Computation & Artificial Intelligence
Cutting across traditional discipline boundaries, our faculty have deep experience in developing methods of scientific computing. They also specialize in the application of computational approaches, including artificial intelligence, to a wide range of engineering challenges—from predictive modeling to new materials development to automation and controls.

Research Areas
- Computation and AI for materials discovery and design
- Computational and AI for fluid and solid mechanics
- Digital materials and manufacturing
- Finite element methods
- Molecular dynamics modeling
- First-principles quantum materials simulation
- Model predictive control
- Nonlinear dynamics
- Scientific computing
Major Centers & Initiatives
Externally funded research centers and laboratory groups working in this topic area include:
Related Study Opportunities
PhD
Specializations include:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Dynamics, Controls & Robotics
- Materials Science & Biomaterials
- Mechanics, Design & Computing
- Thermal Fluids & Energy
Master of Science (MS) or Master of Engineering (MEng)
Concentrations include:
Associated Faculty

Wilkins Aquino
Anderson-Rupp Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Computational mechanics, finite element methods, computational inverse problems and their applications in engineering and biomedicine, scientific computing, computational acoustics and acoustics-structure interaction, coupled chemo-mechanics (e.g., electrochemistry-mechanics).

Gaurav Arya
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Molecular modeling, molecular simulations, statistical mechanics, coarse-graining, machine learning, polymer and colloidal physics, polymer-nanoparticle composites, chromatin biophysics, DNA nanotechnology, viral DNA packaging, single-molecule force spectroscopy, nanoscale...

Volker Blum
Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Computational predictions and understanding of new materials related to energy and electronics, as well as molecular structure and spectroscopies, based on the "first principles" of quantum mechanics. Much of this work is directly connected to ongoing developments of new...

Leila Bridgeman
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Robust and optimal control, linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), model predictive control (MPC), delayed systems, input-output stability, passivity.

L. Catherine Brinson
Sharon C. and Harold L. Yoh, III Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Study of advanced material systems and developing new methods to characterize and to model material behavior. Her lab’s research objective is to characterize and model advanced materials systems, at scales spanning the range of molecular interactions, micromechanical and...

Stefano Curtarolo
Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence Materials Science; Autonomous Materials Design; Computational materials science; High-Entropy Disordered Systems; Materials for Energy Applications; Materials for Aerospace Applications. Prof. Curtarolo multidisciplinary research makes use of state-of-the...

Olivier Delaire
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Olivier Delaire investigates atomic dynamics in materials, focusing on problems at the interface of Materials Science, Physics and Chemistry. His research group utilizes a range of experimental and computational approaches, including neutron and x-ray scattering techniques,...

John Everett Dolbow
Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Modeling quasi-static and dynamic fracture of structural components, the evolution of interfaces with nonlinear constitutive laws, and developing models for stimulus-responsive hydrogels

Earl H. Dowell
William Holland Hall Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Aeroelasticity, acoustics, nonlinear dynamics, structural dynamics, and unsteady aerodynamics.

Ken Gall
Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Materials science, mechanical properties, metals and polymers. Specialties: Shape memory materials, biomaterials, 3D printing.

Kenneth C. Hall
Julian Francis Abele Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Unsteady aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and aeroelasticity of turbomachinery and aerospace vehicles. Novel approaches to modeling complex physical phenomena using computational fluid dynamics. Optimization and sensitivity analysis. Fluid dynamics of animal propulsion.

Laurens E. Howle
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Hydroelastic modeling of deformable structures, transport in thermal and chemical systems, experimental and computational fluid dynamics, nonlinear and complex systems, heat and mass transport in biological systems, stability of fluid motions, machine learning, data mining,...

Genevieve Lipp
Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Xiaoyue Ni
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Flexible electronics, precision measurement, non-destructive testing, deformation physics of random media, mechanical metamaterials, robotic materials and smart structures, machine learning

Michael Rubinstein
Aleksandar S. Vesic Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Polymer theory and computer simulations

Sophia Santillan
Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Engineering education, nonlinear systems, structural mechanics and numerical methods.

Johann Guilleminot
Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: Computational mechanics, mechanics of heterogeneous materials, molecular dynamics simulations and atomistic-to-continuum coupling, stochastic solvers, statistical inverse problem and model validation, stochastic analysis, uncertainty quantification in science and engineering

Amanda Randles
Alfred Winborne and Victoria Stover Mordecai Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests: Biomedical simulation and high-performance computing

Guglielmo Scovazzi
Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: Finite element methods, computational fluid and solid mechanics, multiphase porous media flows, computational methods for fluid and solid materials under extreme load conditions, turbulent flow computations, instability phenomena.

Thomas P. Witelski
Professor in the Department of Mathematics
Research Interests: My primary area of expertise is the solution of nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations via perturbation methods. Using asymptotics along with a mixture of other applied mathematical techniques in analysis and scientific computing I study a broad range of...

Cormac H Toher
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Computational materials science, with a focus on the development of high-throughput computational materials design frameworks such as AFLOW (Automatic FLOW).

Tod A. Laursen
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests: Engineering computing and engineering science, continuum mechanics, engineering analysis, finite element methods, and the use of finite element methods for the solution of nonlinear problems, with a special interest in the modeling of physical systems exhibiting contact and...