Off to a busy start, data institute responds to COVID and seeks director The American Family Insurance Data Science Institute’s first two years have been nothing if not eventful. Last spring, as the campus and state shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, AFIDSI responded to the need for mathematical modeling to guide policy decisions and public health outreach. Within weeks, the institute had convened a team of leaders and experts from across the U.S. The COVID-19 Research Group met daily in the early weeks of the pandemic, creating models and sharing findings as quickly as possible.