Kevin Dalmeijer, Managing Director of the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), recently represented AI4OPT at international conferences, sharing research on strengthening collaboration across AI research teams and using optimization to improve public transit accessibility for people with disabilities.

As part of a global conference tour, Dalmeijer first joined AI Institute colleagues in Pittsburgh for the NCCI-Network for Change and Continuous Innovation annual conference, where he co-presented “The Impact of Project Managers: Facilitating Interdisciplinary Collaboration Across Teams.” The paper examines the role project managers play in supporting interdisciplinary collaboration across complex AI research initiatives and highlights lessons learned from teams across the National AI Research Institutes program. The paper is available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6361038

Dalmeijer presented the work alongside Norman Gottron, Neelima Savardekar, Rajashi Runton, and Tim Robinson, representing the collaborative efforts of researchers and professionals across the AI Institute community.

Following the Pittsburgh conference, Dalmeijer traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, to present AI4OPT research at the 2026 Constraint Programming Conference. His presentation focused on how AI4OPT is applying optimization techniques to make public transportation more accessible for people with disabilities.

The research, co-authored with Liam Jagrowski, Tinghan (Joe) Ye, and Pascal Van Hentenryck, explores how AI and optimization can help address transportation challenges and create more inclusive transit systems. The paper is available here: https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2026.31

The presentations were supported by the NSF AI Institutes Virtual Organization (AIVO), which supports collaboration and knowledge sharing across the National AI Research Institutes community.