SEED2S Data Scientist Pathway Program
Building the Next Generation of Population Health Data Scientists: Rutgers students gain practical experience applying data science skills to real-world health research challenges under the mentorship of IFH investigators.
Overview
The Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research (IFH) partners with the School of Arts and Sciences’ Student Excellence, Experiential Learning, and Development in Data Science (SEED2S) program to provide undergraduate students with immersive research experiences in population health and data science. Through year-long internships, students receive mentorship from IFH researchers, gain hands-on experience managing and analyzing health-related data, and develop skills applicable to careers in public health, biomedical research, and data analytics. Since its launch in 2024, the program has supported multiple cohorts of students, helping cultivate the next generation of data scientists dedicated to improving population health outcomes.
What is SEED2S?
SEED2S stands for Student Excellence, Experiential Learning, and Development in Data Science and is a Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences student success initiative designed to support data science students through mentoring, experiential learning, career development, networking, and applied research opportunities. The program helps students build academic, technical, and professional skills while improving student engagement and retention.
IFH’s Role: The Data Scientist Pathway Program
The SEED2S+IFH Data Scientist Pathway Program is one of the experiential learning partnerships within the broader SEED2S+X initiative. The partnership was created to develop a pipeline of future data analysts and data scientists by providing Rutgers students with:
- Faculty and staff mentorship
- Hands-on research experience
- Exposure to public health, biomedical, and social science research
- Opportunities for professional and academic development
- Real-world experience managing and analyzing health-related datasets
The program’s goal is to help students expand their knowledge of data management and analytics while gaining practical experience conducting research in population health and related fields.
Quantifiable Impact
Since the pilot year in 2024:
- The program has provided year-long internships for undergraduate Rutgers students.
- At least six undergraduate students have participated since the pilot launched.
- Students receive mentorship and exposure to population health research and quantitative research methodologies.
Why This Matters to IFH
The program aligns naturally with IFH’s mission because it:
- Introduces undergraduates to population health research.
- Develops the next generation of quantitative researchers.
- Creates a talent pipeline into public health, health services research, biomedical informatics, and data science careers.
- Expands multidisciplinary training opportunities.
- Connects students with real-world health data and research teams.
Impact Story
Vick Maturu, AI/ML Engineer at Lockheed Martin Space
“The SEED2S + IFH program was nothing but the best. When SEED2S first introduced this opportunity, I was immediately excited because it meant working alongside full-time researchers and scientists on real-world healthcare projects using real, messy data, an experience that is rare to come by as an undergraduate.
Through my work with IFH, I played a key role in building and cleaning large-scale healthcare contact datasets by integrating multiple sources across Rutgers Health and RWJBarnabas Health. This involved designing data-cleaning pipelines, resolving inconsistencies across systems, handling deduplication logic, and developing reliable matching strategies using identifiers like email and name when institutional IDs were unavailable.
Beyond the technical skills, this project taught me how to think critically about data quality, documentation, and auditability in a healthcare research setting, where accuracy and transparency are essential. Working closely with the IFH team gave me exposure to how data engineering directly supports public health research and institutional decision-making, and it reinforced my interest in applying data science to meaningful, real-world problems.”
Past Scholars
Nideesh Bharath Kumar
Vick Maturu
Rachel Saini
Jessie Singh
Mentors
Sharon Cook
Lizbeth F. Gomez, PhD, MPH
Daniel B. Horton, MD, MSCE, FISPE
Kristen Lloyd, MPH
Dinesh Mendhe, MS
Jose Nova, MS
Kim O’Malley, MS, PMP
Ashwaghosha Parthasarathi, MBBS
Amy Rockman
Elizabeth M. Stone, PhD, MSPH
Elizabeth A. Suarez, PhD, MPH
Dan Treglia, PhD, MPP
Mireia Triguero Roura, PhD
Aayush Visaria, MD
Current Cohort and Mentor Matches
- Annika Bhatia, 2nd-year IFH student | Mentor: Mireia Triguero Roura, PETS
- Elijah Johnson, 1st-year IFH student | Mentors: Liz Suarez, Kim O’Malley, PETS
- Jessie Singh, 2nd-year IFH student | Mentor: Dinesh Mendhe, IFH
- Sadhana Vasanthakumar, 1st-year IFH student | Mentor: Lizbeth Gomez, CCHH
- Vraj Raj, 1st-year IFH student | Mentor: Ashwa Parthasarathi, CCHH
- Vrindi Surati, 1st-year IFH student | Mentor: Aayush Visaria, CCHH
- Yiling Tan, 2nd-year IFH student | Mentor: Sharon Cook, CHSR
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