Connectionists: ACM SIGAI Activities Fund: Second Call for Proposals

Wed May 27 18:44:51 EDT 2020

[Apologies for Multiple Postings]

A reminder that proposals to the SIGAI activites fund are due in a little
over two weeks! We hope to receive exciting proposals from our membership!

ACM SIGAI Activities Fund 2020: Call for Proposals

ACM SIGAI invites funding proposals for artificial intelligence (AI)
activities that can take place entirely virtually and that have a strong
outreach component to students, researchers, practitioners not working on
AI technologies, or to the public in general.

We funded several proposals with a similar outreach thrust last year, but
those were largely based around physical interactions. With the necessity
of responding to the current situation and the Covid-19 pandemic, we are
instead focusing this year on activities that can both take place virtually
and provide resources, material, or engagement to the broader community
through virtual means. Nevertheless, a focus of, and knowledge of, local
populations that this could reach, and evidence of the ability to reach
such populations, will be positively viewed.

The purpose of this call is to promote a better understanding of current AI
technologies, including their strengths and limitations, as well as their
promise for the future. Examples of fundable activities include (but are
not limited to), virtual panels on AI technology (including on AI ethics)
with expert speakers, creating podcasts or short films on AI technologies
that are accessible to the public, and holding AI programming competitions
virtually. ACM SIGAI will look for evidence that the information presented
by the activity will be of high quality, accurate, unbiased (for example,
not influenced by company interests), and at the right level for the
intended audience.

ACM SIGAI will fund up to five proposals. The funding will be provided
either as reimbursement (up to $2000), or as an honorarium (up to $1000),
keeping in mind that the honorarium option has tax consequences for the
recipient. In the case of honorarium payments, we plan to ensure that the
final "deliverable" is in keeping with what was promised in the proposal
before sending funding, and that you produce a writeup of the project for
submission to AI Matters, the SIGAI newsletter.

We will prioritize the following types of proposals:

   1.

   a) proposals from ACM affiliated organizations other than conferences
   (such as ACM SIGAI chapters or ACM chapters).
   2.

   b) out-of-the-box ideas that can be delivered rapidly,
   3.

   c) new activities (rather than existing and recurring activities),
   4.

   d) activities with long-term impact, and
   5.

   e) activities that reach many people. We prefer not to fund activities
   for which sufficient funding is already available from elsewhere or that
   result in profit for the organizers.

Note that expert talks on AI technology can typically be arranged with
financial support of the ACM Distinguished Speaker program (
https://speakers.acm.org/
<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspeakers.acm.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cnsmattei%40TULANE.EDU%7C1e2cb49fa3da498e32b708d8028aa921%7C9de9818325d94b139fc34de5489c1f3b%7C0%7C0%7C637262141865998333&sdata=lmXuX7FnFJvPoTDfZRA%2BLXdWT2DkbAvWEpzN97jtrwM%3D&reserved=0>)
and are not appropriate for funding via this call.  Likewise, webinars can
be hosted in partnership with ACM SIGAI (e.g.,
https://learning.acm.org/techtalks/ethicsai
<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flearning.acm.org%2Ftechtalks%2Fethicsai&data=02%7C01%7Cnsmattei%40TULANE.EDU%7C1e2cb49fa3da498e32b708d8028aa921%7C9de9818325d94b139fc34de5489c1f3b%7C0%7C0%7C637262141866008327&sdata=crbRIhlumz0XQ%2BT%2F3Cq6WSaTeDjFSrcuZlH134GMxDI%3D&reserved=0>).
If you want to participate in programs such as these please reach out to us
separately.
Submission Guidelines

A proposal should contain the following information on at most 3 pages:

   -

   A description of the activity (including when and where it will be held);
   -

   A budget for the activity and the amount of funding requested, and
   whether other organizations have been or will be approached for funding
   (and, if so, for how much). This could also be a request for an honorarium
   payment instead;
   -

   An explanation of how the activity fits this call (including whether it
   is new or recurring, which audience it will benefit, and how large the
   audience is);
   -

   A description of the organizers and other participants (such as
   speakers) involved in the activity (including their expertise and their
   affiliation with ACM SIGAI or ACM);
   -

   A description of what will happen to the surplus in case there is,
   unexpectedly, one; and the name, affiliation, and contact details
   (including postal and email address, phone number, and URL) of the
   corresponding organizer.
   -

   Grantees are required to submit reports to ACM SIGAI following
   completion of their activities with details on how they utilized the funds
   and other information which might also be published in the ACM SIGAI
   newsletter “AI Matters.”
   -

   The deadline for submissions is 11:59pm on June 15, 2020 (UTC-12).
   Proposals should be submitted as pdf documents in any style at
   https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sigaiaaf2020
   <https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Feasychair.org%2Fconferences%2F%3Fconf%3Dsigaiaaf2020&data=02%7C01%7Cnsmattei%40TULANE.EDU%7C1e2cb49fa3da498e32b708d8028aa921%7C9de9818325d94b139fc34de5489c1f3b%7C0%7C0%7C637262141866008327&sdata=opo3xucPAsmygYxRYMlxfkZAogewuE3U3B1DvqXT1BA%3D&reserved=0>

Committees

The program is organized by the SIGAI Executive Committee, and will be
evaluated by them with the help of other SIGAI officers and external
reviewers.

The funding decisions of ACM SIGAI are final and cannot be appealed. Some
funding earmarked for this call might not be awarded at the discretion of
ACM SIGAI, for example, in case the number of high-quality proposals is not
sufficiently large.
Contact

In case of questions, please first check the ACM SIGAI blog for
announcements and clarifications: https://sigai.acm.org/aimatters/blog/
<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsigai.acm.org%2Faimatters%2Fblog%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cnsmattei%40TULANE.EDU%7C1e2cb49fa3da498e32b708d8028aa921%7C9de9818325d94b139fc34de5489c1f3b%7C0%7C0%7C637262141866018322&sdata=%2BGVemHmcrJo624%2FyiQonnbrGx%2FxnmfUUka4H0g9pDYE%3D&reserved=0>.
Questions should be directed to Sanmay Das (sanmayd at acm.org) and Nicholas
Mattei (nsmattei at gmail.com), the SIGAI Chair and Vice-Chair.

-- 
*Nicholas Mattei*
Assistant Professor, Tulane University
nsmattei at tulane.edu | www.nickmattei.net

Stanley Thomas Hall | 402B
+1 504 862 8391
Department of Computer Science
Tulane University
6823 St Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
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