Conference: Future of AI and the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (AI+MPS)

About This Grant

The NSF Workshop on the Future of AI and the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (AI+MPS) will be held March 24–26, 2025 at MIT, bringing together researchers in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) who are successfully integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for accelerating scientific breakthroughs. AI is a rapidly growing field with pervasive applications across a broad range of scientific disciplines. The link between AI and Science is becoming increasingly inextricable, as evidenced by the recent 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry. This workshop will explore how to best leverage the potential of AI for scientific discovery, as well as optimize opportunities to impact the development of AI using scientific insights. Through surveys and discussion at the Workshop, an interdisciplinary group of experts aims to gain an understanding of the key challenges, gaps, enablers, and opportunities for research in these fields to capitalize on and contribute to this new technology. The Workshop will be organized around the MPS disciplines of Astronomical Sciences, Chemistry, Materials Research, Mathematical Science, and Physics. Within each discipline, the Workshop will address the importance of AI, as well as gaps and opportunities for developing and implementing AI tools and techniques. Cross-cutting AI themes will also be discussed across disciplines, such as AI techniques with interdisciplinary potential and consistent benchmarking. Around 65 participants will directly participate to the discussion (evenly distributed between MPS disciplines and including computer science) and input will be solicited from a broader pool of researchers across the MPS divisions via surveys in advance of the Workshop to jump start discussions. The Workshop will provide the opportunity for cross-pollination and transferable learning across disciplines and the opportunity to develop a perspective and recommendations spanning the MPS research portfolio. The outcome of the Workshop will be a white paper that reflects the breadth of perspectives in the MPS community, outlining the current state of AI in each discipline, the potential impact of AI in each discipline, and a roadmap for pursuing strategic interdisciplinary goals. 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.