Data Science and Demography Training (DSDT) Program
Applications for 2025-2026 DUE: August 22, 2025, by 5pm.
Application Directions: 2025-2026 Call for DSDT Applications
Information Session: Wednesday, August 13, 2025; 10:00 AM. Zoom link Meeting ID: 932 1289 8662; Passcode: 738402
The Data Science and Demography Training (DSDT) is an NIH-supported, 12-month fellowship program supported by the Training in Advanced Data Analytics (TADA) at the NICHD and the Office Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) at NIH. Each year there are between 1-5 openings for pre-doctoral graduate students.
Program Description:
The goal of the training program is to provide rigorous training in advanced data science methodologies for the next generation of behavioral, social science and population health researchers or to provide advanced demographic training for data scientists. Graduate training for these groups at UW is enhanced by close collaboration between multiple departments. The program provides both deep and broad training, preparing trainees for careers that will advance population health sciences and applications in universities, industries or the public sector. In the first year of the program, students take courses that provide a broad foundation in data science or demographic methods. During the second year of the program, students specialize their advanced training with direction from their mentors. Students focus on a project that falls into one of the following priority areas highlighted by the program announcement: (i) intensive or voluminous longitudinal data; (ii) internet, commercial, and administrative records data; and (iii) large sample or population-level agency databases analyzed with computationally intensive techniques such as spatial and statistical demography, machine learning, AI, large language models, or natural language processing. Trainees enter from their respective disciplines and identify a demography and data science mentor from the CSDE Affiliate list (UW affiliates) and/or home department. Under the guidance of their mentoring team and the DSDT Program Director, our trainees work at the cutting edge of computational and statistical demography, employing the highest standards of research ethics, rigor, and reproducibility. During their training program, they will be expected to participate in a research internship where they will participate in a team science endeavor that develops and applies data science techniques. Trainees are expected to pursue research careers in population science following their training program.
Eligibility: UW graduate students committed to a population research career or a population health research career with a strong interest in integrating data science applications in their career. Students must be a US Citizen or permanent resident.
For more details about the program and eligibility, contact DSDT Program Director, Audrey Dorélien, by email, or DSDT Graduate Program Advisor Jill Fulmore . Current and alumni fellows of this program can be found here.