Biostatistics Professor Enlists in I-Corps Boot Camp

A USF College of Nursing biostatistics professor was chosen to participate this semester in the USF I-Corps program, a six-week intensive “boot camp” that helps develop research ideas into commercially viable products.

Professor Ming Ji and USF math department statistics graduate student Sean Carter have been awarded a $3,000 grant for their project.

Each semester, the USF I-Corps program accepts teams throughout the university who have an idea for a product, technology, or service. The boot camp instructors train and mentor teams on how to launch their ideas into the marketplace, including finding and talking with future customers, developing a business model, and discovering ways to turn their ideas into tangible products.

Dr. Ji’s I-Corps project aims to develop a professional service that evaluates, verifies, and validates statistical data analyses for academic, government and industry groups.

According to the application submitted by Dr. Ji, there is a high prevalence of incompetence, malpractice, and even fraud among statistical data analysis related to high-impact research. The lack of consistency creates confusion among the public and policy makers.

The team’s proposed statistics evaluation service would help companies, journals, and universities to maintain a high standard in their scientific work and improve quality control of high-impact papers they might publish, according to the application.

Dr. Ji has 20 years of professional experience working as a research statistician. He has served as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state government and private foundations. He is also a top expert in research methods and statistics.

After the six-week course, teams have the chance to be selected for the prestigious National Science Foundation national-level I-Corps program. National teams receive $50,000 and intensive training to take their idea and product to the next level.

Story by Elizabeth L. Brown, USF College of Nursing