Program Activities

All BIDS-TP predoctoral students are required to take and satisfactorily complete (minimum grade B-) the 4 core courses (12-credit hours) as well as two additional 3-credit elective courses. Collectively, these 18 credits will provide trainees with a blend of fundamental mathematical and statistical knowledge, biomedical and health applications, and data science techniques needed to work at the interface of bioinformatics, health analytics, and translational sciences. All required and elective courses are offered every year, most by BIDS-TP faculty instructors. All accepted BIDS-TP students are expected to apply and complete the Graduate Data Science Certificate Program.

Tutoring for core and elective courses, by graduate teaching assistants, is available to trainees, as needed. Students that may need remediation courses (e.g., linear algebra, bioinformatics) are encouraged to undertake appropriate Summer boot-camps, short courses, or prerequisite classes. Based on prior coursework, core courses may be waived by the Executive Committee (EC). For example, some mathematics trainees may waive math foundation classes or biostatistics classes, whereas biostatistics students may waive some statistics courses. All trainees must discuss with their advisors the most appropriate individual curriculum plans, given their specific backgrounds and scholarly interests. In addition to regular coursework, all trainees have opportunities to participate in MIDAS and DCMB short courses, weekly seminars, summer programs, and annual symposia (examples are posted on the website). All BIDS-TP events and activities are electronically announced to all trainees and participating faculty via emails and the BIDS-TP website.

Upon successful completion of the BIDS-TP program, all Fellows and Trainees will receive:

• BIDS-TP Certificate of Program Competition.

• Rackham Graduate Data Science Certificate.