Kaul Fellows Program
Supported by Samir and Puja Kaul, the Kaul Fellows Program is a paid summer internship opportunity for graduate and senior undergraduate students at U-M working in computational science, AI, and HPC, who have been nominated by a faculty member. The specific research topic changes every year.
Nomination deadline is April 25, 2025
Summer of 2025
Topic:
Explore the science of the pancreatic cancer care continuum
Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease that is often found at a point where a cure is not possible. A fundamental problem limiting our ability to detect cancer early is our lack of understanding of the earliest points of malignant transformation. We have amassed a large amount of transcriptomic data describing the normal, precancerous, and cancerous pancreas to model disease progression.
The students will work as a team, analyzing and building models of single-cell RNA sequencing. Some research goals include:
- Develop and apply computational methods and AI to identify key cell signaling pathways in pancreatic disease progression
- Analyze cellular crosstalk evolution from normal ducts to cancer
- Develop improved models for pancreatic cancer development
- Contribute to early detection and prevention strategies
Program details
- Compensation: $4,000/month
- Workload: 40 hours per week
- Expectations: present at the end-of-summer seminar and draft a paper
Eligibility
- Open to U-M graduate students and senior undergraduate students
- Candidates must be nominated by a U-M faculty member
Requirements
The ideal candidate will have one or more of the following :
- Experience in handling [large amounts of] bioinformatics data
- Experience in computational biology, AI/machine learning, and cancer biology
- Experience developing and applying computational methods and AI in any field
Nomination Process
Why Nominate a Student?
- Enable a promising student to conduct innovative research in computational science and engineering
- Provide them with mentorship and funding to develop high-impact work
- Support the growth of computational science and engineering talent at U-M
Nomination Package
- Letter from Nominating faculty member
- 1-page research statement from the student
- Student’s CV
The deadline to nominate a student is mid-April each year.
A MICDE committee will review the nominations and inform candidates of their decision by the end of April each year.
Candidate Review
-
- Proposed research relevance to advancing the research topic of interest
- Recommendations from mentor/s
- Publication record, recognition within the field, and any noteworthy accomplishments