International Research Experience for Students

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science for the Understanding, Prediction and Prevention of Disease (AI-UPP)

Program Overview

The University of San Diego hosts and coordinates an international research experience for students (IRES) summer program in artificial intelligence (AI) and data science at the Karolinska Institute (KI) and Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) in Stockholm, Sweden. KI is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally. SciLifeLab is a consortium of researchers from Sweden's top universities with the goal of addressing the greatest challenges in the life sciences.

As integrated members of a research group in Sweden, eight students/year perform 10 weeks of supervised research on projects focused around a centralized theme of developing advanced AI and/or data science tools aimed at understanding, predicting and/or preventing disease. In addition to working on research projects, students participate in scientific, professional development, public policy and cultural activities to help them develop into globally-engaged scientists/engineers with an understanding of how their scientific research is grounded in and contributes to society as a whole. This program provides students with an opportunity to explore a career in biomedical research and it also gives them a unique chance to live and work abroad in one of Europe's most beautiful cities!

2025 IRES Students

Emma Clift, St. Olaf College

I am a rising senior majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Statistics & Data Science. My interests are mainly in the intersections of computer science and biology, studying interdisciplinary problems. I am so excited to experience living in Sweden while gaining research experience!

Lyra Cromwell, Harvey Mudd College

Hello! I'm Lyra Cromwell, a rising senior majoring in Mathematical and Computational Biology. My interests cover just about anything small-scale in biology; I find biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, molecular genetics, and more absolutely fascinating. This summer, I can't wait to dive into a new area of research to me, explore Stockholm, and learn as much as I can along the way!

Rony Dahdal, Elon University

Hej! My name is Rony Dahdal, a rising senior at Elon University in North Carolina majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Philosophy. I will pursue a PhD in Computer Science after my time at Elon, focused on applied machine intelligence for humanitarian applications, such as healthcare and agriculture, and this summer through AI-UPP, I have the opportunity to conduct work closely aligned with these interests in Fredrik Strand's Lab at the Karolinska Institute. My research will focus on developing LLMs for automated data extraction from radiologist reports of breast cancer patients. I'm also excited to explore the city of Stockholm and surrounding areas -- I love being outside and plan to find local hiking trails, waters to kayak, and parks to read in.

Julia Marie Greely, University of San Diego

Hej! I’m a rising senior at the University of San Diego, majoring in Integrated Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering. I’ve been really curious about how AI and healthcare can coincide, especially when it comes to shaping the future of biotech. This summer, I’ll be working at the Karolinska Institute with Magnus Boman, who’s focused on Precision Medicine, and I’m genuinely so excited to see where this project takes me. Outside the lab, I’m looking forward to diving into Swedish culture, meeting people from all over, and seeing how different perspectives can help me grow.

Jooeun Jeon, California State University - Los Angeles

Hello! I am currently in my final year at Cal State LA, majoring in Computer Science. My interests include machine learning and applying computational solutions to medical challenges. I am excited about the opportunity to live and learn in Sweden as part of this experience.

Elle Marsyla, Harvey Mudd College

Hi! I'm Elle, a rising senior at Harvey Mudd College majoring in mathematical and computational biology. My interests lie in applying data science and machine learning to biological data to better understand disease. I also love running, hiking, backpacking, and just exploring the outdoors in general. I'm so excited to explore Sweden this summer!

Josh Martinez, University of San Diego

I am an Integrated Engineering major with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering. I am very interested about how exercise can be beneficial to all people in many parts of their life. I am looking forward to gaining experience conducting research and learning as much as I can while in Sweden.

Eric Zhou, Carleton College

I am a (rising) senior mathematics major at Carleton College. My interests currently lie in both biology and chemistry. I am interested in learning how mathematical and computational methods and used to conduct research in immunology and cancer biology, amongst other branches of the natural sciences. I'm excited to gain international research experience in Sweden this summer!

Mark Chapman, NSF-IRES Program Director

Dr. Mark Chapman is an associate professor at the University of San Diego (USD) in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. He joined USD in 2019 to define, develop and teach the biomedical engineering concentration area within the integrated engineering major. In 2020, he was awarded a grant from the NSF to create the US-Sweden Clinical Bioinformatics Research Training Program. Through this program, Dr. Chapman successfully trained and mentored 20 undergraduate students in bioinformatics-related research from 2021-2024. This IRES grant has now come to a close, but you can read more about the program and read student blog posts on the pages for the previous cohorts on this site. In 2024, Dr. Chapman was awarded a new NSF grant to build off this previous IRES program, which focuses on the development of AI and data science tools as applied to biological data. This program allows him to expand into a new area of research, continue collaborating with researchers in Stockholm, and provide undergraduate students with transformational research experiences.

Why Stockholm? Apart from the fact that KI and SciLifeLab are some of the top medical research institutes in the world, Dr. Chapman was a postdoctoral researcher at KI from 2015-2018. As such, these IRES programs help him strengthen and expand upon his existing research collaborations in Sweden.

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