{"689258":{"#nid":"689258","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Program Lead Q\u0026A: Building the Future of Materials Research with Autonomous Systems","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/4362\u0022\u003EMark Losego\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/18047\u0022\u003EShreyas Kousik\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/17687\u0022\u003EAnimesh Garg\u003C\/a\u003E lead the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/gt-arm\/\u0022\u003EAutonomous Research for Materials\u003C\/a\u003E program at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems (IMS).\u003C\/a\u003E Losego is a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mse.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. Kousik is an assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. Garg is a Stephen Fleming Early Career Assistant Professor at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ic.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this brief Q\u0026amp;A, they discuss their research focus, how it connection to IMS\u2019s research priorities, and the national impact of this initiative.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your field of expertise?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019m an expert in materials processing, particularly in gas-phase processing of materials, which is commonly used for the manufacturing of microelectronics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost materials scientists have a story like mine, when they discovered that the field simply exists. \u0026nbsp;For me, it was in high school when I attended an engineering career fair at our local science center. \u0026nbsp;I was already enamored with atoms, but I couldn\u2019t understand why in chemistry all we talked about was liquids and gases when most of the objects I saw around me were solids. \u0026nbsp;Turns out, all the science of solids was in the field of materials science and engineering \u2014 so I was hooked!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat questions or challenges sparked your current research?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EData science is really powerful at quickly finding connections that the human brain is unable to readily make. \u0026nbsp;These connections can lead to predictions which could rapidly advance technology development that can benefit society. \u0026nbsp;However, the key to unlocking the benefits of data science is the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Edata,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Eand unfortunately,\u0026nbsp;today, we often simply cannot collect enough data on new materials to adequately train these data science models to make predictions for the next crack-proof asphalt or higher energy storage battery material. \u0026nbsp;We need some extra pairs of ARMs and legs to help us \u2014 and that is where we hope collaborative robots can make a contribution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMatter and systems refer to the transformational technological and societal systems that arise from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes. Why is your program important to the development of the IMS research strategy?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe are at the nexus of trying to build complex research systems that integrate robotics, data architecture, and machine learning predictions with the research and physical experimentation needed to develop new materials that can benefit society. \u0026nbsp;Such a grand goal requires contributions from so many different fields ranging materials research experimentalists to roboticists to data scientists, and the ability to understand the friction points of trying to tie these different communities together.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe are seeking to develop easy-to-use robotics platforms that can assist in any lab space to increase productivity of materials research and development. \u0026nbsp;For human researchers, the challenges we most enjoy tackling are designing the experiments necessary to collect the data of interest for a given problem \u2014 repeating those experiments to explore the entire experimental space and achieve good statistical accuracy is not usually an enjoyable task. \u0026nbsp;That\u2019s where generalized robotics come in. \u0026nbsp;If we could provide a robotics platform that you could easily train to do such repetitive tasks, it could revolutionize how we do materials research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the Institute for Matter and Systems research?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe have been and will continue to run a successful lunch series, bringing together a diverse cross-section of our campus to talk about how\u0026nbsp;roboticists, data scientists, materials researchers and others can collaborate\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Autonomous Research for Materials program is working to expand data collection and streamline experimentation using robotics to unlock next-generation technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Autonomous Research for Materials program is working to expand data collection and streamline experimentation using robotics to unlock next-generation technologies."}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2026-03-31 14:26:34","changed_gmt":"2026-03-31 14:27:42","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-03-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-03-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679797":{"id":"679797","type":"image","title":"ARM_Research_headshots.png","body":null,"created":"1774967200","gmt_created":"2026-03-31 14:26:40","changed":"1774967200","gmt_changed":"2026-03-31 14:26:40","alt":"Three men are shown in a composite headshot against a blue geometric background, each facing forward and smiling. They are dressed in professional attire, including jackets, collared shirts, and glasses on two of them.","file":{"fid":"264000","name":"ARM_Research_headshots.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/31\/ARM_Research_headshots.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/31\/ARM_Research_headshots.png","mime":"image\/png","size":3011432,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/03\/31\/ARM_Research_headshots.png?itok=WQNGvHxx"}}},"media_ids":["679797"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Neumeister\u003C\/a\u003E | Communications Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}