2006 NSF Workshop and Outreach Tutorial on Approximate Dynamic Programming: Bridging Neural Networks and AI for Managing Complex Systems will be held Spring 2006 in Cancun

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This workshop consists of two parts: (1) an advanced conference, bringing together the best researchers in adaptive dynamic programming (ADP), across disciplines which do not ordinarily communicate with each other; (2) an outreach section, providing extended tutorials on ADP work in various areas for students and researchers in other areas, with a special emphasis on Spanish-speaking beneficiaries. Intellectual Merit: ADP is one of the main fundamental enabling technologied needed to develop truly general-purpose intelligent systems, or to develop optimal ways to design or manage large complex systems in general. There has been only one previous workshop or conference bringing together the main disciplines contributing to ADP - the 2002 NSF-supported workshop on this area. (www.eas.asu.edu/~nsfadp) In that workshop, it became clear that greater collaboration between disciplines will be the most important factor in deciding how rapidly progress occurs here. Discussions about future directions and opportunities for research, in order to address the basic challenges here, will also be important in program planning. Broader Impacts: The book from the previous conference was a critical product, important to this field, but more is needed to develop more pedagogic material similar to a textbook, and to assist mid-level people studying ADP in one discipline to understand the work in other disciplines. It is hoped that the outreach section of this workshop will help meet that need, and also help in better utilizing new talent from the Spanish-speaking communities.