Please join us for the April MIT.nano Seminar Series:
Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Professor, Chemistry and Computer Science
University of Toronto;
Faculty Member, Vector Institute
Date: Monday, April 26, 2021
Time: 4pm - 5pm EDT
Location: Zoom webinar
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Abstract
The world is facing several time-sensitive issues ranging from climate change to the rapid degradation of our climate, as well as the emergence of new diseases like COVID-19. We need to rethink the way we do science and think of it as a workflow that could be optimized. Where are the pain points that can be solved with automation, artificial intelligence, or better human practices? Aspuru-Guzik's research group has been thinking about this question with an application to the design of organic optoelectronic materials. In this talk, he will discuss the progress in developing materials acceleration platforms, or self-driving labs for this purpose.
Biography
Alán Aspuru-Guzik’s research lies at the interface of computer science with chemistry and physics. He works in the integration of robotics, machine learning, and high-throughput quantum chemistry for the development of materials acceleration platforms. These "self-driving laboratories" promise to accelerate the rate of scientific discovery, with applications to clean energy and optoelectronic materials. Aspuru-Guzik also develops quantum computer algorithms for quantum machine learning and has pioneered quantum algorithms for the simulation of matter.
Aspuru-Guzik is jointly appointed as a Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science at the University of Toronto. He is a faculty member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Previously, Aspuru-Guzik was a full professor at Harvard University where he started his career in 2006. He is currently the Canada 150 Research Chair in Quantum Chemistry as well as a CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute.
Amongst other awards, Aspuru-Guzik is a recipient of the Google Focused Award in Quantum Computing, the MIT Technology Review 35 under 35, and the Sloan and Camille and Henry Dreyfus Fellowships. He is a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. Aspuru-Guzik is a co-founder of Zapata Computing and Kebotix, two early-stage ventures in quantum computing and self-driving laboratories respectively.