As a part of the Iowa Summer Institute in Biostatistics, participants are given a list of potential projects and choose the one that looks the most interesting to them.  They work as a biostatistician on the project and give a presentation on their findings at the end of the summer program.

The 2011 participants’ presentations are listed below along with their comments about the program.

Shelby Becker, Katie Whittington, Hector Morantes

Presentation

Language Development for Hearing Impaired Children

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Shelby Becker

“My summer in Iowa was everything I had never expected and so much more.  I spent 8 weeks learning about biostatistics and researching an awesome project with great people as a mentor and partners.  I never realized how much can be done in combing math and biology or even how much I would need it.  Within weeks of coming home, I used every bit I learned and helped to shape precisely what I want to do in the future.  I meet so many great people and made some life long friends along the way.  Thanks for the great summer.”

Hector Morantes

“There are thousands of clichés that students typically use when describing their summer experience and utilizing one of them would not do the program justice. I am indebted to the professors for the time and effort they spent in getting to know us. They were immensely patient, eager and passionate about their craft and it was contagious. As a result of my research experience this summer, I know what I want to study in graduate school and where I want to go. These are things that I have been struggling with for the longest time and I can say that a mere interest in Biostatistics morphed into a passion. I look forward to keeping in touch with the professors, teaching assistants, administrative staff, and classmates for years to come!”

Keishla Lucena and Lauren Mondin

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Analysis of Data from the Iowa Child Passenger Safety Survey (pdf)

Lauren Mondin

“The ISIB program is a great way to get informed about Biostatistics as well as graduate schools in general. All of the professors are extremely helpful in every aspect of the program. It is a great opportunity to get to know new people and make friends with the same interests. This program helped me determine what I wanted to do as a career and helped me make the decision of pursuing my PhD in Biostatistics!”

Tara Negron, Toni Salvatore, Emily Simmons, Tommy Keller

Presentation

Asthma and Particulate Air Pollution: A Spatial Analysis, High Performance Computing, Mathematical Derivation in Statistical Computing

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Toni Salvatore

“This experience gave me valuable insight on graduate school and living on a new campus for a summer. I also got to meet a lot of cool people who have a similar passion for learning as I do.”

Jorge León Cruz and Paula Rivera Torres

Presentation

Gender Difference in Pulmonary Functions and Lung Parenchyma Measurements: The Use of Propensity Scores

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Jorge León Cruz

“ISIB was a great experience and I recommend it to everyone. I chose this summer research experience because I wanted to learn what were my options after graduating and ISIB helped out immensely. Dr. Zamba and the entire Department of Biostatistics were very friendly and answered every question I had. Dr. Zamba is a fantastic professor who made sure everyone understood even the simplest concepts. He was also the research mentor for my group where he challenged us and kept us motivated. I finished the program wanting to learn more and work harder. Thank you so much for everything.”

Kayse Lee, Nicole Lovell, Amy Ruiz Goyco

Presentation

Data Quality Management of Black Box Monitored Driving Behaviors in a Sleep Apnea Study

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Nicole Lovell

“My experience at ISIB was one that I will learn from. I took the skills I learned in the classroom and applied them to my biostats project. As a result I really enjoyed the project and working with my group. Everyone bonded and it was hard to say goodbye at the end of the summer.”

Amy Ruiz Goyco

“The Biostatistics Summer Program brought me the opportunity to know about this discipline and obtain more experience in research.  I think that this program was the best opportunity to acquire experience in problem solving that  involves biology or biomedical areas. The faculty at the University of Iowa are the tools that all students need to development in research.  As a computer science student I recommend this program to all students who are interested in applying and would like to learn how to relate mathematics and computing with biological problems.”

Brian Greco and Idalyn Mirabal

Presentation

Modeling Glaucoma Progression Using Partial Differential Equations and Regression

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Brian Greco

“The ISIB program was a great experience.  The professors in the department are so kind and caring, and made us feel at home in Iowa City and the Department of Biostatistics.  This program would be a good introduction for someone who hasn’t had any statistics experience but is interested in using quantitative skills to solve problems in medicine and public health.  Working on my research project with Professor Smith was great, and I learned computing skills that have been very useful even after the summer.”