NSF Workshop on Sustainable Computing
AI, Water, and Biodiversity

August 20-21, 2024
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Welcome

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to enable scientific understanding of environmental-sustainability issues and can aid in developing strategies that reduce environmental impacts of computing. However, the rapid expansion of AI comes with risks as the potential benefits are countered by the impacts from the computing of the AI solutions themselves; these include increased energy, materials, and water consumption driven by AI workloads. Meanwhile, environmental sustainability is multi-dimensional and current challenges include climate change, water scarcity, and multiple threats to biodiversity. Recognizing this complexity, this workshop will focus on a holistic AI computing framework composed of two aspects:

• Assessing environmental impact globally, encompassing water, biodiversity, and carbon emissions.
• Examining both the positive and negative impacts of AI on these outcomes.

Important Dates

• Early bird application deadline: July 19th, 2024, AoE
• Early bird acceptance notification: July 22th, 2024, AoE
• Application deadline with travel support: August 9th, 2024, AoE
• Workshop: August 20-21, 2024

Invited Speakers

• Chandra Krintz, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Andrew A. Chien, University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory
• Shaolei Ren, University of California, Riverside
• Teresa Nick, Microsoft
• Ben Townsend, Google

Organizing Committee

• Noman Bashir, MIT, USA
• Lynne Dahmen, Purdue University, USA
• Cristina Farmus, Purdue University, USA
• Josiah Hester, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
• John Howarter, Purdue University, USA
• Sanjay Krishnan, University of Chicago, USA
• Shaolei Ren, University of California, Riverside, USA

Organizers

General Co-chairs

• Inez Hua, Purdue University, USA
• Yi Ding, Purdue University, USA

Organizing Committee

• Noman Bashir, MIT, USA
• Lynne Dahmen, Purdue University, USA
• Cristina Farmus, Purdue University, USA
• Josiah Hester, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
• John Howarter, Purdue University, USA
• Sanjay Krishnan, University of Chicago, USA
• Shaolei Ren, University of California, Riverside, USA

Sponsors