The NEW 2022 CMLH Translational Fellowship Application Is NOW OPEN!

Applications are due October 17, 2022.

We invite proposals for the new Translational Fellowships in Digital Health sponsored by the Center for Machine Learning and Health (CMLH). The proposals for the Translational Fellowships must be submitted jointly by a faculty member and a full-time Ph.D. student working as a team, with the faculty member being responsible for administering and directing the project. 

We welcome applications from teams that involve diverse approaches and disciplines that apply to healthcare, including machine learning, computer science, robotics, language technology, computational biology, electrical and computer engineering, economics, psychology, sociology, public policy, business administration, law, human-computer interaction, statistics, and other disciplines.

Fellowship Award Details

Each fellowship will provide support for one year for a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon whose research, in collaboration with a faculty member, advances health care and digital health. 

• One year of tuition and stipend support (including summer stipend).
• $3,000 in funding to support the underlying research, including conference travel for paper presentation, equipment and human-subject experiments. 

Criteria

1. The project must be led by a CMU faculty, research faculty or systems scientist working with a Ph.D. student.
2. Initial “Phase One” basic research must have already been completed.  Phase One research is defined as at least one year of early stage research with results to present, upon which the proposal will build. The criteria for this fellowship requires that the research be based on significant existing work.
3. At least one of these activities must be completed:
   •  An invention disclosure submitted to CTTEC.
   • Your project has a licensed technology through CMU.
   • A patent is filed through CMU for your research project.
   • Your project is ready for a prototype or a pilot study.
   • Your project would be considered clinical research.

If your research qualifies from the above criteria, you may submit a proposal describing your research.

Proposal Format

A three-page research proposal that describes the work to be carried out during the fellowship. This proposal should answer the following questions about digital healthcare, with a section for each item.

1. Problem. What is the healthcare problem you are solving? What is the challenge? How are you addressing real importance in the unmet need?
2. Preliminary work. What research have you already done? What is differentiating and significant about that prior research?
3. Plan. What are your next steps? What do you propose to do over the course of the fellowship period?
4. Outcomes. What are the expected outcomes to be completed within the one year of the fellowship?
5. Feasibility. What resources do you have — in terms of data, collaborators and computing — to complete the proposed plan?

In addition, you must submit the Ph.D. student’s CV (in a reasonable format) and faculty member’s CV (in NSF, NIH or similar format).

IMPORTANT

• The format of the proposal must use the bold headings above, in the order listed above.
• Font must be 12 pt, single-spaced.
• References encouraged/allowed and do not count against the three pages. They should be in a bibliography at the end of the proposal.
• An additional one page of figures/diagrams and their short captions are permitted. (Figures may also be included in the body of the three pages; there they count toward the three-page limit.)

Proposals that do not follow this format will not be considered.

How To Submit a Proposal

Combine the CVs and research proposal into one PDF file. Only PDF files will be accepted. Your application will not be considered complete until we receive the PDF including the proposal, student CV and faculty CV. 

PDF’s should be submitted to cmlh@cs.cmu.edu.

Review of Proposals

The research proposal will be reviewed by the CMLH according to the proposal’s innovation, feasibility, and the overall quality of the project as measured by its contribution to fundamental research and potential broader impacts in digital healthcare. The evaluation committee will consist of faculty from the CMLH and across Carnegie Mellon working in digital health and related areas from a broad spectrum of perspectives.

Final Selection

We expect to award several fellowships under this call.

Requirements of the Award

• The student on the team must be a full-time Ph.D. student working on the project related to digital health for the duration of the fellowship.
• The student must be in good standing in their Ph.D. program for the duration of the fellowship.
• The team must submit a progress report to the CMLH after six and 12 months of funding.
• The faculty and student team must be jointly responsible for the requirements of the fellowship and must notify the CMLH if a change in status occurs.
• The team must participate in and present the research at Fellowship Day to showcase their work to CMU faculty, staff and students. Invited guests may include UPMCE staff and leadership and other community members.
• The CMLH must be acknowledged in any of your publications related to the CMLH-funded work, and you must send the CMLH any of the papers that result.
• Students and faculty may be asked to review proposals in future rounds of CMLH funding.
• The team must agree to posting an overview summary of the project and a photo of the student on the CMLH Fellowship webpage.
• You must provide your CV, project summary and presentation slides and allow the CMLH to share these materials with our sponsor, UPMCE, and other potential sponsors. Project summaries and presentation slides should not include proprietary information.
• The team should endeavor to attend various CMLH seminars and social/virtual events.
• Fellowships are nontransferable between students. If a fellowship recipient leaves the program prior to completing their 12-month term, any remaining fellowship funding is retained by the CMLH.
• Fellows are expected to follow university IP and research policies.
• Fellows must abide by and uphold the community standards of the university.
• As with the other CMLH fellowships, the teams will follow university IP and research policies.

Important Dates

• Applications due: Oct. 17, 2022
  
• Funding decisions expected by: Dec. 12, 2022
• Funding to start: January 2023