News

Mar 31
0

U-M, Toyota Research Institute partner in $2.4M battery project

By | General Interest, News, Research

With a $2.4 million investment from the Toyota Research Institute, University of Michigan researchers will develop computer simulation tools to predict automotive battery performance.

The project is part of a four-year, $35 million investment with research entities, universities and companies on research that uses artificial intelligence to help accelerate the design and discovery of advanced materials, TRI has announced.

Initially, the program will aim to help revolutionize materials science and identify new advanced battery materials and fuel cell catalysts that can power future zero-emissions and carbon-neutral vehicles.

“Toyota recognizes that artificial intelligence is a vital basic technology that can be leveraged across a range of industries, and we are proud to use it to expand the boundaries of materials science,” said Eric Krotkov, TRI chief science officer.

“Accelerating the pace of materials discovery will help lay the groundwork for the future of clean energy and bring us even closer to achieving Toyota’s vision of reducing global average new-vehicle CO2 emissions by 90 percent by 2050.”

The project, under the auspices of the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering at U-M, will combine mathematical models of the atomic nature and physics of materials with artificial intelligence.

“At the University of Michigan, we look forward to collaborating with TRI to advance computational materials science using machine learning principles,” said principal investigator Krishna Garikipati, professor of mechanical engineering and mathematics.

Also involved from U-M are Vikram Gavini, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, and Karthik Duraisamy, assistant professor of aerospace engineering.

“The timing and goals of this program are well-aligned with the paradigm of data-enabled science that we have been promoting via the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering, and the Center for Data-Driven Computational Physics,” Duraisamy said.

The U-M project will use the ConFlux cluster, an innovative, new computing platform that enables computational simulations to interface with large datasets.

In addition to U-M, TRI’s newly funded research projects include collaborations with Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University at Buffalo, University of Connecticut and the U.K.-based materials science company Ilika. TRI is also in ongoing discussions with additional research partners.

Research will merge advanced computational materials modeling, new sources of experimental data, machine learning and artificial intelligence in an effort to reduce the time scale for new materials development from a period that has historically been measured in decades.

Research programs will follow parallel paths, working to identify new materials for use in future energy systems as well as to develop tools and processes that can accelerate the design and development of new materials more broadly, according to TRI.

In support of these goals, TRI will partner on projects focused on areas including:

  • The development of new models and materials for batteries and fuel cells.
  • Broader programs to pursue novel uses of machine learning, artificial intelligence and materials informatics approaches for the design and development of new materials.
  • New automated materials discovery systems that integrate simulation, machine learning, artificial intelligence or robotics.

Accelerating materials science discovery represents one of four core focus areas for TRI, which was launched in 2015 with mandates to also enhance auto safety with automated technologies, increase access to mobility for those who otherwise cannot drive and help translate outdoor mobility technology into products for indoor mobility.

Mar 16
0

Gilbert, Rudelson, Wu named Simons Foundation Fellows in Mathematics

By | General Interest, Happenings, News

Three University of Michigan professors have been named Simons Fellows in Mathematics by the Simons Foundation:

  • Anna Gilbert, the Herman H. Goldstine Collegiate Professor of Mathematics, core faculty member at the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Mark Rudelson, Professor of Mathematics
  • Sijue Wu, Robert W. and Lynn H. Browne Professor of Science and Professor of Mathematics.

Forty fellows were named in all.

The fellowships provide funding that allows faculty to take up to a semester-long research leave from teaching and administrative duties. The foundation also gives fellowships in Theoretical Physics.

For more information, see www.simonsfoundation.org.

Mar 14
0

Workshop co-chaired by MIDAS co-director Prof. Hero releases proceedings on inference in big data

By | Al Hero, Educational, General Interest, Research

The National Academies Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics has released proceedings from its June 2016 workshop titled “Refining the Concept of Scientific Inference When Working with Big Data,” co-chaired by Alfred Hero, MIDAS co-director and the John H Holland Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The report can be downloaded from the National Academies website.

The workshop explored four key issues in scientific inference:

  • Inference about causal discoveries driven by large observational data
  • Inference about discoveries from data on large networks
  • Inference about discoveries based on integration of diverse datasets
  • Inference when regularization is used to simplify fitting of high-dimensional models.

The workshop brought together statisticians, data scientists and domain researchers from different biomedical disciplines in order to identify new methodological developments that hold significant promise, and to highlight potential research areas for the future. It was partially funded by the National Institutes of Health Big Data to Knowledge Program, and the National Science Foundation Division of Mathematical Sciences.

Mar 07
0

Combining simulation and experimentation yields complex crystal nanoparticle

By | General Interest, News, Research

The most complex crystal designed and built from nanoparticles has been reported by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. The work demonstrates that some of nature’s most complicated structures can be deliberately assembled if researchers can control the shapes of the particles and the way they connect using DNA.

The U-M researcher is Sharon C. Glotzer, the John W. Cahn Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and the Stuart W. Churchill Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering. The work is published in the March 3 issue of Science. ARC’s computational resources supported the work.