Conference: NSF Student Travel Support for the 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-2026)

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is one of the world’s premier venues for foundational and applied research in artificial intelligence (AI). The AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-26), to be held in Singapore in 2026, will provide a unique opportunity for early-career researchers to engage with cutting-edge advancements and participate in an internationally recognized scientific forum. This proposal supports student travel to attend AAAI-26. Providing opportunities for students to engage with the global AI research community promotes the progress of science by building the next generation of researchers equipped to address critical challenges in AI. Supporting their attendance also strengthens the broader AI research ecosystem by enabling interactions across academia, industry, and government, advancing national competitiveness and long-term innovation in trustworthy and safe AI. This project will provide travel assistance to competitively selected student participants whose research has been accepted at AAAI-26 or who have demonstrated a strong commitment to scholarly contributions in AI. The selection process will be based on academic merit, relevance to the conference themes, and recommendation letters. Recipients will be expected to attend the full conference, participate in mentoring activities, and share their experiences with peers. By facilitating participation in a global research venue, this initiative will help students gain exposure to leading-edge AI research, build lasting collaborations, and accelerate their research careers. The proposal aligns with national priorities in AI and helps build capacity in critical areas including reasoning, decision-making, and machine learning at scale. 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.