Speakers

Rigoberto Advincula, MRS Communications

Rigoberto Advincula is Governor’s Chair at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Fellow of the Polymer Science and Engineering Division (ACS), Fellow of the Polymer Chemistry Division (ACS). He received the distinguished Herman Mark Scholar Award in 2013. In 2018, he was elected National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Philippines. He has been appointed to the World Economic Forum, Advanced Materials Council. He is the Editor-in-Chief of MRS Communications. He has held a number of visiting Professor positions including Waseda University in Japan. His group does research in polymer materials, nanocomposites, colloidal science, 3D printing, hybrid materials, and ultrathin films towards applications from smart coatings to biomedical devices. He is passionate about mentoring students and helping in STEM programs.

Manel Mondelo-Martell, Nature Communications

Manel joined Nature Communications in September 2022. He studied Chemistry in the University of Barcelona, where he specialized in Theoretical Chemistry and got a PhD in Nanoscience working on quantum dynamics of hydrogen confined in carbon nanotubes. During his postdoctoral stays in the University of Kassel and the Free University of Berlin he worked on the theoretical simulation of photoionization and optimal control of chiral molecules. After that, as a Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow in the Goethe University Frankfurt, he studied exciton dynamics in semiconducting polymers for organic photovoltaics applications. As an editor he is based in the Berlin office, and handles manuscripts on theoretical, computational and physical chemistry.

Milad Abolhasani, North Carolina State University

Milad Abolhasani is an Associate Professor and a University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2014. Prior to joining NC State University, he was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT (2014-2016). At NC State University, Abolhasani leads a diverse research group that studies self-driving labs tailored toward accelerated development and manufacturing of advanced functional materials and molecules using fluidic micro-processors. Abolhasani has received numerous awards and fellowships, including NSF CAREER Award, AIChE 35 Under 35, Dreyfus Award for Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences & Engineering, I &EC Research 2021 Class of Influential Researchers, AIChE Futures Scholar, The John C. Chen Young Professional Leadership Scholarship (AIChE), ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, and Emerging Investigator recognition from Lab on a Chip, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, and Journal of Flow Chemistry.

Amanda Barnard, Australian National University

Amanda Barnard leads research at the interface of computational modelling, high performance supercomputing, applied machine learning and artificial intelligence at the Australian National University, where she is the Deputy Director of the School of Computing.  Her research includes developing and implementing advanced machine learning and deep learning pipelines to predict nanoscale properties and design nanomaterials, statistical learning and causal inference, multi-objective optimization and explainable AI.  She has co-chaired symposiums for MRS in the Fall and Spring meetings over the past 20 years, specialising in carbon nanomaterials and computational methodologies. With more than 25 years HPC experience she is a member of the Board of Directors for New Zealand eScience Infrastructure, the College of Assessors for the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment of New Zealand, and the Panel for the CRP scheme of the National Research Foundation of Singapore. Her transdisciplinary research has been awarded in five scientific disciplines, including the 2014 ACS Nano Lectureship (Asia/Pacific), the 2014 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory), and the 2019 AMMA Medal from the Association of Molecular Modellers of Australasia. In 2022, Barnard was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to computational science and medical research.   

Keith A. Brown, Boston University

Keith A. Brown is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, and Physics at Boston University. He earned an SB in Physics from MIT, a PhD in Applied Physics at Harvard University with Robert M. Westervelt, and was an International Institute for Nanotechnology postdoctoral fellow with Chad A. Mirkin at Northwestern University. The KABlab studies approaches to accelerate the development of advanced materials and structures with a focus on polymers. The group employs self-driving labs, additive manufacturing, miniaturization of experiments using scanning probe techniques, and novel platforms for parallel materials development to achieve these goals. Brown has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, six issued patents, and his work has been recognized through awards including the Frontiers of Materials Award from The Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS), a Google Faculty Research Award, being recognized as a “Future Star of the AVS,” the Omar Farha Award for Research Leadership from Northwestern University, and the AVS Nanometer-Scale Science and Technology Division Postdoctoral Award. He served on the Nano Letters Early Career Advisory Board, co-organized a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop on AI for Scientific Discovery, and currently leads the MRS Artificial Intelligence in Materials Development Staging Task Force.

Markus Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Markus J. Buehler is the McAfee Professor of Engineering at MIT, a member of the Center for Materials Science and Engineering, and the Center for Computational Science and Engineering at the Schwarzman College of Computing. He has been involved with MRS in numerous roles, and currently serves as the Section Editor of MRS Bulletin Impact. In his research, Buehler pursues new modeling, design and manufacturing approaches for advanced biomaterials that offer greater resilience and a wide range of controllable properties from the nano- to the macroscale. His interests include a variety of functional biomaterial properties including mechanical, optical and biological, linking chemical features, hierarchical and multiscale structures, to performance in the context of physiological, pathological and other extreme conditions. His methods include molecular and multiscale modeling, design, as well as experimental synthesis and characterization. His particular interest lies in the mechanics of complex hierarchical materials with features across scales. An expert in computational materials science and AI, he pioneered the field of materiomics, and demonstrated broad impacts in the study of mechanical properties of complex materials, including predictive materials design and manufacturing. He received many distinguished  awards, including the Feynman Prize, the ASME Drucker Medal, the J.R. Rice Medal, and many others. Buehler is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).  

