PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Project-specific training opportunities for biostatisticians and data scientists are often not available outside of
certain advanced graduate (or occasionally undergraduate) degree programs. Lacking these opportunities, the
effectiveness of the biomedical workforce suffers due to shortages in qualified biostatisticians and data
scientists who can design efficient and robust studies that can be analyzed to produce reliable and
generalizable results and thus applied to the most important problems in health research. For this project, we
will focus on pairing undergraduates with biostatistics and translational mentors in areas of interest to the
NHLBI and NIAID to work on specific research projects. We propose to establish a Summer Institute in
Biostatistics and Data Science at the University of Texas Medical Branch to provide trainees with these
opportunities for direct, hands-on training. The objective of this project is to develop this training opportunity to
expose students to statistical design and analysis problems from real research, while providing them with the
conceptual and technical tools to address these problems. As such, students should be able 1) to assess study
designs for strengths and weaknesses in addressing specific biomedical questions, 2) to use the tools of
statistical modeling, data science, and hypothesis testing along with state-of-the-art statistical software to work
on problems as well as produce results and conclusions for these problems, and 3) to understand how
developing these skills can lead to a wide variety of career opportunities both inside and outside of academia.
The specific aims of this project are to develop an opportunity for students 1) to receive training in basic
biostatistics and data science methods in the context of compelling scientific questions and research data,
based on 2) the implementation of innovative educational approaches in describing analytic and computational
skills necessary to execute biostatistical research on projects relevant to the missions of the NHLBI and NIAID,
as well as 3) be provided with a program faculty-mentored independent research opportunity and 4) be
provided career guidance and development opportunities to trainees, and 5) to recruit a diverse group of
participants The application of this training will be guided by case studies stemming from projects in heart and
lung diseases as well as studies in infectious disease prevention, emerging infections, and immune-mediated
studies. This project is innovative in how it ties together active training in state-of-the-art statistical and data
science techniques using effective educational platforms tied with specific case study applications as well as
opportunities for career development. Our project is significant because developing a workforce knowledgeable
in biostatistical and data science applications of heart and lung diseases as well as studies in infectious
disease prevention, emerging infections, and immune-mediated studies research has been increasingly in
demand to improve the efficiency and reliability of biomedical innovation; this project represents an important
step in meeting this need.