Project Grant 2539629

Federal Project Grant Summary

The National Science Foundation's Division of Computing and Communication Foundations awarded $584,649 to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY at Binghamton) under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) for a CAREER grant effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2031. This award supports the development of a novel spatial-temporal offline reinforcement learning framework designed to enable reliable and adaptive decision-making in complex urban environments. The research specifically targets applications in transportation, logistics, ride-sharing, food delivery, and emergency response systems that rely on millions of daily decisions. By advancing offline reinforcement learning techniques that learn from historical urban data rather than real-time trial-and-error interactions, the project aims to address challenges inherent in applying artificial intelligence to heterogeneous, spatially and temporally varied urban datasets while bridging the gap between AI advances and practical deployment in cities.

Beyond core technical development, the award integrates research with education and workforce development through curriculum innovation, student training, outreach activities, and collaborations with industry and public-sector partners. Deliverables will include reliable and human-centered decision-making technologies that improve urban efficiency, resilience, sustainability, and responsiveness, along with associated educational materials and trained researchers prepared for careers in urban-focused artificial intelligence applications.