National Science Foundation Provides $20 Million Funding for Artificial Intelligence Institute

Serdar HocamAuthor & Editor

The National Science Foundation provided funding for the institute, which conducts research in artificial intelligence and optimization, to continue its work until 2031.

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Illustration representing artificial intelligence and mathematical optimization for complex systems. (Credit: Dall-E)

The National Science Foundation announced a new $20 million funding support to extend the work of the Institute for Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Optimization until 2031.

New Term Goals of the Institute

Over the next five years, the renewed institute aims to achieve major breakthroughs that would be independently unattainable by combining artificial intelligence and optimization technologies.

Research Areas and Focus Points

In the second phase, the work will focus on four integrated areas: two areas advancing artificial intelligence science and two other areas applying these developments to energy systems, supply chains, and manufacturing.

Management Staff and Institutional Roles

Pascal Van Hentenryck from Georgia Tech serves as the principal investigator, while Bistra Dilkina from USC and Alper Atamtürk from Berkeley are involved in the project as co-principal investigators.

USC's Expanding Contribution and Funding Amount

In the second phase of the project, USC more than doubled its funding compared to the first term, receiving a $5.6 million share, while also increasing the number of academics on the research team to five.

Educational Activities and Summer Camp

USC will move the Seth Bonder Summer Camp, focused on computational and data science in engineering, to Los Angeles, extending the educational impact of the institute to high school students.