Join the DSI Research Community

By becoming an affiliate of the Data Science Institute, faculty and researchers can deepen their engagement with Columbia’s data science community, expand their collaborative networks, and increase their visibility across the University.

Affiliates are full-time Columbia University faculty or researchers who are advancing data science and artificial intelligence across an array of disciplines. Through this formal association with the Institute, affiliates are connected to Institute activities in a variety of ways –such as belonging to centers and/or working groups and receiving invitations to host or participate in events, panels, or external opportunities. Affiliates are included in DSI’s email list for updates on DSI news, events, and funding opportunities, and are listed on the DSI website.

Although affiliates are generally full-time faculty and researchers; adjunct faculty who are approved by their department chair and the Institute director, may also become affiliates.

Affiliates who are actively engaged in the intellectual life, and in some cases, governance and strategic planning of the Institute, are considered core members for a period of 2 to 3 years in which they are involved and participating in the Institute’s activities. 

Core members demonstrate their engagement with the Institute in a number of ways — by participating in regular meetings, actively contributing to DSI initiatives, and supporting mission-critical activities. Core membership status is for faculty who have a strong research focus in data science or its applications, and who wish to be deeply involved in shaping the direction of the Institute.

How can I become a core member of the Data Science Institute?

Core members can demonstrate that they:
  • Have received support from a DSI program in the past year. Programs include: DSI Scholars, DSI Postdoctoral Fellows, Frontiers of Data Science and AI, and Seed Funds.
  • Regularly solicit and manage their grants and other sponsored research through the Institute
    • Have received pre-award support for grant submission in the past year, or post-award support for grant management
  • Have benefitted from an industry engagement through DSI, such as consulting opportunities or research awards through industry in the past two years
  • Serve as a member of the DSI Executive Committee, Academic Committee, or as a co-chair of a DSI Center or Working Group.
  • Have been awarded any level of DSI funding or in-kind support for events and activities
Core members benefit from:
  • Priority access to data science expertise through applied data scientists, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduates, depending on their availability (DSI Scholars)
  • Featured stories and publicity through DSI communication channels related to their research
  • Support from resources provided by development funds 
  • Support from staff to run DSI-based events
  • Support from DSI-funded computational resources 
  • Priority access to DSI space, if and when available
  • Promotion of work through the Director’s presentations about DSI internally and externally

Core Member Activities

Below are examples of ways in which core members engage meaningfully with the Institute:

Research 
  • Regularly run data science-relevant grants (including industry-funded research) through DSI
  • Sponsor and/or mentor post-docs and/or PhD students doing work in data science
  • Research Partnership Development
    • Participate in research-relevant meetings as requested by DSI (up to five/academic year)
    • Participate in meetings with delegations from other institutions and/or governments
Service and Community
  • Support reviews of Seed Fund Proposals, when requested and topically relevant to their discipline/areas of research
  • Support reviews for the DSI Postdoctoral Fellows Program 
  • Participate in community-building with our research scientists and postdoc community
  • Review postdoc applications, Seed Fund applications, or participate in other review 
  • Support the execution of DSI events, either through planning, participating as a panelist, or co-sponsoring an event with the Institute
  • Organize or meaningfully participate in at least two DSI-related events or meetings/year: faculty talks, events, or other Institute programming.
  • Participate and contribute meaningfully in at least one of the centers they are affiliated with, at least once/semester
Instruction
  • Teach regularly (at least once a year) a course open to MS in Data Science students
  • Teach bootcamps, training workshops, executive education, etc.
Industry Engagement
  • Support engagements with industry
  • Participate in research collaboration meetings with industry 
  • Participate in formal presentations to industry
Visibility
  • Acknowledge DSI support: List DSI in any grant run through DSI and publication about work funded by such grant
  • Participate in DSI intellectual community and outreach
  • Work with the DSI communications team to publicize research and educational contributions to data science
Become an Affiliate