Sergei V. Kalinin, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Sergei V. Kalinin is a Weston Fulton chair professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2022 – 2023, he has been a principal scientist at Amazon (special projects). Before then, he had spent 20 years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he was corporate fellow and group leader at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. He received his MS degree from Moscow State University in 1998 and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (with Dawn Bonnell) in 2002. He has >15 years of experience applying AI in experimental physical sciences from data analytics, theory-experiment matching, and automated and autonomous microscopy and materials synthesis. His research focuses on the applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence methods in materials synthesis, discovery, and optimization, automated experiment and autonomous imaging and characterization workflows in scanning transmission electron microscopy and scanning probes for applications including physics discovery, atomic fabrication, as well as mesoscopic studies of electrochemical, ferroelectric, and transport phenomena via scanning probe microscopy. Kalinin has co-authored >650 publications, with a total citation of ~50,000 and an h-index of >112. He is a fellow of AAIA, MRS, APS, IoP, IEEE, Foresight Institute, and AVS; a recipient of the Feynmann Prize of Foresight Institute (2022), Blavatnik Award for Physical Sciences (2018), RMS medal for Scanning Probe Microscopy (2015), Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (2009); Burton medal of Microscopy Society of America (2010); 5 R&D100 Awards (2008, 2010, 2016, 2018, and 2023); and a number of other distinctions.

Dennis M. Kochmann, ETH Zurich

Dennis M. Kochmann is Professor of Mechanics and Materials at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. His research pushes the boundaries of architected materials. He uses theory and experiments to conceive novel materials systems with beneficial, extreme, or peculiar properties: lighter, stiffer, stronger, tougher, or responsive to impact and external stimuli. Aside from predicting the macroscopic properties of particular small-scale material architectures, his research develops tools for the inverse design of novel (meta-)materials with as-designed functionality and exceptional properties. He received his degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Ruhr-University Bochum and in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the California Institute of Technology. Before joining ETH Zurich, he was Professor of Aerospace at the California Institute of Technology. A Feodor Lynen and Fulbright Fellow, Kochmann received the John Argyris Award from IACM, the Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award from ASME, the Richard von Mises Prize from GAMM, the IUTAM Bureau Prize in Solid Mechanics, an NSF CAREER Award and ERC Consolidator Grant, and his teaching has been honored by the Caltech Graduate Student Council's Teaching Award and ETH’s Golden Owl.

Eugenia Kumacheva, University of Toronto

Eugenia Kumacheva is a University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the University of Toronto. In 2003-2020, she was Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Advanced Polymer Materials. Her primary research interests are in the materials science of soft matter, including polymer, colloids, liquid crystals, and living matter.  She uses microfluidics and 3D bioprinting to make new materials for biomedical applications, including drug screening and personalized medicine. Kumacheva has published 2 books, 10 book chapters, and >300 papers. She holds 40 patents, and is a founder of two companies. She has given >330 invited, keynote and plenary lectures, as well as many public lectures.  Among her international awards are the ACS Polymer Chemistry Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, De Gennes Prize, Schlumberger Scholarship, International Chorafas Foundation Award in Physics and Engineering, Humboldt Research Award. She is the 2009 Laureate of the L'Oreal-UNESCO Prize “For Women in Science” (given to 5 laureates in the world). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Royal Society (U.K.). In 2020, Eugenia Kumacheva has been recognized as an Officer of The Order of Canada, one of our country’s highest civilian honors.   

Jay H. Lee, University of Southern California

Jay H. Lee received his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from Caltech in 1991. After having been a faculty member of various universities, including Auburn, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and KAIST, he is currently a Choong Hoon Cho Chair and Professor of Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at University of Southern California (USC). From 2013-2023, he served as the founding director of Aramco-KAIST CO2 Management Center. He is a Fellow of IEEE, IFAC and AIChE.  He is a recipient of many awards including NSF Young Investigator Award, AIChE’s Computing in Chemical Engineering Award, and Roger Sargent’s Lectureship. He published ~300 manuscripts in SCI journals with more than 22000 citations.  His research interests are in the areas of model-based control and machine learning with applications to energy transition and sustainability.

Helge Stein, Technical University Munich

Helge Stein designs laboratories and develops multi-fidelity workflows for machine learning-guided high-throughput experimental methods for catalysis and secondary batteries.  He completed his physics studies at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen in 2013 and received his doctorate in high-throughput methods from the Ruhr-University Bochum in 2017 with summa cum laude. Stein conducted his postdoctoral research as a research engineer at Caltech and pursued a tenure track professorship at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In 2023, he was appointed Chair of Digital Catalysis at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Photo credit (c) TUM, Andreas Heddergott

Amir Zadpoor, Delft University of Technology

Amir Zadpoor is Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professor and Chaired Professor of Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics at Delft University of Technology as well as Professor of Orthopedics at Leiden University Medical Center. He develops machine learning and 3D/4D (bio)printing techniques for the design and fabrication of metamaterials and tissues with unprecedented properties. Moreover, he is a world recognized expert in origami/kirigami-based (bio)materials combining shape shifting with additive manufacturing. Zadpoor has received many awards including an ERC grant, a Vidi grant, a Veni grant, the Jean Leray award of the European Society of Biomaterials, and the Early Career Award of JMBBM.