Boston University has joined a major National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded effort that’s using artificial intelligence (AI) to unlock new discoveries in physics—potentially bringing fresh insights to research topics that span nature’s smallest particles to the universe’s largest-scale cosmic phenomena.
The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) also aims to use physics principles to, in turn, develop new approaches to AI. BU will be a core IAIFI member, teaming up with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. The NSF recently gave IAIFI a funding boost, which will support its work for the next five years.
BU’s participation in the institute, which was founded in 2020, will be led by Siddharth Mishra-Sharma , a BU Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences assistant professor of computing and data sciences. Before joining BU last fall, he was a fellow at the institute and a member of the technical staff at AI company Anthropic, where he remains part-time.
“For BU, joining IAIFI means being embedded in a rich interdisciplinary network that spans physics theory, experiment, observation, and foundational AI,” says Mishra-Sharma. “Conversely, IAIFI stands to benefit substantially from BU’s strengths across data science, cosmology, astronomy, condensed matter physics, and biophysics.”
Mishra-Sharma’s research is focused on how AI will reshape scientific practice, and he’s excited by the potential for IAIFI to accelerate projects drawing experts from across BU, including existing efforts to build the next generation of cosmological surveys and to use statistical physics to improve understanding of machine learning. He says being an IAIFI fellow was a key part of his career trajectory and hopes being involved in the institute can have an equally positive effect on his colleagues and their work.
“AI for science is a shining example of convergence, and CDS is increasingly seen as a leader in that space,” says Azer Bestavros , BU’s Warren Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and associate provost for computing and data sciences. “The promise I see in Siddharth’s research is the transition from AI as a tool to AI as a collaborator. He is exploring the limits of automated scientific reasoning, asking how an AI can participate in the entire scientific process, from simulation and modeling to the generation of entirely new physical models.”
According to an IAIFI press release announcing its funding renewal ($4.98 million annually), it’s ready to broaden its ambitions, pushing “deeper into what the institute calls the ‘physics of AI’—using physical reasoning, physical challenges, and physical tools not just to apply AI, but to understand and improve it.”
The institute’s director, Jesse Thaler , an MIT professor of physics, says Mishra-Sharma and BU are exciting partners to help in that mission. “Siddharth has been an important part of IAIFI from the very beginning, not only through his research, but through the energy, generosity, and community spirit he brings to everything he does,” says Thaler. “With Siddharth now at BU, we’re excited to see Boston University play an important role in IAIFI, adding real intellectual strength and reinforcing the collaborative model that has been central to the institute from the start.”
A key pillar of the institute’s mission is to build a community of researchers and to educate the public about physics and AI. In addition to hosting summer workshops, colloquia, and hackathons for scientists, it runs activities targeted at K–12 students. Mishra-Sharma says there will be opportunities for BU students to get involved too.
“A huge part of IAIFI is training the next generation of talent,” he says. “BU students and postdocs will be able to participate fully in the institute’s research, training, and community activities.”