WHY fdl?
a primer for professors and supervisors
FDL.AI is a launchpad for early career researchers to make their first dent in the universe.
FDL subject matter experts and data scientists have gone on to become leaders themselves, join space players such as Lockheed Martin, Planet and iSpace (and many others) as well as work closely with the top AI labs within Google, NVIDIA, Intel, Pasteur/ ISI, MIT, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge and ETH Zurich. FDLers have gone on to be in Forbes under 30, published authors and AI4space gurus. A few have become millionaires. Some have even gone on to become professors.
This resource is for supervisors to understand the value of FDL and we hope you will recommend FDL to your researchers, or even consider joining as faculty over the summer.
20 reasons Why FDL.ai is great for researchers…
Get paid to do epic AI and space research over summer.
Develop cutting edge applied AI research and represent it at academic, space, and commercial conferences
Use the unique summer period to really get some focus
Gain exposure to emerging AI tools and techniques and methodologies before they become widely used
Work shoulder to shoulder with subject matter experts from space agencies and leaders in commercial AI
Access to unique data sources
Opportunity to publish high-impact papers in prestigious journals based on novel applications
Access to state of the art computing resources and infrastructure from partners like Google Cloud, NVIDIA, Intel, D-Orbit Space Cloud and more.
Dedicated mentorship from leaders who know how to drive excellence in applied AI.
Solve problems with real-world impact on space exploration and Earth systems
Develop transferable skills in applied AI and ML engineering that can benefit your broader research program
Get exposed to ideas that help define novel research ideas for Phds.
Set up opportunities for potential follow-on funding through demonstrated success
Get exposed to career advancement opportunities
Bridge the gap between theoretical academic research and practical applications
Gain exposure to commercial perspectives and industry applications
Pioneer innovative approaches, tooling and techniques that transfer effectively to other scientific endeavours
Contribute to urgent challenges in climate monitoring, disaster response, and space safety, human spaceflight and planetary defense
Build an international, cross-disciplinary network of collaborators that lasts a career
Fall in love with AI for science and space!
“I would have to say it's the model of rapid development plus the guts to tackle super big problems. It's quite an adaptive model. I have not seen it elsewhere and I tried to propose it to some universities or to the National Academies of Sciences. In academic science, things tend to more much slower and researchers are more likely to take on incremental problems instead of large ones, because they also need to maximize their chances of publishing.”
— Professor Anamaria Berea
“Working with a diverse, multidisciplinary array of researchers in my group felt incredibly rewarding. Producing written deliverables and presentations to accomplished and knowledgeable peers in the public and private sector was not only valuable but reassuring for me as a researcher.”
— DR Julian Arnheim, FDL Researcher
“It’s about connections. Making the right connections in the right setting. Connecting people in general. Connecting machine learning researchers with space scientists, connecting these researchers with industry who provide resources, then connecting all of these with space agencies, etc.”
— ASSOCIATE Professor Güneş Baydin (ML4 PhysICAL Sciences, NEURIPS)
Supervisor Materials
Depending on your field of interest, expertise or passion for knowledge - we have materials for each covering: heliophysics, Earth observation and lunar science research avenues.
Can you invest 5 minutes of lecture time to reflect on what’s next for AI for science?
Our presentation decks explore how researchers are able to contribute their expertise and passion by applying the use of AI/ML methods to real-world challenges faced by partner organisations such as ESA and LSA. Discover the potential challenge themes for 2025 and key details within the program timeline.
We invite you to integrate this deck into your weekly lecture slides:
Need more detail to fully grasp the impact of FDL?
Our researcher opportunities brochures outline the magnitude of outcomes for researchers involved in any of the labs, the goal of which is to explore new science in a safe, ethical and reproducible way to combat some of the biggest challenges in space science and exploration.
Can you help us accelerate discoveries and foster meaningful disciplinary breakthroughs?
As we explore and define the final challenges for this year's research, we’re asking some big questions that require talented researchers to help drive solutions.
Please share these challenge questions with your colleagues or network to help us spread the word.
We’re grateful for your consideration.
The FDL community has achieved outstanding results over the past decade, with over 50 applied AI firsts (check them out here) and 70 AI pipelines, including the first ML trained in orbit, the first federated causal inference on the ISS and demonstration of ML surrogate modeling for Earth systems.
If you are able to recommend FDL to researchers in your network, please use this resource to help communicate why it could be valuable. As a reminder, FDL is a paid, full-time commitment and we are also always happy to hear from academics who might be interested in supporting as faculty or guest experts.
Many thanks for your help getting the word out. We have found that supervisor endorsement is the #1 reason our researchers join FDL, so your help is much appreciated.
Ad astra per algorithmos!