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January 2025 Issue
Table of Contents:
NSF Outreach on AI Research
Leveraging NSF-Funded Cyberinfrastructure Resources – Office Hours on January 31
AI Institute Contacts for Media and Education Outreach
Six PECASE Honorees in the AI Institutes Community
Summer Research Opportunities for Undergraduates
FoodAtlas: An AI-driven Knowledge Base of Food, Chemicals, and Health Effects
NSF Outreach on AI Research
Does your Institute have a story to share about NSF-funded AI research and its impact on society?
The NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs covers the outcomes of NSF-funded activities (including partially NSF-funded work) — including AI research, public outreach, education, and workforce development efforts.
If you have breaking news to feature, they want to hear about it! Announcing your news through NSF’s channels is a great way to amplify press releases and your other communications endeavors.
They’re especially interested in learning about newsworthy research when it’s submitted to a publication, so that all the NSF outreach resources available can be applied. NSF and AIVO will strictly adhere to publication embargo restrictions.
All the Ag Institutes are welcome to flag AI stories to NSF, as well. If you have any suggestions for NSF AI outreach, especially successes in the realms of research and workforce development, please share them with us at aivo@ucdavis.edu. Our team will coordinate with NSF on story topics.
Leveraging NSF-Funded Cyberinfrastructure Resources – Office Hours on January 31
Office hours are every other Friday, noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Do you have questions about the advanced computing resources that NSF funds at no cost to U.S.-based researchers?
Drop in to the office hours to discover how you can leverage cyberinfrastructure (CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles) resources.
If you have questions about the offerings, or would like to discuss the needs of your research group, please join the office hours. You can also post a message in the new channel on the AI Institutes internal Slack, #cyberinfrastructure-needs.
The office hours sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded CloudBank resource.
Registration is now open for these sessions:
- January 31, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
- February 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
- February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
- March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
- March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
Learn about the opportunities available to you and get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives. Register now!
More about cyberinfrastructure resources
- Review the ACCESS flyer for details on the program.
- Visit the NAIRR Pilot page on the NSF website.
- Visit the CloudBank website.
AI Institute Contacts for Media and Education Outreach
AIVO is collecting the names and email addresses of Institutes’ media/press contacts to facilitate media outreach. Reporters are often on deadline when they reach out, so having a list of Institute press contacts at hand is most helpful in getting the word out about our efforts.
The names and email addresses of your Institute’s media contacts will be posted on the AIVO website in February and shared directly with NSF public affairs staff when press opportunities arise.
Please add the names and email addresses of your press contacts to the AI Institute Comms and Education Contacts spreadsheet. Thanks to the Institutes who have already provided their contacts!
We’re also collecting the names and email addresses of Institutes’ education contacts in the AI Institute Comms and Education Contacts spreadsheet, as part of our work for the Google.org grant. Read more about our Google.org grant in the December 2024 issue of AIVO News.
Six PECASE Honorees in the AI Institutes Community
The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is “the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.” Among this year’s federally funded early-career scientist awardees are six members of the AI Institutes community!
A hearty congratulations to Drs. Mohit Bansal, Libby Barnes, Ying Diao, Aaditya Ramdas, Olga Russakovsky, and Soumik Sarkar!
Mohit Bansal
Co-PI, EngageAI
Dr. Bansal is the John R. & Louise S. Parker Distinguished Professor and the Director of the MURGe-Lab (UNC-NLP Group) in the Computer Science department at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. Read more about Dr. Bansal’s recognition and research.
Libby Barnes
Faculty Researcher, Atmospheric Science, AI2ES
Dr. Barnes is a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Read more about Dr. Barnes’ recognition and research.
Ying Diao
Co-PI, MMLI
Dr. Diao is an Associate Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Read more about Dr. Diao’s’ recognition and research.
Aaditya Ramdas
Senior Personnel and Faculty Researcher, Machine Learning, Statistics and Data Science, AI-SDM
Dr. Ramdas is an Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, with joint appointments in the Statistics and Data Science and Machine Learning departments. Read more about Dr. Ramdas’ recognition and research.
Olga Russakovsky
PI, ATHENA
Dr. Russakovsky is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. She leads the Princeton Visual AI Lab and is Associate Director of the Princeton AI Lab. Read more about Dr. Russakovsky’s recognition and research.
Soumik Sarkar
Associate Director, AIIRA
Dr. Sarkar is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University and Director of Iowa State’s Translational AI Center (TrAC). Read more about Dr. Sarkar’s recognition and research.
About the PECASE
“Established by President Clinton in 1996, PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation’s future.”
The PECASE awards are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the White House, and recipients are nominated by government agencies. Read the PECASE press release to learn more.
Summer Research Opportunities for Undergraduates
Please help spread the word about these summer research programs for undergraduate students! Application deadlines are coming up soon.
Summer Research Internship with MMLI Faculty for Undergrads
Deadline to apply: February 10, 2025
The Molecule Maker Lab Institute (MMLI) has high-quality research opportunities for undergraduate students through the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) at the University of Illinois!
Designed to provide hands-on research training for college students eager to explore careers in research, the “MMLI Advancing Talent and Research through Inclusive EXcellence in AI and Chemistry in the UNIversity” (MATRIX-UNI) program will be held June 2 to July 25, 2025.
