Conference: Machine Learning in Science and Engineering

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the first annual Symposium on Machine Learning in Science and Engineering (MLSE), held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, June 6-8, 2018. The meeting, initially organized by Carnegie Mellon University and Georgia Tech, is the first comprehensive and open annual conference bringing together leading researchers in science and engineering whose work benefits from advances in machine learning and data science. While machine learning has revolutionized many areas of biological and biomedical research, its impact across the sciences and engineering is at an early stage. This symposium will bring together researchers in a diversity of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) areas focused on applying machine learning to problems of fundamental or applied nature. Presentations will focus on adapting existing machine learning methods to current research areas, developing new machine learning algorithms specific to science and engineering, and identifying new frontiers of research that may only be pursued using a data-driven approach. The symposium will offer attendees focused short courses taught by experts in machine learning on a variety of cutting-edge tools that are critical in advancing these fields. The MLSE symposium will help catalyze machine learning methodologies and collaborations across the sciences and engineering, bringing together researchers in a diversity of STEM areas focused on applying machine learning to fundamental and applied problems. Presentations will focus on adapting existing machine learning methods to current research areas, developing new machine learning algorithms specific to science and engineering, and identifying new frontiers of research that may only be pursued using a data-driven approach. The symposium is anticipated to reach, in its first year, at least 400 direct participants and attendees, including under-represented minorities, those attending Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and low income students local to the conference venues, or selected to travel to the event based on merit and need. Several groups within the research community are involved, including a diverse group of students, early career researchers and faculty. Information will be widely disseminated on a continuing basis through news items published via community-specific and broad news release venues. Partial support is being provided primarily to enable participation by students and young researchers, in addition to a limited number of tutorial and plenary speakers. The organizers are committed to promoting participation among underrepresented groups, junior researchers and students, and including tutorials to widen accessibility to as large a group of attendees, as possible. The organizers will have an open competition for these travel awards, selected by a diverse committee, and the opportunity to apply will be widely disseminated across the relevant disciplines. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.