UnitedHealth Group Bridges to Healthcare Technology
The Bridges to Healthcare Technology Summer Program provides participants with hands-on experience working with real data, on real problems, in a stimulating, collaborative, and supportive environment.
The Department of Statistics & Data Science at Carnegie Mellon University is world-renowned for the quality and depth of its collaborations with disciplines ranging from astronomy to genetics to neuroscience to education to finance. College students in this program will engage with Carnegie Mellon and the AUC Data Science Initiative, as well as industry professionals from Optum, United Healthcare, and UnitedHealth Group to build technical skills and data science proficiency while receiving Healthcare-related domain understanding, mentoring, and career support and advice related to the pursuit of opportunities in industry. Students will work in small groups under the supervision of faculty and graduate students on real-world Healthcare challenges while building industry-valued technical, computing, and analytic competencies. There will also be mentoring and advising specific to navigating graduate school and industry employment opportunities, with specific emphasis on professional skill development.
Students do NOT need to have extensive Healthcare domain knowledge to participate. Students will have opportunities to learn from guest experts in the field and gain first hand experience in modern tools and techniques such as foundational data engineering (e.g. building data pipelines), data visualization, statistical models and machine learning algorithms, and communicating with data.
Summer 2023 Dates:
June 5 - July 28, 2023
Support:
Participants will receive a stipend of $4000. This is provided to cover all living expenses during the program. It is our expectation that students are participating full-time in the program and are not taking on additional summer responsibilities (classes, employment) that would hinder their participation.
Students will also be provided with housing through CMU.
Email summerbridge@stat.cmu.edu with any questions
Eligibility/FAQs
The program is open to current undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates from U.S. institutions. There will be priority for students entering their junior or senior undergraduate year in Fall 2023 as well as all applicants considering Data Science and Technology careers in life sciences and healthcare who will be seeking full-time and/or summer internship opportunities in 2024.
Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. without company sponsorship, now or in the future, for employment-based work authorization.
There are no specific program pre-requisites; we require some initial exposure to modern computing platforms, linear regression, and some calculus and/or probability. Experience in Healthcare is not required. We only require an interest in learning about modern statistical and data science approaches in data-rich fields of application.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the prerequisites for the program?
There are no specific courses required, but it is anticipated participants will have taken at least one Statistics course and/or have had some exposure to linear regression and/or computer programming. We are mainly looking for students who are interested in learning more about Statistics, Technology, and are interested in career opportunities in the Healthcare field. - Is the program only open to students majoring in Statistics?
No! We welcome applications from students from all areas of study. One of our objectives is to encourage students with curiousity of data analysis, even if they lack a strong background in that area. - Can I receive academic credit for the program?
You should discuss this with your home institution. We certainly believe that the content of the program is deserving of academic credit; you will be learning about statistical methods and computing, among other things. We are happy to help with any paperwork, etc. needed to facilitate students receiving credit. - Can I apply if I am a currently a freshman?
We will consider your application, but keep in mind that preference will be given to juniors and seniors. Of course, we encourage you to reapply next year! - Can I apply if I am a recent graduate?
We will consider your application, but keep in mind that preference will be given to students entering the job market in 2024. Recent graduates intending to or currently enrolled in graduate programs and entering the job market in 2024 are encouraged to apply. - Can I apply to work on a particular project, or with a particular professor?
No. You should not enter into the program with a specific expectation as to what the project topic or whom the advisor will be. The benefit of the program is the general exposure to active, experiential learning and collaborative research. We work with our sponsors to create interesting projects around the program's theme, and allow students to express a preference when they arrive, after they hear details of the projects.
Application
To apply for Summer 2023, fill out the application form here: LINK