Opportunities
Upcoming External Events
International Conference AI for Science 2025, September 22–26, 2025
This conference will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and will bring together researchers, leading experts in artificial intelligence, and domain scientists who apply AI to solve complex problems in their fields. Its aim is to showcase the latest developments in applying AI across scientific disciplines, foster collaboration between academia and industry, and support the continued advancement of AI in Europe and beyond. The AI4Physics session of the meeting focuses on the use of AI in Fundamental Physics, in particular all aspects of particle physics, astroparticle physics, nuclear physics, gravitational-wave physics, cosmology, and theoretical physics as well as simulation and computational infrastructure. We will explore the use of AI from various aspects, including anomaly detection, generative algorithms (simulation), foundation models, explainability, connections with hardware implementations, and emerging technologies such as quantum computing. In addition to the AI4Physics session, the meeting will have a number of diverse parallel tracks for a well-rounded multidisciplinary experience. The paper/abstract submission deadline is July 15, 2025! The author registration deadline is July 25, 2025! The regular registration deadline is September 5, 2025 [or until the tickets run out (whichever comes first)]!
POSYDON School 2025, September 23–26, 2025
SkAI is co-sponsoring the POSYDON School 2025, a four-day workshop that aims to familiarize participants with POSYDON, a state-of-the-art binary population synthesis code (now in its second version), to discover its unique capabilities and incorporate it into their own research. Register by May 16, 2025!
TITAN Machine Intelligence for iNverse imaging, Observation Analysis and Sensing Workshop (MINOAS), September 24–26, 2025
This workshop will he held in Greece. Data-driven methods have profoundly transformed the fields of signal sensing and analysis. This workshop will cover the following: Machine learning for inverse-imaging problems, Physics-informed and hybrid AI models for inverse problems, Data-driven priors and generative models in imaging, and Bayesian inference and uncertainty quantification in inverse problems. Register by June 20, 2025!
NSF AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (NSF AI-SDM) Workshop on Human-AI Complementarity for Decision Making, September 25–26, 2025
This workshop will focus on flexible Human-AI teams and how they can be robust and align with human values. Included with cutting-edge tutorials and an interactive poster session—perfect for sharing early-stage work and fostering new connections. The primary author of each selected abstract will have their travel and lodging expenses covered by AI-SDM. The application deadline is July 15, 2025!
The Oden Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) for Differential Equations workshop (SciML 2025), September 25–26, 2025
This workshop will focus on SciML approaches for forward, inverse, uncertainty quantification, and generative modeling governed by differential equations. The workshop will feature talks by experts spanning computational science and engineering and data-driven machine learning to foster collaboration and establish central challenges and research directions in SciML for differential equations. Register by September 15, 2025!
NASA International Space Apps Challenge, in Partnership with the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), October 4–5, 2025
NASA Space Apps is the world’s largest hackathon, hosted in over 500 locations. In Chicago, you’ll join a collaborative effort to tackle real challenges provided by NASA and present your solutions to expert judges. Come with a team—or we’ll help you form one. Perfect for first-time hackers, computer science students, engineers, or anyone looking to build their portfolio. This free event is designed for anyone passionate about space science, data, and innovation. This is an especially great opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience and expand their professional network. The registration link will go live on July 17, 2025!
OpenACC Open Accelerated Computing (OAC) Summit 2025, October 7–9, 2025
This summit serves as a platform to examine the latest research and development efforts at the intersection of AI and high-performance computing. The deadline to submit a talk proposal is September 5, 2025!
AI in Science Summit 2025 (AIS25), November 3–4, 2025
The AI in Science Summit is the inaugural Flagship Event launching the Resources for AI Science in Europe (RAISE). It is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The summit welcomes scientists, industry leaders, investors, and policy makers to exchange ideas, network, and shape the future investments in AI research in Europe. The paper-submission deadline is September 1, 2025! Register by October 26, 2025!
Foundation Models for Science Workshop at the University of Toronto, November 3–5, 2025
This three-day event will explore how large-scale machine-learning models can be used to solve scientific problems across scientific disciplines. The workshop will feature keynotes, tutorials, social events, and a hackathon, where the attendees will solve predefined problems in small groups. Attendees will also have the opportunity to attend the Foundation Models for Science Symposium at the Vector Institute for AI, held on November 6–7. Fifty attendees can be accomodated. The application deadline is July 31, 2025!
U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) 2026 National Radio Science Meeting, January 6–9, 2026
This meeting will include scientific sessions, a plenary session, an invited Hans Liebe Lecture, commission meetings, workshops/short courses, exhibits, a Women in Radio Science (WIRS) reception, a student paper competition, and a student mentoring luncheon. Authors have their choice of submitting either one-page abstracts or two-page summaries and having them archived on IEEE Xplore. The deadline for submission to the Call for Papers is September 12, 2025!
