Description:

Berend Smit Seminar

Join the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy for a seminar conducted by Professor Berend Smit from the University of Amsterdam. 

What: "Al-driven Design of Nanoporous Materials: Science Beyond Understanding"
Who: Professor Berend Smit, University of Amsterdam. 
When: Friday, October 17, 2025 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CT
Where: Ryan Hall, 4003, 2190 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

Abstract:

Al is often celebrated as the key to transforming materials discovery, but most materials lack the extensive experimental datasets required for purely data-driven methods. Unlike proteins, which evolved from a limited set of building blocks, materials cover an enormous and sparsely explored design space where each candidate must be carefully synthesized and tested. We believe that Al can only achieve true breakthroughs when combined with domain expertise. This involves defining application-specific performance metrics, generating and evaluating materials in silico, and guiding the synthesis of the best candidates. Using metal-organic frameworks for carbon capture as an example, we demonstrate how techno-economics, life cycle assessment, and process modeling can connect molecular design with real-world performance.