Travel: GENETIS and Nebulous Meeting on Developing the use of AI for Design of scientific Instruments

The GENETIS and Nebulous projects aim to provide a nexus point for collaborations from astrophysics, other areas of science, and industry to design instruments for optimal scientific outcomes that may not be achievable with human engineering. Initially, they have focused on genetic algorithms and have already evolved antennas for neutrino astrophysics applications. This group travel award supports attendance by team members at a “Blue Sky Studies” workshop and follow-up GENETIS meeting to be held at CalTech in Pasadena, CA, August 12-14. The goal of this workshop is to develop a plan for broadening and streamlining the use of AI for the design of instruments, with a focus on applications in astrophysics. By standardizing tools developed by the GENETIS and Nebulous projects, the expectation is that the design phase of experiments will become more efficient, while also increasing scientific impact. The meeting will create a prioritized roadmap for developing AI for instrument design, understanding the needs of future missions and experiments, and the limitations of AI. GENETIS has an exemplary record as a launch pad for diverse undergraduate and graduate students, including those from minority-serving institutions. This interdisciplinary team adds new perspectives to every aspect of the work and provides rich learning opportunities for early career researchers. 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.