The Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory has announced it will establish the ML-Accelerated Materials Discovery Center for research focused on identifying and designing new magnetic and superconducting components for energy applications.
The center will build upon the computer codes the laboratory’s researchers have developed and indicated effective and rapid structure search methods through artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, Ames said Thursday.
The new center will tap exascale computers at other national laboratories to find the right materials from the large and complex list of potential choices, the Iowa State University-operated laboratory added.
To harness the various processors and hardware of the exascale computers, reputed as among the most powerful in the world, the center will use software from the Exascale Computing Project, a joint effort of the Energy Department’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory will collaborate with Ames on the center, which will draw funding from the Energy Department’s Office of Science.
In the private sector, SandboxAQ is using AI to discover and develop new compounds and chemistries that could be combined to produce new materials for potential use by the U.S. Army and other defense and government customers, Jen Sovada, the company’s president of global public sector and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, told Federal News Network recently.