The D4I Institute specifically welcomes applications from incoming sophomores and juniors, and is also open to seniors doing data-intensive theses. We also have post-graduate internship tracks for college graduates. We have 12+ projects that will engage interns chosen through a competitive application process. This immersive  Institute has a rolling application process and can take interns every month. Interns are expected to commit at least 20 hours per week to both the workshops and their projects. 

Applications are currently open. The application will request that students indicate their top two project choices. After a quick interview process, we anticipate informing selected students within two weeks. Students who successfully complete the Institute will be named “Data for Impact Fellows” and this will add to their portfolios of accomplishment.   

Students: What’s in it for me?

• Develop / strengthen skill sets in data science, analysis and visualization: a growing field for all disciplines that opens new career pathways;

• Experience working with interdisciplinary teams and driving research forward collaboratively with student, faculty, and external partners;

• Opportunities to work collaboratively with other self-selected, motivated students from across the university on ambitious data-centric projects;

• Applying principles of data science to high-impact, real-world projects / applying knowledge to practical execution;

• Learning fast, learning big, learning to fail and reiterate, and learning on the go;

• Prepare your resume to join real-world action-research endeavors, pursue your own ideas for new ventures, and qualify for new internship and career opportunities.

Program Structure

• The program starts with a one-week workshop series, followed by immersive project work (Mandatory). Additional pre-program workshops may be offered for students with no or very limited experience working with data.

• Weekly Check-Ins from Teams (Mandatory)

• Weekly Seminar by Industry/Academic Experts (Mandatory)

• Pop-up classes by subject matter experts will be offered every week. Faculty can make specific workshops mandatory for their own teams.

• Presenting at the Virtual Innovation Expo (Mandatory)

Information for Students

How do students apply?

Application Link: click here. The application takes about 15 minutes to complete.

When are student applications due?

Is there a cost to the D4I Summer Institute?

Why should I become a D4I Fellow?

Information for Faculty and Innovation Fellows 

I have a project idea. What next?

Given the short time frame, we are expecting initial information including a project title, lead faculty mentor, other faculty involved, and a short summary. After initial conversations and confirmation, and in order to facilitate the selection of students, we will request (before the program commences a brief (1-2 page) project concept that responds to the following prompts (bullet points are completely fine):

1. Demographics

      a. Project Title

      b. Lead Faculty Member or Innovation Fellow

      c. Partnering Faculty

      d. Ideal Student Profile

      e. Specific Resources Necessary

2. Dream and Impact

      a. What is the ultimate, or hoped-for, dream of the project? How might you pursue this dream?

      b. What is the topic/question/possibility/mode of inquiry you will employ?

      c. What is the project’s potential for impact? What might your impact look like? What disciplines, fields, or spheres will your work influence?

3. Project Scope

      a. What would make this project a potential game-changer? 

      b. What is the new intellectual/creative pathway you are taking?

      c. How is this project collaborative? What communities of practice are you contributing to, and calibrating against?

What are the criteria for D4I projects?

What's in it for faculty project mentors?

What are the ways in which interested faculty can participate without mentoring a project?

Data for Impact Summer Institute 2020

Project List and Descriptions

1. The Mindanao Food Highway

A Collaborative Project with the Civika Asian Development Academy and the Development Academy of the Philippines 

Project mentors: Prof. Ganesh Balasubramanian, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics;

Jo-Ann Emilene A. de Belen - Supervising Fellow (Managing Director, DAP sa Mindanao);

Dr. Elmer S. Soriano - Senior Fellow (Managing Director, Civika Asian Development Academy - Zero Hunger Lab);

Dr. Dominic Vincent D. Ligot - Senior Fellow and Data Analyst (Founder and Chief Technology Officer, CirroLytix);

Fatima D. dela Cruz - Project Manager (Project Staff, DAP sa Mindanao)

- This project will work closely with a team from the Civika Asian Development Academy and the Development Academy of the Philippines, both Philippines-based organizations that through projects develop public and private sector leaders throughout Southeast Asia. The direct focus of this project is the creation of a “Food Highway,” using data-driven and data-centric approaches to alleviate ongoing disruptions to food and medicine supply chains throughout the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mindanao Food Highway, named for the second-largest island in the Philippines archipelago, aims to explore innovative, data-driven, and technology-based solutions to food security challenges during COVID-19 disruptions. Achieving this objective will result in reducing transitory food insecurity and increasing community resilience during this pandemic.

2.       Improving Nutritional Outcomes of Indigenous Children

Faculty mentor: Susie Baldo Phd 

3. Breast Feeding Adoption and Influencers 

Faculty mentors: 

4. Optimizing Health Communication for Nutrition

Faculty mentor: _____

- The journal PMLA recently expressed “hope for an interdisciplinary encounter where digital humanities meets data science.” These two research fields have remained relatively separate, despite having similar goals, and now scholars at Lehigh are poised to realize this encounter. The field of Digital Humanities sees scholars in disciplines such as history and literature using technology to archive, analyze, and visualize the human cultural record. In Data Science, computer scientists and statisticians use natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to understand textual and numerical data. Over the past year, Digital Humanists at Lehigh have worked with scholars from Lehigh’s Data X Initiative to identify design as a productive meeting ground for interdisciplinary collaboration. As both theory and practice, design captures a range of activities relevant to both groups—constructing data sets, creating user interfaces, and visualizing information—while design thinking has emerged as a multi-disciplinary process for creative problem solving. The Data for Impact student team will (1) interview faculty and staff who work in digital humanities, data science, and design to assess existing opportunities and expertise at Lehigh; (2) inventory programs in data science and digital humanities at other universities and research centers; and (3) use digital tools like Tableau to capture and display the information gathered in steps (1) and (2).

5. COVID-19 Impacts on Nutrition

Faculty mentor: ____

- Arts & cultural organizations and artists everywhere are suffering from a dramatic loss of performance opportunities, ticket revenue, grants, and other significant sources of income. A healthy creative sector contributes strongly to a region’s long term economic growth and quality of life. The Lehigh Valley may be particularly at risk with its high concentration of arts and cultural organizations and its proximity to New York City. An emergency survey of artists and non-profit arts and cultural organizations conducted in April 2020 by the Cultural Coalition of Allentown revealed a dire situation in the region’s arts and culture community. Individual artists have lost most of their income and nearly all non-profit arts & culture organizations across the Valley have had to cancel critical events. Preliminary survey results estimate an attendance decline of 2.5 million to 3.5 million which threatens the very existence of many organizations. A second more detailed impact survey is under development for distribution in mid-May. The Data for Impact student team’s goals will be (1) analysis of data from those two surveys; (2) development of an asset map of the region’s arts and cultural resources and of the impact on those assets of the COVID-19 crisis; (3) development of high-impact visualizations of (1) and (2) in support of a major advocacy campaign among the region’s political leaders and philanthropic and donor communities to support artists and non-profit arts and cultural organizations in crisis.

Adapted from Lehigh University Data for Impact Summer  Institute

https://creativeinquiry.lehigh.edu/mountaintop-programs/data-impact-summer-institute