2025 projects include:
- AI tools for predicting enzyme properties
- AI-guided modular molecular synthesis of medicines or materials
- Information extraction and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) using large language models (LLMs)
Students will receive a stipend, funds to cover travel to and from Urbana-Champaign, on-campus housing and meals, supplies for workshops and symposiums, and summer health insurance. They will also have access to campus recreational facilities, including gyms, pools, and sports facilities, as well as the university libraries, and a pass for free access to the MTD bus, which has extensive network access coverage.
Learn more about the program, including application requirements and resources. Interested undergrads should fill out the interest form.
ARNI Research Experiences for Undergrads Program
Deadline to apply: February 11, 2025
The Artificial and Natural Intelligence Institute (ARNI), based at Columbia University, is offering a 10-week program for undergraduate students interested in gaining research experience at the intersection of AI, cognitive science, and neuroscience!
The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program will be held from late May to early August 2025, Monday through Friday. Students will be placed in a lab associated with one of ARNI’s research projects and core themes. Core research themes include:
- Continual Learning
- Frontier Models for Neuroscience
- Biological Learning Rules
- Reasoning about Causality and
- Uncertainty
- Language and vision
- Neural mechanisms of intelligence
Students will receive graduate student and faculty mentoring, room and board, a summer stipend, weekly professional development, and social engagement activities in New York City. View the flyer to learn more, including eligibility requirements.
Interested undergrads should apply by February 11, 2025, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) Summer Research Experience for Undergrads
Deadline to apply: February 17, 2025
The Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program brings together students with backgrounds in computation, agriculture, and biosystems, to provide them with valuable hands-on training to work in academia, industry, and beyond! It’s a paid, onsite opportunity hosted by the CDA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Designed to equip REU participants with the necessary skills to work across disciplines and empower them to address grand challenges in their future careers with robust problem-solving, the 10-week program spans May 27 to August 1, 2025.
Specifically, students will:
- Conduct research alongside experts and faculty affiliates from the CDA, the Artificial Intelligence for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management, and Sustainability (AIFARMS) Institute, and the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS), as well as external partnerships.
- Increase their ability to engage with digital agriculture technologies
- Build confidence in applying their skills to complex biological applications
Areas of practice and skill-building include AI, machine learning (ML), data science/analytics, computer vision, robotics, large language models (LLMs), hyperspectral imaging, multimodal LLMs, human-technology-animal/plant interfaces, digital technology design, and sensor technology.
Students will explore applications of tech in crop production and health, livestock/animal production behavior and health, environmental resilience, regenerative agriculture, plant genetics/genomics, livestock/animal genetics/genomics, supply chain management, soil health, rural connectivity, food science and processing, human factors and socioeconomics, plant phenotyping, and precision agriculture.
Learn more about the opportunity on the CDA website, including eligibility, applicant and program requirements, benefits the program covers, and details about program activities.
Interested undergrads should apply by February 17, 2025.
AgAID Undergraduate Research Internship Program
Deadline to apply: February 28, 2025
The Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support (AgAID) is hosting an eight-week undergraduate research internship (URI) program, providing undergrads with an opportunity to work at the interface of cutting-edge AI technologies and agricultural applications.
Students with these interests are encouraged to apply: developing or applying AI tools for improved water resource modeling and improved decision-making on farms, creative robotics solutions for agricultural automation, and investigating how to take the latest AI tools and algorithmic principles and put them into practice to solve real-world, challenging tasks.
The URI program runs from June 9 to August 1, 2025. It includes a stipend, travel and housing support, career development and mentoring, the chance to build science communication skills and to work on a research project as part of a collaborative team of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, staff, and faculty.
Learn more about the URI program on the AgAID website, including program details and requirements.
Interested students should apply by February 28, 2025.
Research Experience for Undergraduates in Translational Applications of AI to Engineering (REU-TrACE) with TrAC
Deadline to apply: March 1, 2025
The Translational AI Center (TrAC), which houses the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA), is hosting an REU program at Iowa State University!
The program’s research goals and activities align with the mission of TrAC and AIIRA. Focusing on AI applied across diverse fields, students in the program will engage in interdisciplinary projects, acquiring skills to prepare them for graduate school and develop professionally. The program runs from May 27 to August 1, 2025.
Students will receive faculty and staff mentorship, accumulate research and presentation experience, participate in shared cohort experiences, including field trips, and workshops/seminars, and have the opportunity to grow their professional networks.
In addition, the 10-week program includes a stipend, campus apartment housing, the Iowa State University meal plan, and a round-trip airfare and travel allowance. View the flyer to learn more.
Explore the opportunity on the TrAC website, including details on eligibility and learning outcomes.
Interested undergrads should apply by March 1, 2025.
FoodAtlas: An AI-driven Knowledge Base of Food, Chemicals, and Health Effects
AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS) Director Ilias Tagkopoulos recently led a hybrid event about the FoodAtlas, as part of AIFS’ AI Speaker Series.
He opened the session with a challenge for the audience: “Think about what you ate this morning, what you ate yesterday. Are you happy? Are you happy with your choices? Do you think you have the information you need to make healthy choices?”
The FoodAtlas aims to help us learn enough about what’s in our foods, and what those foods are doing to our bodies and minds, to answer those pressing questions.
Learn more about the FoodAtlas and watch the webinar recording on the AIFS website.
About the AI Speaker Series
The event series features thought leaders addressing food system challenges with AI. Learn more about the AI Speaker Series and watch recordings of past sessions.
