Rice, Houston Methodist Launch NSF-Funded Program to Build Texas’ Digital Health Workforce

Rice University and Houston Methodist are partnering on a three-year, nearly $1M NSF-funded initiative to train Houston-area high school and community college students, as well as their teachers in biomedical hardware and AI for health. The program, Explorations: Advancing Texas Workforce - Experiential Learning in Digital Health Technologies, will run from 2025–2028 and is led by Rice’s Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM) and the Houston Methodist-Rice Digital Health Institute.

Each year, 15 high school students, 15 community college students, and 10 teachers will take part in immersive training. Participants will build circuits, test sensors, train AI models, shadow clinicians, and prototype health tech solutions. Two intensive summer tracks, one focused on digital health hardware and the other on AI for healthcare, will be followed by team-based projects, mentorship, entrepreneurship training, and a final Innovators Showcase.

“This program opens doors and provides practical, hands-on experiences tied to new developments in health care,” said Carolyn Nichol, PI and R-STEM director.

By combining hands-on lab training, hospital-based problem discovery, and mentorship, the initiative aims to grow Texas’ digital health talent pipeline while giving students and teachers marketable skills and experiences to bring back to classrooms and future careers.

Read more in the article linked here. 

Submitted by Jason Gigax on
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