Announcing the Spring 2020 Seed Grants for Data Science Recipients

UNC Charlotte’s School of Data Science (SDS) is excited to announce its data science seed grant recipients for spring 2020. The grants were established to help nurture early-stage research in the field and to foster cross-disciplinary collaborations. As the University continues to advance as a leader in data science education and research, the greater the need becomes for extraordinary researchers.

“We’re committed to cultivating a research culture around the School of Data Science and UNC Charlotte,” said Doug Hague, Executive Director of the School of Data Science. “I’m excited for the opportunity to connect researchers from across campus and I’m looking forward to seeing where these projects lead.”

Four teams comprised of UNC Charlotte researchers, spanning four different colleges received a total of $40,000 in funding towards their research projects. The selected projects aim to solve real-world problems around topics such as non-intrusive data collection, mobile health applications, personalized health infrastructures and digital assistants, and synthetic aperture radars. Each seed grant recipient is encouraged to apply for longer-term funding on a national scale.

“We’re extremely grateful that the School of Data Science is providing financial opportunities such as the seed grants for data science to researchers on campus,” said Dr. Samira Shaikh, Assistant Professor, College of Computing and Informatics. “Before receiving the SDS grant, we were simply a group of faculty members with a few great ideas. However, transforming ideas into reality takes a lot of time and money, which we didn’t originally have.”

Dr. Shaikh and her team are aiming to bring AI to health information, empowering patients to take charge of the decisions around their health, as well as utilize the latest innovations to create personalized health libraries.

“Due to the underlying problem we’re trying to solve, no one discipline had enough information or resources to address it,” Dr. Shaikh said. “This seed grant allows us to temporarily hire students to help us begin preliminary data analyses and conduct literature reviews so we’re fully equipped to apply for larger-scale funding opportunities.”

Applications for the summer 2020 funding cycle will open soon, with funding amounts increasing up to $30,000 per award, a grand total of $60,000. New and returning researchers alike are encouraged to apply.

For a full list of spring 2020 recipients, click here.