Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE)
NSF Artificial Intelligence Institute
2024 Educational Fellows Call for Applications
February 23, 2024 application deadline
The Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute invites applications for its 2024 ICICLE Educational Fellowship (IEF) program. The program’s goal is to engage graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career educators and researchers in career building experiences and opportunities. Fellows will experience an exciting institute that is pioneering next generation cyberinfrastructure for AI and doing so with direct application to areas such as food security, local and regional food systems, farmers’ markets, ecology and ecosystem services, and digital agriculture. Fellows will be able to apply their educational, community building, broadening participation, and workforce development expertise in a practical experience setting.
This 2024 call is seeking applicants who want to learn/develop skills and posit research questions in the setting of AI-enabled cyberinfrastructure and knowledge systems in support of increased resiliency of food systems. Food systems are complex networks that include all the inputs and outputs associated with agricultural and food production and consumption.
The successful ICICLE Educational Fellow will engage with the ICICLE institute through a nine-month fellowship under the guidance of the collective action working group within ICICLE, called the Broader Impacts Backbone Network (BIBN). The Educational Fellow will have an opportunity to work on real-world challenges. Examples of types of activity that might be undertaken in the Fellowship are given in this non-comprehensive list:
- Posit and carry out research questions that utilizes ICICLE cyberinfrastructure and knowledge services
- Hold focus group discussions with future ICICLE stakeholders in food systems
- Develop educational modules around ethical and privacy-aware use of ICICLE cyberinfrastructure and tools for food systems
- Serve as ambassadors in their community by hosting workshops
- Lead hands-on training in AI-enabled cyberinfrastructure in food systems
- Pilot test with research questions in mind with goal of providing critique
Inquiries are welcome.
Fellows will be matched with content experts in ICICLE, allowing access to situational context and domain experts, while working on an activity of their design.
Eligibility
The ICICLE Educational Fellows program is committed to diversity and inclusion. ICICLE welcomes applicants regardless of race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability status. Applications from those representing historically underrepresented populations are strongly encouraged.
Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career educators and researchers are welcome to apply. For purposes of this program, early-career is considered as having less than three years of work experience beyond degree conferral or completion of a postdoctoral fellowship.
Applicants must be actively enrolled in, or formally affiliated with, a US-based institution for the duration of the fellowship appointment. Prior years’ ICICLE Educational Fellows are eligible to apply, but should describe how they intend to extend the work of the previous fellowship.
Applicants must be available to attend in person the Spring 2024 Cohort-Building Orientation Workshop (May 2-3, 2024) and the Fall 2024 ICICLE Project All-Hands Meeting (November or December 2024, dates TBD), as well as virtual cohort meetings throughout the fellowship period.
Applicants must agree to the ICICLE Institute Code of Conduct.
Compensation
Fellows will receive a stipend of $6000 (paid in two installments), as well as expense-paid travel to the Spring 2024 Cohort-Building Orientation Workshop and to the Fall 2024 ICICLE All-Hands meeting in November or December.
InfoShare
Interested applicants may opt to participate in a brief information session on February 14, 2024, at 3:30 PM ET (2:30 PM CT, 1:30 PM MT, 12:30 PM PT) for a brief overview of ICICLE’s activities as they relate to the Fellows program, followed by an opportunity to ask questions about potential topics and projects that may be explored through the program. To register for the session, click here.
To Apply
Applicants are encouraged to browse the ICICLE Institute’s website to identify relevant topics and mutual interests. Applications must include current resume/curriculum vitae and responses to the following items:
- Your specific interests in the ICICLE institute;
- The communities with which you are connected (if any);
- Your current and near-term academic commitments (e.g., thesis or dissertation defense, institutional transition, upcoming post-doctoral fellowship, etc.);
- Your career goals and the benefit this fellowship will have on your career trajectory; and
- A brief description of the activities that you are interested in undertaking as an ICICLE
Educational Fellow.
Applications will be accepted from individuals or multi-person teams. Those applying as part of a team should clearly identify and delineate individual responsibilities and deliverables.
Applications must be submitted here on or before 11:59 PM on February 23, 2024 (Anywhere on Earth).
It is recommended that you draft and save your responses outside the application submission platform, then transfer them to the submission form. If you have any difficulty with the application form, please contact IEF Program Manager Julie Wernert at jwernert@iu.edu.
Fellowship Timeline
February 23, 2024 Fellowship application deadline
March 20-22, 2024 Finalist interviews with applicant presentation
April 1, 2024 Fellowship award notifications
Mid-April 2024 Fellowship begins with virtual sessions; dates to be announced
May 2-3, 2024 Two-day Cohort-Building Orientation Workshop at the Big 10 Conference Center in Rosemont, Illinois; in-person participation required
August 2024 First stipend payment
Fall 2024 Project presentations at ICICLE All-Hands meeting. Dates and locations to be announced; in-person participation required
December 2024 Final stipend payment
January 31, 2025 Final report due
About ICICLE
The Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE) Institute is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute with the mission of enabling artificial intelligence at the flick of a switch, transforming today’s AI landscape from a narrow set of privileged disciplines to one where democratized AI empowers domains broadly through integrated plug-and-play AI. Converging under one virtual roof, ICICLE fosters interdisciplinary communities, advances foundational AI and CI, and transforms application domains. Through its innovative approach to training and technology transfer, ICICLE is fostering the growth of an AI-enabled workforce and helping to incubate innovative companies with sustained diversity and inclusion at all levels. Ultimately, ICICLE will enable a transparent and trustworthy national infrastructure for an AI-enabled future to address pressing societal problems and enable decision-making for national priorities. For more information, visit: https://icicle.osu.edu/
