Shanna Knierim and Sarah Wittmeyer, each Ph.D. students in the College of Nursing, earned research grants from the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute Student Scholars Program. The award comes with a $2,500 stipend to use over the course of the fall semester.
Knierim is working on two projects: one titled “Responsible and Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Predicting Pediatric Mental Health and Healthcare Utilization Outcomes Using National Healthcare Data” and the other titled “Age-Specific Trends in Pediatric Hospitalizations with a Principal Mental, Behavioral, or Neurodevelopmental Diagnosis: National Inpatient Sample, 2019–2023.” Knierim is being mentored by Dr. Maharaj Singh, research professor.
Wittmeyer is working under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Grabert, visiting professor of research. Wittmeyer’s project is titled “Examining Bias from Suppressed Variable in Home Health Data: Advancing Responsible and Equitable AI.”
The NMDSI Scholars Program accelerates student engagement in data science and research-related projects. It is also meant to teach students about how to apply data science in various disciplines. Along with the stipend, participants in the program are offered mentoring opportunities and free attendance at NMDSI events where students can present their findings.
Additional NMDSI funding is available to students and faculty members; the application deadline is Oct. 18.
About NMDSI
The Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute is a partnership between Northwestern Mutual, Marquette University, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Waukesha County Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The NMDSI advances southeastern Wisconsin as a national center for technology, research, business and talent development. Since its inception in 2018, the NMDSI has championed academic data science and technology learning while propelling innovation in key areas. NMDSI-affiliated research projects use data science to address challenging societal issues that have a local and national impact.