Aspen Center for Physics Winter Conference (AspenWinter 2026): Theoretical Physics for Artificial Intelligence, January 11–16, 2026
Some of the world’s most ambitious and consequential experiments are taking place not in particle accelerators or space telescopes but in silicon, training ginormous neural networks. The results have been transformative, yet much of the progress has been driven by empirical advances, with theoretical understanding struggling to keep pace. This meeting will explore how the tools and insights of theoretical physics can deepen our understanding of modern artificial intelligence. The meeting will bring together physicists and computer scientists, with a shared goal of illuminating the principles underlying successful machine-learning methods—and ultimately guiding the development of better architectures and algorithms. Apply at https://aspenphys.org/winter-conferences/! Apply by September 15, 2025!
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Language AI in the Space Sciences workshop, March 9–12, 2026
This interdisciplinary event will bring together researchers and practitioners at the intersection of natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and space sciences. Potential topics include multi-modal AI for data and publications, research workflow management, AI agents for data discovery, chatbots, retrieval-augmented generation, literature mining, named entity recognition, citation analysis, text generation, best practices for deploying language technologies, ethical AI, and transparency and bias in scientific applications.. The Call for Abstracts will be in October–November 2025 and the Abstract Selection Notifications will be in December 2025–January 2026!
Iowa State University-National Institute of Statistical Sciences (ISU-NISS) Conference on AI and Statistics, September 12–14, 2025
This three-day event brings together researchers at the intersection of AI and statistical science to explore the latest theoretical and applied advances in AI and statistics. The program will feature invited plenary sessions and poster presentations covering a range of topics such as causal reasoning, online inference and streaming data, sequential decision-making, image and shape analysis, geospatial AI, and applications of machine learning and AI in forensic science and survey statistics. Early-bird registration will be $150 through August 15. Regular registration will be $250 after August 15, through the deadline of August 31. On-site registration will not be available. Register by August 31, 2025!
Past External Events
International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy & Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD) Summer School, September 8–12, 2025
The topic for the summer school this year is AI for Astronomy. The application deadline is June 30, 2025!
2025 Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) Summer Workshop, August 11–15, 2025
The IAIFI Summer Workshop promotes research at the intersection of Physics and AI. Talk/Poster submissions are due by June 1! Register by July 31, 2025!
Multimessenger Astronomy in the Era of Foundational AI workshop, August 4–5, 2025
This workshop is organized by the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Data Science Institute at Vanderbilt University. Researchers from astronomy, gravitational-wave science, and AI are being brought together to explore how modern foundational models can help solve some of the most exciting challenges in multimessenger astrophysics. Abstract submissions are due by June 15! Register by July 15, 2025!
LSST Discovery Alliance July 2025 LINCC Frameworks Software Hackathon, July 27–28, 2025
This software workshop and hackathon will be in conjunction with the Rubin Community Workshop 2025, which will be in Tucson, Arizona from July 28–August 1, 2025. This event is designed to empower astronomers and researchers with the skills and tools to fully leverage the LINCC Frameworks software ecosystem, developed to support scientific discovery with data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the application portal will close when the maximum number of participants has been accepted (no later than July 11, 2025)!
Apart Research AI Safety × Physics Grand Challenge, July 25–27, 2025
This research hackathon will join physicists and AI safety researchers worldwide to apply rigorous physics methodologies to critical AI alignment challenges. The event is remote, with in-person hubs in locations worldwide. Physicists/physicist-AI teams will work on a range of safety-relevant topics, including:
- Bridging theory-practice gaps in AI interpretability
- Developing the analog of “physical” priors that lead to inductive biases
- Theoretically modeling data structure
- Placing quantitative bounds on AI behavior
- Extracting meaning and limits from scaling laws
Machine Learning for Astrophysics (ML4Astro) Workshop, July 20, 2025
This workshop will be colocated at the 42nd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2025), which will be in Vancouver from July 13–19, 2025. The goal of this workshop is to bring together Machine-Learning researchers and domain experts in the field of Astrophysics to discuss key opportunities, create new synergies, and help promote the large-scale application of AI for science. The abstract-submission deadline is June 9, 2025!
Center for Astrophysics AstroAI Workshop 2025, July 7–11, 2025
The AstroAI Workshop is designed to foster an environment of learning, collaboration, and innovation. Over the course of five days, participants will engage in a series of lectures and discussions led by experts in the fields of AI/ML and astrophysics, hands-on sessions, talks by early-career scientists in the field, and networking events. This workshop is an opportunity for early-career scientists to deepen their understanding of foundational AI/ML models for astrophysical research, and their potential in unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Remote registration for attending the contributed and invited talk sessions is possible. The abstract-submission deadline is May 16, 2025!
Funding Opportunities
NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program
The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program provides grants, mentors, and technical support to doctoral students doing outstanding research relevant to NVIDIA technologies.
The application deadline is September 15, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. CDT!
2025 NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins (CosmicAI) Virtual Winter School, December 15–19, 2025
The CosmicAI Winter School is a paid opportunity, open to undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students, which will focus on building foundational skills in Python programming, statistics, and PyTorch. These core skills will prepare participants for more advanced machine-learning topics in the CosmicAI Summer School.
