INFO:
A Foundation Model for the Sun
Trillium Technologies is excited to be working with NASA on SDO-FM: A Multi-Modal Foundation Model POC for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We are looking for researchers and engineers with experience in building FOUNDATION MODELS to join us on this journey. Fill out this short application to register your interest.
About the project
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a NASA mission to understand the influence of the Sun on the Earth and near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere in extreme detail. SDO hosts three scientific experiments that combine to offer an unprecedented view of our closest star over a broad range of wavelengths. SDO’s combination of multiple instruments and a large temporal baseline make it an ideal candidate for a multi-modal foundation model – a new category of machine learning models trained with large-scale data so that it is generalizable for a large range of use-cases.
An SDO Foundation Model would streamline many investigations, improve access to large datasets, and potentially unlock yet unidentified physical relationships. The SDO Foundation Model can be a powerful tool for the Heliophysics community where the integration of AIA, HMI and EVE would create an ML-enabled Digital Twin of the Sun’s complex physical interactions.
The project will build an end-to-end SDO Foundation Model and adaptors which will be a trailblazer example for the safe application of AI to NASA data.
Open Roles
Foundation Model Expert We are in search of talented and highly motivated researchers with backgrounds in generative AI and foundation models who can join the current team members who have machine learning and heliophysics expertise. In particular we are looking for researchers who have practical experience designing, building and validating foundation models as well as cutting-edge approaches for multimodal foundation model pre-training.
The research team will follow an interdisciplinary 3-researcher structure that optimizes the collaboration between technical know-how and domain expertise (ref: FDL-X) with one machine learning (ML) expert, one heliophysics science domain expert and one foundation model expert. The project has been segmented into three distinct stages, each capable of independent
funding. The three proposed phases of this project are (Phase 1) Data collection, engineering
and model choice, (Phase 2) Pre-training and validation, and (Phase 3) Fine-tuning and release. This call for researchers is for the initial Proof of Concept (POC) for Phase 1 only.
Phase 1: Timeline February 2024 – June 2024
Responsibilities
Work part time (10-20) hrs a week to complete the work packages (WP):
- WP1: Data Collection, Pilot task alignment and Preprocessing (8 weeks) Feb – March ‘24
- WP2: Design of Validation (2 weeks) April ’24
- WP3: Model choice and evaluation (4 weeks) April – May ’24
- WP4: Science Definition Meeting (1 week) June ‘24
Why apply
Engage in cutting-edge research in AI, space and heliophysics
This is a paid research interdisciplinary project aimed at PhD and PostDoc level
Work with top academic, government, and computing partners.
Collaborate in radical ways with top research and subject matter experts in your field
Work at scale with enormous compute resources
If you are excited about pushing boundaries and interested in joining this team, please fill out this short applicationto register your interest.
Please feel free to share this with your network who would be interested in applying.
If you have any questions please contact me at anne@trillium.tech.
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Dr. Anne Spalding
Program Director
Trillium Technologies
E anne@trillium.tech
W https://trilliumusa.tech / https://trilliumeurope.tech / https://trilliumaustralia.tech