AI for Materials
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Designing for function
Forget designing materials based on their structure. The Artificial Intelligence for Materials group is all about function. Using expertise from chemists, materials scientists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers and physicists, the group harnesses AI to make new materials that will power clean energy and next-generation electronics.
Designing for function
Forget designing materials based on their structure. The Artificial Intelligence for Materials group is all about function. Using expertise from chemists, materials scientists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers and physicists, the group harnesses AI to make new materials that will power clean energy and next-generation electronics.
Harnessing the future
Molecular science and engineering is a new field and it’s changing quickly. At Beckman, researchers work together to understand and control how molecules make synthetic materials and biological systems function. They use the Molecule Maker Lab and other lab spaces at Beckman to do just that. Every day, they learn more about how polymers degrade, how to produce and store clean energy and how to harness AI to automate electrochemistry and sequester carbon dioxide.

Prying open the AI black box
The AI for Materials group uses AI to not only make new materials, but to yield new chemical and physical knowledge. One team has used AI to understand what makes molecules stable under illumination, leading to improved solar cell materials. The group is moving AI from hard-to-understand technology to something transparent and understandable; a black box to a glass globe.
Prying open the AI black box
The AI for Materials group uses AI to not only make new materials, but to yield new chemical and physical knowledge. One team has used AI to understand what makes molecules stable under illumination, leading to improved solar cell materials. The group is moving AI from hard-to-understand technology to something transparent and understandable; a black box to a glass globe.
Group Leader
- Nicholas Jackson
Labs within this group
- Beckman researchers develop electrochemical process to separate valuable chemicals from waste
- Beckman researchers, collaborators receive $1.8 M NSF grant to develop self-replicating materials
- Electrochemistry unlocks unusual nanoparticle
- Meet the 2024 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellows
- Beckman researchers find key chemistry for solar energy and beyond
- Beckman researcher uses machine learning to speed up simulations of irregularly shaped particles
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology