When:
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CT
Where: Ryan Hall, 4003, 2190 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Jeta Remaley
mirjeta.remaley@northwestern.edu
Group: Department of Chemistry
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Chemistry Department Colloquium
Title: AI-Driven Quantum Mechanical Design of Soft Materials
Abstract: While the properties of soft materials are ultimately dictated by their electronic structure, exploiting this knowledge for the design of non-crystalline materials has long been a formidable computational challenge. I will define conceptual and practical barriers that limit quantum mechanical design in soft materials and discuss recent work aimed at removing these barriers. First, I will describe the development of electronic structure models that leverage AI to operate at coarse-grained resolutions, enabling electronic design in non-crystalline molecular solids and polymers. Second, I will discuss how AI-driven strategies, tightly coupled with experimentation, can tackle soft materials reactivity challenges outside of the purview of traditional theoretical and computational methods. These developments chart a path towards predictive soft materials engineering grounded in electronic structure and chemical reactivity
Hosted by George Schatz