Data Visualization Fellowship
Work on an individual research project that would benefit from a visual component as part of the U-M Library Data Visualization Fellowship.
This 6 week, paid opportunity is open to current undergraduate and graduate U-M students. It is intended to serve first-generation students, low-income students, or students in financially precarious situations.
Applications for summer 2024 are now closed.
About the fellowship
During the fellowship, you’ll partner with library mentors, including the Data Visualization Librarian, Linguistics and Social Sciences Resident Librarian, and other experts as appropriate, to help guide work on your individual project.
Through regular meetings, you’ll work among a cohort to share knowledge and expertise. We’ll also connect you to resources across campus as needed.
Hours: Students will work 15-20 hours per week. A substantial proportion of hours will occur in-person.
Pay rate: $22.00/hour.
Student guided pathway (5-6 positions)
This pathway will be based on a research project proposed by you, the recipient. Appropriate projects would benefit from a visual component. The component could be an interactive map, a series of graphs, network diagrams, etc.
Research can be at any stage from just beginning to nearly complete. We welcome research at any level, from undergraduate projects to dissertations.
Bentley Historical Library pathway (1-2 positions)
This pathway is part of the African American Student Project hosted at the Bentley Historical Library. With overall fellowship support, you’ll work closely with archivists at the Bentley to design and produce visualizations and maps, building on the database they are creating of African American students.
You’ll update and continue development on a map of Ann Arbor showing where African American students have lived, create historical maps and visualizations of students’ hometowns, and work with the Bentley archivists to design and implement additional visualizations.
Comfort with at least some programming (preferably JavaScript) is necessary for this pathway, but specific libraries can be learned over the course of the spring/summer. There will be significant support for programming from the library. If you’re excited about this type of work and want to learn more, please apply.
Expectations
Fellows from both pathways are expected to dedicate 15-20 hours per week on their projects, including weekly check-in meetings with library mentors, cohort meetings, and workshops provided by library mentors.
Some ongoing work can be done remotely, although we will collectively schedule in-person work time throughout the week for the cohort. Additional meetings with library mentors will be available at the discretion of the fellow.
End of fellowship requirements
There are 2 end of fellowship requirements for fellows from both pathways:
- Prepare and give a presentation providing an overview of the project and visualization.
- Provide a workshop based on the technical or methodical work done over the spring and summer to teach others the skills learned.
Library mentors will help fellows prepare the presentation and work closely with them to design the workshop. Mentors can also be available to co-teach the workshop, if desired. Both will be hosted by the library and open to the university community.
The preparation, presentation, and workshop time will be paid at the hourly rate.
Important dates
- Application opens: February 5
- Application closes: February 29 at 11:59pm
- Notification of accepted Fellows: March 29
- Fellowship begins: May 13
- Fellowship work period ends: June 21
- Final presentations: TBD
- Final workshops: September, date/time TBD
This fellowship is made possible with funds from Roger and Esther Heyns, the Weidenbach Library Fund, and M. Newton Zucker Endowed Fund.