Four Oakland University professors are leading an NSF-funded project to train graduate students in data analytics, scientific research and entrepreneurship. From left: Drs. Randal Westrick, Vijayan Sugumaran, Fabia Battistuzzi and Ravindra Khattree.
October 6, 2023
A $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation Research Trainee (NRT) Program will provide Oakland University graduate students with training in data analytics, scientific research and entrepreneurship with the goal to create leaders and innovators in the private sector.
The project is titled "Using a Data Analytics Framework to Merge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Entrepreneurial Training.”
Throughout the five-year project, graduate students in OU’s College of Arts and Sciences and School of Business Administration will work collaboratively under the guidance of Oakland University faculty members to learn how to parlay scientific research into a commercial enterprise.
Along the way, they will gain valuable skills, including how to craft a business pitch, secure funding in the private sector and successfully lead a biotech company. Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that has produced many advancements, including improved medicines, more productive crops and more resilient materials.
“Nowadays, many scientists and businesspeople with advanced degrees are eager to lead biotech companies,” said Dr. Fabia Battistuzzi, associate professor of biology and associate dean in OU’s College of Arts and Sciences. “There is a need to cross-train scientists in business principles and businesspeople in scientific principles so they can understand each other better and collaborate more effectively in industry.”
Dr. Battistuzzi is the project’s principal investigator. Co-principal investigators from OU are Dr. Vijayan Sugumaran, distinguished professor of management information systems and chair of the Department of Decision and Information Sciences; Dr. Randal Westrick, associate professor of biological sciences and bioengineering; and Dr. Ravindra Khattree, distinguished professor of statistics. Dr. Meghan Ecker-Lyster, director of the Research, Evaluation & Dissemination Department at the University of Kansas’ Center for Educational Opportunity Programs, will evaluate the project’s effectiveness.
The idea for the project originated in 2016 when the four OU principal investigators founded the Center for Data Science and Big Data Analytics at Oakland. The center promotes collaboration between scientists from biological and biomedical sciences, and researchers in mathematics/statistics, engineering, business and finance.
“We’ve entered an era in which scientists are generating huge datasets for their research, but they often don’t have the tools or expertise necessary to analyze them,” said Dr. Battistuzzi. “That creates opportunities for data experts, who are well-equipped and well-versed in dealing with large datasets, to collaborate with scientists.”
Oakland’s award is one of only 19 new NSF Research Traineeships funded this year, a sign of OU’s rising prominence as a research university.
“I think it’s a recognition that OU is ready to play on the same field as other major research universities,” said Dr. Battistuzzi, noting that many universities awarded NRT grants are R1 institutions, the highest Carnegie Classification for a university’s research activity. Oakland is currently classified as R2.
“This is another example that OU’s hard work in rising through the ranks to become a prominent research institution is paying off, because we would not have been awarded this grant if NSF didn’t believe we were ready to successfully train students in this innovative program.”
The NSF Research Traineeship program is dedicated to training graduate students in high-priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas. The program encourages proposals that involve strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies and other entities.
Oakland’s grant will support 18 doctoral and master’s students, who will train in university classrooms and labs, as well as intern at private sector biotech companies.
“Students will participate in research and training at OU, and toward the end of their degrees, they’ll take part in an internship that will train them on how a biotech company works, from both a management perspective and a research and development perspective,” said Dr. Battistuzzi. “Our goal is for students to be able to launch and lead businesses that will boost the economy, promote scientific progress and enhance quality of life for all.”
The project will also complete the following objectives:
- Develop activities and workshops that will be open to OU graduate and undergraduate students beyond those participating in a traineeship
- Organize an annual conference for OU students, faculty and staff to build connections with industry partners in the fields of business, science and data analytics
- Establish a collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico to increase participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields