U.S. Army collaborators get sneak peek at revolutionary facility for materials research

Dec 5, 2024 | No Comments | By Sarah Preis

Hopkins engineers have been hard at work developing a new facility to streamline and accelerate materials discovery and design. The Artificial Intelligence for Materials Design Laboratory, or AIMD-L, is a closed-loop facility that brings artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cutting-edge materials characterization and testing equipment together to revolutionize the way scientists identify and test new materials of interest for extreme applications.

In November, visitors from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) got a glimpse into AIMD-L’s newest capabilities. Housed in the Stieff Silver Building and operated by CAIMEE, AIMD-L is poised to become a premier research facility for materials in extreme environments.

Visitors from DEVCOM ARL included Chief Scientist Scott Schoenfeld, Senior Research Scientist Adam Rawlett, and Cooperative Agreement Manager Sikhanda Satapathy. In addition to a tour of the lab’s stations, visitors were treated to in-lab demonstrations and overviews of multiple facets of the research program.

The team behind the facility, led by AIMD Director Todd Hufnagel, features 11 faculty members from the Whiting School of Engineering and dozens of postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and engineering staff. The group aims to accelerate the process of designing and discovering materials that can withstand extremes of temperature, pressure, and strain. To achieve this, AIMD-L relies on a complex network of world-class testing and characterization equipment, robotic automation, physics-based and machine-learning-driven models, custom software and data handling solutions, and expert human researchers.

After years of planning, research, construction, and troubleshooting, the team behind AIMD-L is gearing up for its next challenge: a grand opening in 2025. The facility continues to gain more stations and capabilities, which will ultimately enable Hopkins researchers and their collaborators in government, academia, and private industry to make unprecedented innovations in materials for extremes.