Faculty Assistance in Data Science
About this opportunity
Campus:
Bloomington
Contact:
Brea Perry,blperry@iu.edu
ord@iu.edu
Deadline:
September 19, 2025
Award cycle:
Annual
Funding available:
N/A
Read about successful FADS partnerships in 2021
The Program for Faculty Assistance in Data Science (FADS) is designed to provide access to expertise and assistance in advanced data analytics, data visualization, and database development for the purpose of catalyzing faculty research. This program pairs faculty in any discipline with graduate students pursuing a M.S. in Data Science (MSDS) through the Luddy School of Informatics for summer research internships. These paid internships cover up to 150 hours of student effort on a faculty research project and are sponsored by The Office of the Vice President for Research and the University Graduate School. Internships will be awarded to students on a competitive basis, and carefully matched to faculty projects using faculty preferences, demonstrated competencies, and interest in a given analytic area. Preference will be given to projects that provide valuable learning experiences for the MSDS students, those which enable promising new or expanded research directions for the investigator, and those which are unlikely to be successful without this program.
Data science assistance is available in data visualization, database development and management, machine learning, natural language processing, network analysis, cloud and high-performance computing, data mining, and web and app development. A full list of available student competencies is accessible at https://ssrc.indiana.edu/about/consultants/data-science/index.html.
Eligibility
Any faculty member in a tenure track or research scientist position at Indiana University may apply. Previous recipients may reapply with a new project. Applications for the FADS program submitted in fall 2025 will fund internships in spring or summer of 2026.
Eligible as PIs
- All tenured and tenure‐eligible faculty members
- Research scientists and other non-tenure track faculty whose evaluation criteria are based on research activity
- Graduate Faculty leading research
- Emeritus faculty
Not Eligible as PIs
- Visiting and adjunct faculty members
- Postdoctoral fellows and research associates
- Graduate students
Usage and time frame
The 150 hours of student effort may be distributed in any manner agreed upon by the faculty member and student (e.g., 15 hrs/week for 10 weeks) up to 20 hours/week. Faculty can choose to be paired with students in either the spring or summer term, based on their preference. Student pairing will be made available to faculty by December 1, 2025.
Spring projects will take place from January 20-April 24, 2026 and students will earn course credits.
Summer projects will take place from May 16-July 24, 2026 and students can earn course credits, or apply for competitive paid fellowship placements.
Application requirements
Applicants must complete an electronic application and upload a completed application form. Please note page limitations.
Application sections include:
- Summary of project (500-word maximum)
- Rationale for assistance in data analytics and visualization (200-word maximum)
- Specific competencies required, including programming languages if applicable (see https://ssrc.indiana.edu/about/consultants/data-science/index.html)
- Statement of benefit to the student (200-word maximum)
- Statement of information about other sources of funding, including whether you would be willing to sponsor all or part of a fellowship (e.g., through a grant or faculty research funds) should demand exceed the number of projects OVPR can support.
- Biosketch or curriculum vitae (3-page maximum)