Professor Bing Dong has been chosen to lead a workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) at the NeurIPS conference, known for its focus on machine learning and AI research. Dong’s workshop, titled “UrbanAI: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Smart Cities,” will explore how AI can improve urban efficiency and reduce carbon emissions through applications in transportation, traffic management, power systems, and building HVAC.
The workshop is a collaborative effort with colleagues from Harvard, Columbia, the University of Washington, and Mila, a Canadian research institute founded by Yoshua Bengio. Professor Bengio is notable for receiving the A. M. Turing Award.
Zixin Jiang, a Ph.D. candidate in Dong’s lab, will also contribute to the conference as a speaker on an expert panel discussing AI applications in 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 holds the position of Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He also serves as Associate Director of Grid-Interactive Buildings at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems.
NeurIPS maintains a competitive environment with an acceptance rate for workshops just under 20%. The 2025 conference will be held from December 2-7 in San Diego, California.
