Data Institute Membership

The Data Institute extends membership benefits to qualifying private, public and nonprofit organizations. Typically, membership agreements are evaluated and renewed annually. For companies with a stable and vibrant flow of challenging data problems, longer term agreements are available:

  • Companies that commit to a two (2) year membership receive a 10% discount
  • Companies that commit to a three (3) year membership receive a 20% discount

For questions and pricing information, please contact Elisabeth Merkel and Victor Palacios at datainstitute@usfca.edu.

Choose the membership tier that best meets the needs of your team and organization.

    • Guaranteed practicum project placement of up to six (6) students
      • Projects are centered on creating business value through data science and last approximately nine months. Our students and faculty make a strong commitment to client success. A USF faculty member acts as project mentor, guiding students through the project.  A project champion from the practicum company provides answers, business context and data.
    • Access to full-time recruiting opportunities including resume books, on-campus interviews, and information sessions
    • Up to twenty (20) tuition free seats in professional certificate courses
    • Twenty five (25) % discount on additional seats in professional certificate courses
    • Recognition in web and print materials
    • Guaranteed practicum project placement of up to five (5) students
      • Projects are centered on creating business value through data science and last approximately nine months. Our students and faculty make a strong commitment to client success. A USF faculty member acts as project mentor, guiding students through the project.  A project champion from the practicum company provides answers, business context and data.
    • Access to full-time recruiting opportunities including resume books, on-campus interviews, and information sessions
    • Up to fifteen (15) tuition free seats in professional certificate courses
    • Twenty (20) % discount on additional seats in professional certificate courses
    • Recognition in web and print materials
    • Guaranteed practicum project placement of up to four (4) students
      • Projects are centered on creating business value through data science and last approximately nine months. Our students and faculty make a strong commitment to client success. A USF faculty member acts as project mentor, guiding students through the project.  A project champion from the practicum company provides answers, business context and data.
    • Access to full-time recruiting opportunities including resume books, on-campus interviews, and information sessions
    • Up to ten (10) tuition free seats in professional certificate courses
    • Fifteen (15) % discount on additional seats in professional certificate courses
    • Recognition in web and print materials
    • Guaranteed practicum project placement of up to two (2) students
      • Projects are centered on creating business value through data science and last approximately nine months. Our students and faculty make a strong commitment to client success. A USF faculty member acts as project mentor, guiding students through the project.  A project champion from the practicum company provides answers, business context and data.
    • Access to full-time recruiting opportunities including resume books, on-campus interviews, and information sessions
    • Up to five (5) tuition free seats in professional certificate courses
    • Ten (10) % discount on additional seats in professional certificate courses
    • Recognition in web and print materials
    • Access to full-time recruiting opportunities including resume books, on-campus interviews, and information sessions
    • Up to two (2) tuition free seats in professional certificate courses
    • Five (5) % discount on additional seats in professional certificate courses
    • Recognition in web and print materials
  • The Post-doctoral Research Associates Program can be added on to any membership tier for $55,000 per associate.

    As funds from members, grants, and generous donors permit, the Data Institute hires post-doctoral research associates to work for one or two years after their dissertation defense. Some of the Data Institute’s post-doctoral research associates choose to, and are hired to, focus on collaborations with practitioners rather than developing their skills as teachers. These post-doctoral research associates are deployed on a part-time basis (i.e., for 15-20 hours per week) at a Data Institute member organization. Post-doctoral research associates demonstrate computational and modeling sophistication, a capacity to work independently, and excellent communication skills.

    Data Institute members seeking to participate in this program must sign at least a two-year membership agreement with the Data Institute by February 28 of the calendar year during which they plan to start benefiting from the services of the post-doctoral research associate. Post-doctoral research associates are typically hired with a start date between June 1 and September 1, and are deployed to the Data Institute member within a month or two of their arrival. A Data Institute member at any membership tier can “add on” participation in the post-doctoral research associates program.

    With sufficient planning and advance notice, Data Institute members participating in this program may send representatives to sit on the hiring committees for these post-doctoral research associates, and can even have the position title and description modified to reflect the name of their organization. Post-doctoral research associates can help Data Institute members:

    • Mentor teams of our master’s-level 9-month interns, if such teams are being deployed to the Data Institute member under the current terms of its membership agreement;
    • Develop new intellectual property that is assigned to the Data Institute member itself;
    • Co-author scholarly publications and/or open-source code (over which members have control, in order to respect the Data Institute member’s intellectual property interest in the post-doctoral research associate’s work); and
    • Write joint practitioner-academic grant proposals for submission to federal funding agencies, foundations, etc.