Conference: Student and Early Career Researcher Travel Grant for the 19th Neurosymbolic Learning and Reasoning Conference (NeSy 2025)

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence is broadly understood as the combination of artificial neural network based machine learning (including Large Language Models and more generally deep learning) with symbolic methods from Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence is currently gaining significant interest in academia and industry as a way to further advance AI research and practice related to both fundamental methods and applications in a multitude of fields. This project will provide funds to subsidize the travel expenses of 10 students and early career researchers at U.S. universities to attend the 2025 NeSy conference, held September 8-10 in Santa Cruz, California. Neurosymbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy) is a long-standing meeting (a conference since 2024, previously a workshop), established in 2005, focused on the synergy between neural network methods and symbolic approaches. Covered topics include Neurosymbolic methods for: generative models, knowledge graphs, knowledge representation and reasoning using neural networks, cognitive modeling, probabilistic programming, causal reasoning, and applications. The location of the conference in Santa Cruz, California, which is in close proximity to Silicon Valley, will bring together both academic and industry professionals interested in Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence. This provides a unique opportunity for student and early career researcher networking opportunities across academia and industry. In addition to invited and contributed talks, students will benefit from a doctoral consortium and mentoring activities. 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.