Professor Bing Dong was recently selected to lead a workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) at NeurIPS, the Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems. Founded in 1987, NeurIPS is one of the most prestigious annual conferences dedicated to machine learning and AI research.
Bing Dong
Dong’s workshop proposal, “UrbanAI: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Smart Cities,” will focus on AI tools and technologies that can optimize urban areas. From transportation infrastructure and traffic management to power systems and building HVAC, integrated machine learning solutions can make cities more efficient and reduce carbon emissions. The workshop will convene experts from diverse backgrounds to address the multifaceted challenges of urban sustainability.
A collaborative effort, Dong is organizing the workshop in partnership with colleagues from Harvard, Columbia, the University of Washington and Mila, a Canadian research institute founded by Yoshua Bengio. Professor Bengio is the recipient of the A. M. Turing Award, known as the “Nobel Prize of Computing.”
Zixin Jiang, a Ph.D. candidate in Dong’s lab, will also participate in the conference as a speaker on an expert panel on AI applications for urban environments.
“It is a great honor to collaborate with leading computer scientists worldwide to tackle future smart city challenges,” says Dong. “This is the first workshop at NeurIPS focused on this important topic. We live in a world full of AI applications, and it’s crucial to understand where they may take us, especially regarding energy and environmental issues.”
Dong is the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Associate Director of Grid-Interactive Buildings at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. He leads the Built Environment Science & Technology (BEST) Lab, an interdisciplinary research group working on advanced building controls, building energy system modeling, and indoor environmental quality.
NeurIPS is highly competitive, with a workshop proposal acceptance rate just under 20%. The 2025 conference will take place Dec. 2-7 in San Diego, California.
