

1. Meet institutional training requirements for human subject research (e.g. CITI Training certificate etc).
2. Some experience in study design, data processing and analysis, and reporting.
3. Conceptual understanding about the processes of data science projects and methodologies covered in the units, so that they understand critical decisions to support rigor and reproducibility. 

It is possible that some trainees will need to acquire prior knowledge in order to participate in the training, for example, learning the very basics of R or Python. We will design pre-training materials for trainees to use before the bootcamp.

A completed application package consists of applicant’s CV and 1 page cover letter describing:

• How you can benefit from attending this program. 
• Your current research and teaching
• Type of data and analytics you currently use/plan to use
• Challenges you see in improving rigor and reproducibility in your work

Priority Application Deadline: Jan. 29, 2025

Each bootcamp will be capped at 50 trainees.

Yes, we will offer a waitlist.