MIDAS started this postdoctoral program in 2019, with the goal of bridging different disciplines and strengthening collaborative research. Outstanding new PhDs are appointed for two years, and are expected to be competitive faculty and / or independent researcher candidates afterwards. MIDAS faculty members serve as their mentors and close collaborators. We have received enthusiastic endorsement from prior Fellows, their faculty mentors and the departments of their mentors. With this program at the core, a U-M data science postdoc community is taking shape, including postdocs funded by other campus resources.

Please fill out the online form by Feb. 11 if you would like to participate in the 2022 round of the Michigan Data Science Fellows program (cost share required, please see below).

The 2022 cohort will be aligned with the MIDAS “pillars”:

  • Responsible Research Pillar – Enhancing Scientific and Societal Impact: Integrating methodologies and tools to enable responsible data science and AI research and enhance its scientific impact; applying data science and AI methodologies and tools to inform policy and promote social good.
  • Data Pillar – Measuring and Improving Society: developing and using data science and AI methods to enable new opportunities to better understand society through new data interfaces such as sensors and digital traces (including social media and other digital transactions).
  • Analytics Pillar – Transforming Health Interventions: enabling the transformation of health interventions through the use of cutting edge data science and AI methods, such as sequential decision-making and integrative modeling of complex systems to enable insights from multiple types of data.

The most important elements of the 2022 postdoc program is as follows:

  • Funding: MIDAS will provide 50% of the funding, faculty mentors will cover 50%.
  • Salary level: based on the norms in each research field. Faculty mentors will negotiate salary with the prospective fellow, subject to applicable constraints, such as NIH policy.
  • One faculty mentor required, two preferred, especially if complementary expertise is needed for mentoring.
  • Expectations: Fellows will spend at least 50% of their time at MIDAS, and attend events/activities with other Fellows. They will spend 10% of effort for MIDAS programs to strengthen the pillars, including developing resources for research, training and mentoring and other professional services.
  • Selection process: A faculty review committee will select the top candidates. MIDAS will consult with their faculty mentors to determine the salary, then notify the candidates.

Please also note that we strongly encourage applications from underrepresented populations in the data science and AI research field.

Faculty opt-in process:

  1. By 11:59 pm EST, Feb. 11, 2022, MIDAS faculty members can sign up to participate in this program, with the understanding that, if their applicant is selected, their portion of the funding needs to be in place before the Fellows start at U-M. You do not need to tell us what the source of funding will be until it is time to make offers. The only constraint is that the funding should not require substantial non-research time commitment from the fellow, such as teaching a course.
    1. Anyone who is currently not a MIDAS affiliate faculty member will need to join before they can be placed on the participating faculty list.
    2. Any faculty member who is not on the participating faculty list may still submit an application with a candidate. Not being listed simply means that it is very unlikely you will receive inquiries from potential applicants. 
  2. MIDAS will post the participating faculty list online. Candidates and potential mentors will need to first agree on research direction and mentor funding commitment before submitting applications to MIDAS. The deadline for application is 11:59 pm EST, April 8, 2022. 

Please feel free to email midas-research@umich.edu with questions.

Faculty Mentor Sign Up

Deadline: 11:59pm EST February 11, 2022