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The Frontier Development Lab (FDL) is a public-private partnership between NASA, the US Department of Energy, and the SETI Institute, supported by AI/ML technology leaders and subject matter experts from the private sector, including Google Cloud, NVIDIA, Lockheed Martin, Intel, the Luxembourg Space Agency, and Mayo Clinic.
FDL brings together early-career PhD’s and postdoctoral researchers from diverse scientific fields and pairs them with their counterparts in computer science to run an applied AI/ML research accelerator capable of answering some of humanity’s most critical research challenges in the areas of extreme weather modeling, disaster response and recovery, planetary defense, astronaut health, Heliophysics, Earth Science, astrobiology, and planetary science.
FDL researchers work on mission-critical projects for NASA and the Department of Energy, and enjoy the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, including rapid prototyping, finding impactful solutions, and networking with an extensive community of industry leaders in the public and private sectors.
During the 8-week summer research sprint, researchers have the opportunity to push the frontiers of AI/ML scientific research and develop new tools that solve some of biggest challenges facing science. We seek doctorate/post-doctorate researchers to participate with experience in one of the following disciplines:
- AI / Machine Learning
- Alternative Energy/Hydrogen Production
- Astrobiology
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Biology
- Climate Science/Weather
- Data Mining
- Disaster Response
- Dry Cooler Designs
- Earth Sciences
- Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
- Forestry
- Geology
- Geophysics/Earthquake Studies
- Heliophysics/Space weather
- Lunar Exploration
- Mission Operations
- On-board/Edge ML
- Planetary Science
- Quantum ML
- Radiation Science
- Research Engineering
- Software Engineering
- Space Resource Engineering
- Statistics
- Wildfire Predictions
2022
SuNeRF: Validation of a 3D Global Reconstruction of the Solar Corona Using Simulated EUV Images – NeurIPS 2022 (FDL USA 2022)
A Global Analysis of Pre-seismic Related Ionospheric 2 Anomalies – Submitted to JGR: Space Physics (FDL USA 2022)
REGIONAL TRANSFERABILITY OF DEEP LEARNING MODELS FOR LANDSLIDE DETECTION WITH SAR DATA – FDL USA 2022
FDLPhysics-Informed Surrogate Modeling for Supporting Climate Resilience at Groundwater Contamination Sites – 23123 – WM2022 Conference (FDL USA 2022)
Multi-scale Digital Twin: Developing a fast and physics-informed surrogate model for groundwater contamination with uncertain climate models – Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences workshop, NeurIPS 2022. (FDL USA 2022)
NASA Science Mission Directorate Knowledge Graph Discovery – FDL USA 2022
Thermophysical Change Detection on the Moon with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner sensor – Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences workshop, NeurIPS 2022 (FDL USA 2022)
Building Knowledge Graphs in Heliophysics and Astrophysics – FDL USA 2022
Jan 29, 2025
Applications for the SETI Institute’s Frontier Development Program Are Open!
#Frontier Development Lab #SETI Institute
Apr 7, 2022
FRONTIER DEVELOPMENT LAB 2022 CALL FOR APPLICANTS - APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED
#Frontier Development Lab #AI and Machine Learning
Feb 2, 2022
AI for Earth and Space: Call for Researchers and Experts
#Frontier Development Lab #Partnerships #Education #AI and Machine Learning #Press Releases
Jan 29, 2025
#Frontier Development Lab
#SETI Institute
Apr 7, 2022
#Frontier Development Lab
#AI and Machine Learning
FRONTIER DEVELOPMENT LAB 2022 CALL FOR APPLICANTS - APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED
Feb 2, 2022
#Frontier Development Lab
#Partnerships
#Education
#AI and Machine Learning
#Press Releases
AI for Earth and Space: Call for Researchers and Experts
Team SAMurAI: Stay Curious
Leveraging ML to Analyze & Interpret the measurements of Mars Planetary Instruments
Team H3: To The Moon
Determining the Cause of Diurnal Changes in Lunar Volatiles using ML
FDL 2024 Technical Presentation
FDL has demonstrated the potential and success of public/private partnerships in AI with numerous research challenges delivering promising results. FDL researchers have shown the utility of breaking down complex problems through the use of a wide range of AI techniques, such as DNNs, dimensionality reduction (t-SNEs), Variational Auto-Encoding (VAEs), adversarial approaches (GANs), Bayesian optimization and decision trees, over extremely accelerated timeframes. The capacity to apply the ‘full stack’ of AI through interdisciplinary approaches to scientific workflows is where FDL begins its stride. Space and energy datasets are often a large, multi-dimensional time-series, requiring significant compute resources and rapid turnaround from ideas to experiments.
Over the past seven years, FDL has significantly benefited from the support of our private sector and public partners, who have provided computer and data processing support, as well as subject matter expertise, mentorship, outreach, continuity, training and always strategic guidance.
We welcome new collaborative partners to join the FDL team.
“If you are a PhD Candidate,Postdoc or early-career researcher working in AI/ML or in relevant science domains, consider the opportunity to participate in this extraordinary research experience.”