National Consortium for Data Science (NCDS) May 2026 Foundations of AI: Scholarship Request

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The National Consortium for Data Science is pleased to offer a limited number of full scholarships for faculty, staff and students at any non-profit academic institution to attend the virtual, live instruction Foundations of AI courses in May 2026.

This form serves as the registration link for the event; do not register via UNC or any other links.

The revised deadline to request a full scholarship has been updated to Wednesday, May 13, at 5 PM ET.

EVENT ABSTRACT

Intro to Generative AI for Coders - Accelerated

Thurs., May 14 3 pm - 5 pm $100

This will be an accelerated version of our popular “Intro to Generative AI” course, intended to give an overview of what Generative AI is, how it works from a high level, and how to use basic technical tools to leverage Generative AI. Those who take this course will have the basic knowledge needed to use LLMs to create useful tools, and will have the understanding behind the technology to improve their prompt engineering skills as well. This course is ideal for people who are interested in the Advanced Generative AI for Coders and Deep Dive into Retrieval Augmented Generation courses but have not taken classes in the technical basics of generative AI.

Prereqs: Intermediate Python, some familiarity with AI/Machine Learning is helpful but not required

Advanced GenAI for Coders

Thurs., May 21 1 pm - 5 pm $300

This new course will introduce more advanced topics in Generative AI, including a deeper look at some of the tools we touch on in the intro course as well as introducing new topics like agentic AI and the broader aspects of a modern AI workflow. We’ll go over deterministic workflows versus autonomous agents, advanced prompting, schema-constrained outputs, and more to take your generative AI knowledge to the next level and help you get the most out of the power of Generative AI as a coder. After taking this course, you should be able to use and understand Generative AI beyond its use in chatbots. It is strongly recommended to have some knowledge of generative AI, NLP, and Python before taking this course.

Prereqs: Intermediate Python skills and a basic understanding of generative AI - if you do not have any background in generative AI, you are encouraged to register for the accelerated Intro to Generative AI class offered before this course to get up to speed on the basics.

Deep Dive into Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

Thurs., May 28 3 pm - 5 pm $100

This brief course will take what we’ve learned in the Intro to Generative AI (or Accelerated GenAI) course and go deeper in the world of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems. You’ll learn to upgrade your RAG with query rewriting, reranking, citation generation, and more sophisticated evaluation tools. We’ll also touch on agentic RAG. You should come out of this class with the tools to make a more sophisticated RAG system. It is strongly suggested to have knowledge of Generative AI and Python coding, NLP is useful but not required.

Prereqs: Intermediate Python skills, knowledge of generative AI may be useful but is not required.

The Foundations of AI series provides:

A virtual attendee experience
Live instruction in a wide range of technical concepts as well as theory/practical application
Expert instructors
Recording available after the event
Certificate of participation

First Name *

Middle Name or Initial or N/A

Last Name *

Email address *

Preferred phone number or N/A *

Which course(s) would you like to attend? You may select multiple courses. *

All three courses: May 14, May 21, and May 28

May 14 - Intro to Generative AI for Coders - Accelerated

May 21 - Advanced GenAI for Coders

May 28 - Deep Dive into Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

Required

We'll notify recipients about the status of their scholarship application via email no later than Friday, May 1, 2026. *

Yes, I understand that I will be notified via email by Friday, May 1, 2026.

Which institution do you represent? (Ex: university, employer)
*

Is your institution designated an R1 or R2 institution? Information about this designation available here. *

None of the above

Please indicate which identifier describes your institution (not you personally). Choose one. *

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Minority Serving Institution (MSI)

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)

Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs)

Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AAPISIs)

Not applicable

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If you are currently pursuing a degree, what is your concentration or area of study? *

Highest level of education achieved:
*

High School

Some college (current first year)

Some college (current second year)

Some college (current third year)

Some college (current fourth year)

B.A.

B.S.

Pursuing a graduate degree

Some work in an advanced degree, studies discontinued for now.

M.A.

M.S.

PhD

Other:

What specifically interests you about AI?

How will this course help you get to the next step in your academic or career journey? Registrants who provide a complete answer will be given priority. *

If you are accepted to receive a scholarship, are you willing to provide feedback on the course that we can use in promotional materials? *

Yes

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Unsure, please do not follow up with me.

Other:

If you are proficient in any of these technical tools, please check the boxes below. *

Tableau

Excel

Python

ArcGis

SQL

Java

JavaScript

VBA

Julia

MatLab

C/C++

SAS

N/A

Other:

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What questions do you have for the instructor? You can say, N/A.

How did you find out about this opportunity? *

NCDS Talent Pool email

Newsletter

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