ACI Student Fellows

Leverage ACI in Your Research

Program Overview

Advanced Cyberinfrastructure includes high performance computing, big data, cloud computing, networking, advanced visualization, and the people who support them. It enables scientific discovery, research data management, geospatial data analysis, and innovation across disciplines.

This program aims to provide students with the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to leverage ACI in their research projects. The program will start in the fall semester 2026 and run through the spring semester 2027.

Program Components

Project Consulting: The program provides project consulting for the student fellows to help them overcome potential technical or logistical challenges. A team of ACI specialists will assist the student fellows with various aspects of their projects, such as data management, software development, hardware configuration, performance optimization, and troubleshooting.
Networking: The program facilitates networking opportunities for the student fellows with ACI experts, practitioners, and peers through seminars and social events.

Stipend

Upon completion of the program, Student Fellows will receive a stipend of $500 which will be issued as a scholarship dispersed through the student's Bursar account, and will appear in a published IU article.

Selection

Up to 6 IU students will be selected to participate.

Applications will be reviewed by selected members of the research computing team of UITS.

Eligibility

Be a student at any campus of Indiana University.
Have a minimum GPA of 3.4.
Have completed at least 1 course or have some experience in ACI-related topics, such as programming, data analysis, statistics, machine learning, etc.
Have a faculty sponsor/supervisor for your project.
Be eligible to receive a scholarship through IU funded sources.

Deliverables & Timeline

2026 Sep 21 - Application closes
2026 Sep 30 - Announce student fellows
2026 Oct 06 - Events & consultations start
2027 Apr 24 -
Final deliverables due, include:
- personal reflections document
- project update document
- participation in 80% of events and consultations

Past Student Fellows

Anooshka Bajaj

M.S. in Data Science

Studies LLM interpretability through the lens of internal vs. verbalized confidence calibration.

Jaehyun Choi

PhD candidate in Public Affairs

Studies how abortion access restrictions shape contraceptive behavior using causal inference on large-scale insurance claims data.

Natasha Ting

PhD candidate in Business Economics and Public Policy

Applies NLP and game theory to analyze how special interest groups shape U.S. natural gas pipeline regulation.

Sadia Ashraf

PhD candidate in Computational Linguistics

Improves fairness in harmful speech detection by addressing class imbalance in multilingual NLP systems.

Ekaterina Baldina (Katya)

PhD candidate in Sociology

Studies intergenerational transmission of occupational health risks and the moderating role of social mobility.

Valérie Dorsant-Ardón

PhD candidate in Medical and Molecular Genetics

Studies ancestry-specific genetic factors influencing Alzheimer's disease risk in underrepresented populations.

Emily Layton

PhD candidate in Microbiology with minors in Bioinformatics and Genetics

Studies the mechanisms of Wolbachia’s antiviral properties in disease suppression.

Sandeep Batta

M.S. in Data Science

Studies spatial and temporal trends in hourly precipitation data from across the contiguous United States.

Katelyn Caric

PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Studies neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, specifically on Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1b.

Isioma Nwayor

PhD candidate in Geography

Studies the global implications of drought indices.

Holly Kersey

PhD candidate in Medical Neuroscience with minor in Bioinfomatics

Studies the role of genetic variants in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Elizabeth Anderson

PhD candidate in Sociology

Studies how political, economic, and social conditions shape population-level health inequalities.

Jeffrey C. Bloodworth

PhD candidate in Microbiology and Immunology

Studies the development of allergies in early childhood.

Soumilee Chaudhuri

PhD candidate in Medical Neuroscience

Studies lifestyle risk factors which can affect the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.

Haden Dickerson

Mathematics major at Indiana University East

Studies Newtonian and quantum models to develop digital representations of a molecule’s movements.

Anne Kavalerchik

PhD candidate in Informatics and Sociology

Studies how stakeholders utilizing AI for medical diagnosis contend with different professional knowledge.

Caroline Shumaker

Accelerated M.S. in Intelligent Systems Engineering

Studies the impact of drugs on neuroanatomy and produce 3D renderings of biological datasets using Research Desktop.

Have questions?

Please email Robert Henschel if you have questions about the application process or want to learn more about the program.

How to Apply

For best consideration, submit your application by September 21, 2026. To apply, please fill out the online form below and upload the following documents:

A resume or CV that highlights your academic achievements, relevant skills, and ACI-related experiences.
A personal statement that explains your interest in ACI, your goals for the program. Your research project and benefit from the application of ACI also needs to be clearly described.
A letter of recommendation from a faculty member or supervisor who is sponsoring your project and can attest to your academic performance, work ethic, and suitability for the program. The faculty member or supervisor needs to email the letter separately according to the instructions on the online form.

Apply Now