The OR and AI communities have recently begun cross-fertilizing their respective strengths in developing foundational methodological and computational tools -- enabling decision-making in a broad range of use-inspired problem domains, striving to reach the full latent potential of efforts in individual fields. We announce the formation of AI-SCORE, the Artificial Intelligence School for Operations Research Education, a first-of-its-kind cross-disciplinary school aimed towards seeding research for creating new AI methodologies. AI-SCORE will create a series of summer/winter schools to motivate young researchers to build careers in these rich and yet untapped areas. The focus participants of AI-SCORE are early doctoral cohorts who can lead this next generation of AI-OR researchers.
The first iteration of AI-SCORE will be held from May 27th to June 1st 2024, in Washington DC, on the University of Maryland College Park campus. AI-SCORE has carefully curated senior and mid-career experts, with topics, tutorials and exercises interwoven across OR and AI communities. This inaugural summer school will begin with keynote lectures by senior researchers to provide overviews of the evolution of foundational and AI-related concepts from the different communities; to introduce bridges that have been built across these fields thus far, and present vision towards future research. Keynote speakers during the first iteration of AI-SCORE are Profs. Michael Fu (University of Maryland), Kevin Leyton-Brown (University of British Columbia), Tuomas Sandholm (Carnegie Mellon University) and David Shmoys (Cornell University).
Two thematic modules have been chosen for deep-diving discussion and coding exercises: (i) Fairness and (ii) Reinforcement Learning. Faculty experts will jointly create thematic tutorials accompanied by curated datasets and exercises involving hands-on participation by students in cross-disciplinary teams. The Fairness module will be led by Profs. Siddhartha Banerjee (Cornell University) and Aaron Roth (University of Pennsylvania), and the Reinforcement Learning module by Profs. Vivek Farias (MIT) and Scott Sanner (University of Toronto).
The inaugural AI-SCORE is generously sponsored by the National Science Foundation, University of Maryland Smith School of Business, AI Journal, and SIGACT.
Student eligibility criteria: Students who are entering their 2nd year of PhD in Fall 2024, or who are just completing their 2nd year of PhD in Spring 2024. Student from underrepresented communities are especially encouraged to apply. Only 15 students each from the fields of OR and CS/AI will be selected due to space constraints.
Application material: Please fill out the short Google form at https://forms.gle/JeWcocgEKvupsutf6. The form will request the student's CV, a one-page (maximum) statement describing the problem area at the intersection of OR and CS/AI being explored by the student as a PhD topic; and a short statement from the PhD advisor confirming the student's research area at the intersection of OR and AI, and the anticipated benefit (maximum one page).
Application Deadline: May 1, 2024 (including the advisor's support statement). Selected participants will be informed by May 4, 2024 in order to book flight tickets and make other logistical arrangements.
Financial support and logistical details: Hotel plus travel support from AI-SCORE for non-local students will be capped at $900. A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at the College Park Marriott hotel, at the pre-tax rate of $159 (1 queen, single occupancy) and $179 (2 queen, shared by two participants). Beyond the 15 funded students, another 5 students may be admitted if fully self-funded by their own institutions/research groups. Meals will be fully covered for the duration of the school for all participants, beginning on the morning of May 27th to the afternoon of June 1st.
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Lavanya Marla
Associate Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana IL
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