Organizer(s):

Sanmay Das, George Mason University

David Pennock, DIMACS

Fred Roberts, DIMACS

Alexis Tsoukiás, Université Paris Dauphine

Description

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cover such topics as poverty, health, clean water, climate, energy, education, and gender equality. This workshop aims to explore the design of economic mechanisms and computer science algorithms to help address these goals. The workshop aims to bring together, among others, the mechanism design for social good and AI for social good research communities that have recently emerged with the goal of leveraging technology to improving society, from increasing successful organ transplants to maximizing the impact of food donations.

The workshop will explore proposals for mechanisms (including exchanges and social choice protocols) and algorithms (including AI and machine learning algorithms) to achieve specific SDGs, addressing questions that scientists need to consider in order to be able to support the design of relevant public policies in this field.

1. How to measure sustainability and the possibility of a mechanism or algorithm achieving a sustainable development goal? This will require quantifying such concepts as individual and social welfare, happiness, poverty, gender equality, quality of life, fairness, polarization and other complex social issues. To impact resource allocation, policy design, and policy impact, metrics must be measured both before and after action is taken.
2. Sustainability for whom? The effort and the consequences of any policy aiming at pursuing sustainability” are unevenly distributed among citizens from different social groups, ethnic groups and countries. How can policies be designed to minimize such uneven distribution?
3. Comparison of mechanisms. How do we choose between mechanisms or algorithms for a given SDG? What are some desired properties of such mechanisms or algorithms that will help to choose between them, including efficiency and effectiveness, but also falsifiability, safeguarding against manipulation, situational fairness, privacy, and consent?
4. Spatial, temporal and inter-level interactions of sustainability measures and policies. A sequence of sustainable actions or the deployment of sustainability measures along different portions of a territory does not necessarily define an overall sustainable development policy. How should such interactions be considered?
5. How do mechanism or algorithm design issues differ depending on different definitions of sustainability? Does sustainability imply recovery (of activities or socio-economic life) to a workable situation, does it imply resilience (return to a point of the system as near as possible to the original), or does it imply antifragility (actual improvement after any crisis/disruption, this being seen as an opportunity)?
6. Resource allocation. How should limited resources best be distributed between different SDGs? Between different mechanisms/algorithms for a particular SDG?

A key to success will be close collaboration between researchers and domain experts, beginning at the workshop and continuing into the future.

The workshop will explore mechanism and algorithmic topics related to how such questions impact the design of mechanisms and algorithms and the collection and monitoring of data and information as well as their quality. It will also consider broader perspectives related to how other disciplines (e.g., economics, political science) study similar questions.

Program:

**Confirmed Speakers: If you are giving a talk allow five minutes for questions and answers.

*Carla Gomes, Cornell University, Keynote Speaker
*Milind Tambe, Harvard University, Keynote Speaker
Tony Broccoli, Rutgers University
Giovanna Fancello, Sorbonne University, INSERM
Patrick Fowler, Washington University of St. Louis
Kira Goldner, Boston University
Jude Kong, York University
Sera Linardi, University of Pittsburgh
Yves Meinard, LAMSADE, Université Paris Dauphine
Thu Nguyen, Rutgers University
Manish Raghavan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lirong Xia, RPI

Confirmed Panelists:

Marta Bottero, Politecnico di Torino
Nicholas Fayard, LAMSADE, Université Paris Dauphine
Zoe Hitzig, Harvard University
Sara Kingsley, Carnegie Mellon University
Tasfia Mashiat, George Mason University
Gaurab Pokharel, George Mason University 

Confirmed Participants:

Midge Cozzens, DIMACS
Chiara d'Alpaos, University of Padova
Hannah Hasan, Rutgers University
Chun Lau, Rutgers University
Peter March, Rutgers University
Alessandra Oppio, Polytechnic University of Milan
Daniel Schoepflin, Drexel University
Rachael Shwom, Rutgers University
Cameron Thieme, DIMACS
Ewerton Rocha Vieira, DIMACS
Xizhi Tan, Drexel University
 

Program

Monday, May 15, 2023

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Call For Participation

This workshop is by invitation only.

Parking: If you do not have a Rutgers parking permit and you plan to drive to the event, there will be free parking available, but you must register your vehicle to park. Once your vehicle has been registered, please park in parking Lot 64, which is adjacent to the CoRE Building. If you do not register your vehicle, or if you park in unauthorized lots, you may receive a citation. If you are Rutgers-affiliated and already have a Rutgers parking permit, you must park only in lots where you are authorized to park.

Presented in association with the DATA-INSPIRE TRIPODS Institute and the SF on Mechanisms & Algorithms to Augment Human Decision Making.