Associate scientist Jennifer Ngadiuba received two top awards last fall for her work in advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning research in high-energy physics.Photo: Jennifer Ngadiuba
Jennifer Ngadiuba, Associate Scientist in the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment at Fermilab, has always been curious. She felt like the world was a puzzle to solve. When she was young, she wanted to study science to solve this puzzle. She then realized that her own curiosity and her research could help advance human knowledge and welfare in general.
The need to understand the truth behind the mysteries of the physical world has guided her career. Her curiosity has led Ms. Ngadiuba to receive two prestigious awards, the US Department of Energy’s AI4HEP Award for her and Schmidt Futures’ AI2050 for her Early Her Career Fellow Award. Either way, physics-based models that don’t require humans in the decision-making loop can be used to scale up the development of new techniques for more reliable and robust machine learning.
Ngadiuba’s research focuses on designing efficient edge artificial intelligence for real-time processing systems in CMS experiments. Over the last year, her research has focused on understanding the feasibility of new data acquisition approaches for CMS, based on unsupervised learning. Also known as anomaly detection, this approach has the potential to discover unknowns in the field beyond the physics of the Standard Model.
In the future, she plans to expand her research to improve the efficiency and robustness of edge AI models using physical information for various high-energy physics applications such as CMS, deep neutrino experiments, and accelerator technology.
Awards for Advancements in Artificial Intelligence
The AI4HEP DOE Award supports the DOE Office of Science’s efforts in artificial intelligence research focused on using AI technology to realize scientific discoveries and expand participation in high-energy physics research. It represents a new partnership between DOE National Laboratory researchers and partner universities to enable the next discovery in high-energy physics.
Ngadiuba’s work was one of three national lab-led team projects funded to continue artificial intelligence research for high-energy physics. Fermilab is also the only national laboratory with a scientist who received $2.96 million in his three years for research.
The award recognizes Ngadiuba and her team as an AI researcher, two postdoctoral researchers (one working on neutrino experiments and one on CMS), and at least one PhD student from each collaborating institution. By adding more students, you will be able to expand your capacity.
Solving tough problems in AI
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic program that supports researchers around the world, at various stages of their careers, who are solving difficult problems in science and society.
In late 2022, Ngadiuba was one of 15 Schmidt Futures Early Career Fellows selected to solve challenging problems in artificial intelligence through interdisciplinary research.
Candidates from 10 universities and the only researcher from a national lab, Ngadiuba, have been selected to receive up to $300,000 in AI research funding over two years. Ngadiuba holds a related position at Caltech, which will set up and manage grants that allow her AI researchers to work with her group at Fermilab.
“I want to contribute to the advancement of this field. I am grateful to the DOE and the Schmidt Future Foundation for recognizing the importance of AI and ML in high energy physics,” said Ngadiuba. . “I am very grateful to the mentors who initially set me on the path to AI and those who continue to guide and inspire me in my current work at Fermilab. recognizes the potential of AI to help the field of high-energy physics, and the benefits and applications AI can bring to society.”
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
