Who We Are
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences (IIDS) is a research institute within the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) at the University of Idaho. The mission of IIDS is to empower researchers to fully harness the potential of the data revolution by provisioning and administering critical university research infrastructure related to genomics, bioinformatics, research computing, and data science. IIDS houses three service units including Research Computing and Data Services (RCDS), the Genomics and Bioinformatics Resources Core (GBRC), and the Initiative for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST). IIDS is a vibrant home for interdisciplinary research between student, postdoc, and faculty participants. IIDS participants can access support for proposal development and grants management, expertise, infrastructure, training, and professional development activities.
Questions?News
GRANTED Program Now Hiring
The University of Idaho is seeking two Data Scientists to participate in an innovative National Science Foundation-funded project: “Crossing the Innovation Valley of Death: Democratizing Data and Artificial Intelligence for Research Administration.” The project offers the opportunity to pioneer the development of open-source AI solutions that will reshape how universities manage operations, while leading the democratization of data access and analysis across the research administration landscape. One position will have a focus on technical development and implementation, while the other will combine technical expertise with training and knowledge dissemination responsibilities.
Graduate Student Internship Opportunity in AI and Data Science
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences (IIDS) at the University of Idaho is offering an exciting opportunity for up to three graduate students to participate in internships during the 2025-2026 academic year. These internships are supported by the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) and aim to engage students in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science to enhance the university's strategic planning and administrative operations.
Xiaogang Ma Awarded NSF Grant Supplement
University of Idaho Associate Professor of Computer Science Xiaogang (Marshall) Ma has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant supplement of $140,091 to integrate large language models (LLMs) into the Mindat open data interface to create a more interactive and responsive data platform for the world's largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from (Mindat.org).
CORE FACILITIES
Genomics Resources Core
The Genomics & Bioinformatics Resources Core (GBRC) provides researchers from the University of Idaho access to technology, experience, and expertise in genomics research. Applications of these technologies are commonly used in biomedical research, but the interdisciplinary focus of the University of Idaho results in a wide range of fields that can benefit from the core, including microbial studies, agricultural studies, forest management, and animal science. The Genomics Resources core is also available to researchers that are external to the University of Idaho.
Research Computing and Data Services
The Research Computing and Data Services serves as the computational backbone for research at the University of Idaho. It provides investigators with state of the art high performance computing and large data storage capacity for use in analyzing and managing large volumes of research data. Users of the core run jobs that may use hundreds of processors in parallel or large memory allocations and may run require weeks to complete. The RCDS data center is explicitly designed to manage the complex computational and storage requirements for UI researchers very high data reliability and availability. The core contains an advanced mix of high performance computing clusters, powerful servers and reliable data storage components as well as the knowledge and technical skills required to compress years of analysis into days.
RCDS provides research data management and computing support for UI researchers and their regional, national, and international collaborators. Support for research data management, curation, and dynamic access keeps our researchers at the cutting-edge of science and increases and enhances our institution's competitiveness for external research grants. Quality data and metadata developed in research projects and curated by NKN is a valuable, long-term asset for a public land-grant University and provides a foundation and source upon which to develop and build new research and science
