Collaborative Research: AF: Small: Foundations of Algorithms Augmented with Predictions

NSF Award Search · 01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $250,000 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

The ability to process and use information to make better decisions is driving breakthroughs in science and engineering, and they are being materialized in business. Machine learning is one of the central forces behind such revolutionary progress. For example, machine learning is often used to make predictions for uncertain information such as traffic in a road network or consumer demand for an online business. Unfortunately, machine learning is imperfect and commonly error-prone. The goal of this project is to design efficient decision-making algorithms that result in solutions that are both high-quality and robust to error in the predictions. The investigators of this project will organize a workshop to disseminate research findings to the community. The research will be incorporated into courses and the investigators will develop an undergraduate degree program on the intersection of business and machine learning. This project will develop the foundations of augmenting decision-making algorithms with error-prone machine-learned predictions. The project’s goal is to develop algorithms that break through worst-case analysis barriers with high-quality predictions and have graceful degradation in quality as the error in the predictions grows. The algorithms developed will use predictions to improve the worst-case running time and better cope with uncertainties in the future input. The predictions used will be grounded in computational learning theory and be shown to be eff

Key facts

NSF award ID
2537126
Awardee
University of California-Santa Cruz (CA)
SAM.gov UEI
VXUFPE4MCZH5
PI
Sungjin Im
Primary program
01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
SMALL PROJECT, ALGORITHMS, REU SUPP-Res Exp for Ugrd Supp
Estimated total
$250,000
Funds obligated
$94,863
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
08/15/2025 → 04/30/2026