DSI Scholars Faculty Proposal Form

DSI Scholars Program

Faculty Proposal Form
The DSI Scholars program connects selected Faculty Mentors with talented students whose data science skills and expertise can further your research and increase the visibility of your work. We especially encourage new faculty and researchers in disciplines where data science integration is an emerging practice to apply.

For detailed information about the program, please review the Faculty page and FAQs here.

Fall 2026 PROPOSAL DEADLINE EXTENDED: Friday, April 17th [11:59 PM]

If you have any issues, please reach out to dsi-scholars@columbia.edu for assistance.
- Contact Information: Faculty Supervisor
- Name*
  
  First NameLast Name
- Email*
  example@example.com
- UNI*
- Title*
- School/Institute/Center *
- Department*
- Phone Number
- YesNo, I have not applied before.
- If yes, when?*
  e.g. Spring 2024
- YesNo
- If yes, when?*
  e.g. Spring 2024
- Project Proposal
- Project Title*
- Public Project Summary (300 words or less) *
  
  0/300
- DSI Scholar Responsibilities: What responsibilities will you assign to the DSI Scholar? Please clearly outline the tasks they will complete during the semester assigned to your project. *
  This will be shared with applicants if your project is selected for the DSI Scholars program.
- ModelApp or toolDashboard or visualizationReport/paperUser interfaceOther
- Project Plan & Timeline: Please submit a detailed breakdown of project tasks by hours spent, totaling no more than 140 hours. The plan should name key milestones and deliverables, at intervals that reflect no more than approximately 10 hours of student work per week.*
- YesNo
- If yes, please briefly describe the source and structure of the data.*
- If no, explain how you plan to collect the data so the scholar can complete work within the program timeline. *
- No prior domain knowledge requiredPrior coursework in the field (please provide example course numbers or topics in required skills section below)Advanced domain expertise (e.g. prior publication or research experience)
- Required Skills and Experience:*
  This will be shared with applicants if your project is selected for the DSI Scholars program.
- Master'sSeniorJuniorSophomoreFreshman
- YesNo
- DSI Scholars Support Impact: Briefly describe why the DSI Scholars research program is uniquely valuable for this project. For example, if its developmental stage, interdisciplinary nature, or other features make traditional research and/or funding support more difficult to obtain, please describe that here.*
  
  0/200
- Research Ethics: Please briefly describe how research ethics is typically handled within your field (e.g. via IRB review, ethics disclosures within publications) and how you will address these topics with a DSI Scholar, given that they may come from a different disciplinary background to your own. *
  
  0/200
- Mentorship
  
  Mentorship is an important component of this program. Award preference will be given to projects that have a clear mentorship plan.
  
  Reminder: Faculty supervisors are expected to have sufficient data science expertise to be able to provide mentorship and research advice to scholars on these aspects of their projects. It's important to remember that DSI Scholars are students and cannot serve as data science subject matter experts on your project.
- Please provide the name, UNI and a position description of the individual who will serve as the student’s primary mentor and supervisor.*
- Briefly describe the supervision structure and meeting frequency. If you will not supervise the student personally, how will you ensure they are provided sufficient mentorship and/or feedback?*
- Participate in regular, realtime lab/research meetingsThey will be assigned a more experienced researcher (e.g. Phd or postdoc) to work withThey will primarily work independently
- Authorship and Publication
  
  Like other researchers, DSI Scholars benefit from the opportunity to present their work and obtain appropriate authorship credit for their contributions to data cleaning and analysis, as well as proposal preparation and publication preparation, if applicable. Below, we ask you to provide some details on presentation/publication opportunities you expect the Scholar to have, as well as attribution/authorship norms in your field.
- Research Presentations: Will the student have the opportunity to present their research progress during the semester? If yes, please indicate whether presentations will be informal (e.g., lab meetings) and/or formal (e.g., symposium, conference, written report). *
- What opportunities will the Scholar have to obtain authorship attribution on publications, presentations, or other scholarly outputs that draw on their work with this project. *
- Please briefly explain how authorship decisions will be determined in each instance. You are encouraged to reference existing norms for your field or other relevant frameworks, such as the CrediT system.*
  CrediT sytem: https://credit.niso.org/
- Funding and Hiring Model Acknowledgment
  
  Please note that the DSI Scholars funding and hiring processes have been revised for Fall 2026. We encourage faculty who have participated before to carefully review the updated information below, and reach out with any questions.
  
  Funding
  
  All DSI Scholars are hired and have their commitment managed directly by DSI. Each term, DSI will fund up to 7 projects for up to 140 hours of DSI Scholars effort.
  
  While we welcome faculty applicants with available funding, please note that only DSI Core Members may use grant funding to support DSI Scholars.
  
  For all other faculty, we welcome the support of DSI Scholars via unrestricted funds, which must be transferred to DSI for disbursement to be considered for the DSI Scholars program. Unfortunately, we cannot include grants or other funding that must be administered by the faculty member's home department, apart from the DSI Members exception noted above.
  
  If you have sufficient unrestricted funding available to support a DSI Scholar, a minimum of $3,500 must be transferred to DSI by September 1. 2026.
- Yes, I have funding for a DSI Scholar.No, I do not have funding.
- What is the funding source?*
- Chartstring:*
  This will not be charged until after a student is selected by a faculty member.
- Department Admin Name*
- Department Admin Email*
- Hiring and Student Hours
  DSI will hire all students directly and approve timesheets as required. However, faculty are responsible for monitoring student hours, and may be required to provide an updated work plan if students' filed hours significantly exceed the anticipated rate of approximately 10 hours per week.
  
  Students whose hours have been fully accounted for will be instructed not to work further on the project unless and until sufficient funding to support additional hours has been received by DSI via internal transfer.
- I acknowledge
Should be Empty:

DSI Scholars Program

Contact Information: Faculty Supervisor

Project Proposal

Mentorship

Authorship and Publication

Funding and Hiring Model Acknowledgment