The application deadline is September 15, 2025, at 10:59 p.m. CDT!
DOE’s Office of Science is now accepting applications for Spring 2026 undergraduate and recent graduate Internships for two undergraduate internship programs: the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. SULI is open to full-time undergraduate students attending four-year institutions and community colleges or recent graduates within two years of receiving their bachelor’s degree or associate’s degree. CCI is dedicated to supporting community college students. Both programs are stipend-based and offered three times annually in Fall, Spring, and Summer terms.
Two workshops are planned to introduce each program, including the application process and strategies for submitting a compliant application
- August 6, 2025, from 1:00–2:00 p.m. CDT for CCI – Register on the CCI website
- August 14, 2025, from 1:00–2:00 p.m. CDT for SULI – Register on the SULI website
The application deadline is October 1, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. CDT!
This program aims to stimulate progress on fundamental scientific questions of major importance in mathematics, theoretical physics, and theoretical computer science. A collaboration should address a mathematical or theoretical topic of fundamental scientific importance, where a significant new development creates a novel area for exploration or provides a new direction for progress in an established field. The Letter of Intent submission deadline is October 29, 2025!
NSF Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation for the Astronomical Sciences (ATI) (NSF 22-627) Program Solicitation
The proposal submission deadline is November 15, 2025!
The Presidential AI Challenge seeks to inspire young people and educators to create AI-based innovative solutions to community challenges while fostering AI interest and competency. Students and educators of all backgrounds and expertise are encouraged to participate and ignite a new spirit of innovation as we celebrate 250 years of independence and look to the next 250. Registration for the Challenge is open for all K-12 educators and youth. Youth will work in small groups, think of a problem they are encountering in their communities, and then either (1) propose how AI technologies could be used in a unique and effective way to solve the problem, OR (2) use AI technologies widely available online to create an app, website, or program to either solve or diminish the impact of the problem. Educators will be able to either (1) create new ways of teaching AI concepts and technologies to their students or (2) create or use AI technologies to advance learning in ways only possible with AI technologies. The project submission deadline is January 20, 2026!
AI Institute researchers may request funding prior to an international trip or engagement. AIVO will reimburse the researcher personally up to the amount approved. Preference will be given to researcher engagement in Japan, India, Australia, and USA. Please complete the form by June 15, 2026!
Simons Foundation Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) Division Targeted Grants in MPS
This program supports high-risk projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. Letter of Intent submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
This grant program provides NVIDIA cloud, hardware, and/or software grants for research. Eligible subject areas are Generative AI: Training and Model Development; Generative AI: Alignment and Inference; and Robotics and Edge AI.
Past Funding Opportunities
CIERA is looking for experienced professionals with PhDs from any area that connects with CIERA’s mission, from astronomy, to physics, computer science, engineering, data science/AI, and more! Applications from candidates with PhDs in any field who are interested in interdisciplinary science management are encouraged. This is a senior, PhD-level position, for which CIERA will pursue the university process to be elected as Research Assistant Professor. The priority application deadline is July 11, 2025 (for full consideration)!
Women and Girls in Astronomy Program (WGAP) 2025 Call for proposals
The Women and Girls in Astronomy Program is looking to fund ten projects that use astronomy for development activities to promote, support, and uplift women and girls in the field. Qualifying projects must align with at least one of the North American Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (NA-ROAD) five Strategic Goals 1 through 5, and take place in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, or Greenland. Chosen projects will be awarded $2,000 USD mini-grants and project leaders will join the WGAP network as WGAP Fellows. This network is composed of industry and academic professionals who are willing to support women and girls in astronomy, while facilitating connections between women and girls in astronomy. The deadline to submit project proposals is June 15, 2025!
Spencer Foundation Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
The Spencer Foundation, in collaboration with The Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is providing quick-turnaround grants of up to $25,000 following NSF grant cancelations. To be eligible for these grants, scholars must: (1) be working on research on STEM and education (including AI and CS, graduate education and MSIs, and scholarship that aims to reduce inequality), and (2) have had a recently terminated or canceled grant from NSF. The application deadline for the first round is May 30, 2025! The application deadline for the second round is June 13, 2025!
TEAM-UP Together Scholarship Program
This program is for undergraduate students in physics or astronomy. The application deadline is May 23, 2025!
CIERA Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program
This is a 6-week paid summer astronomy program (June 16–July 25) for high school teachers. The application deadline is May 5, 2025!
Nominations are due by April 27, 2025!
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) AI for Science CFP 2025
Proposals are invited for projects that will leverage the Perlmutter supercomputer to push the state of the art in AI for science and produce novel science outcomes. Submit a proposal by April 15, 2025!
The SkAI Institute is one of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Simons Foundation.
Information on National AI Institutes is available at aiinstitutes.org.
Mailing address:
SkAI Institute
875 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 3500
Chicago, IL 60611
skai-institute at u.northwestern.edu
(Get to the SkAI Hub via the 172 E. Chestnut St. entrance)