Collaborative Research: BEGIN with Data Bits: Leveraging Atomic Linearity for Multi-Resolution Statistical Inference and Machine Learning Interpretability

NSF Award Search · 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $174,999 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Reliable methods for learning from complex data, central to the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are essential for scientific discovery and for decisions that affect national health, prosperity, and welfare. Modern studies often collect measurements on many interacting variables, but standard statistical methods may require simplifying assumptions that are difficult to verify and may miss important relationships in the data. This project will develop a new way to understand such relationships by studying data at the level of the binary digits used by computers to represent information. Working at this basic level will help researchers build tools that are more reliable, interpretable, and broadly applicable across many types of data. The results will support advances in areas such as neuroscience, genetics, engineering, economics, and other fields where scientists need to distinguish meaningful patterns from noise. The project will advance the progress of science by improving the foundations of data analysis, strengthening reproducibility in scientific research, and providing research training for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students. This project will focus on developing the Binary Expansion Group Intersection Network (BEGIN) as a framework for statistical learning from data bits. The framework will construct graphical models directly from binary representations of data and will use ideas from binary expansion and abelian group theory to study condition

Key facts

NSF award ID
2610629
Awardee
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC)
SAM.gov UEI
D3LHU66KBLD5
PI
Kai Zhang
Primary program
01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning Theory
Estimated total
$174,999
Funds obligated
$174,999
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
07/01/2026 → 06/30/2029