MSE Seminar: Marius Stan

Abstract
Humans are creative beings. They need to process information and understand the relationships between data sets to develop scientific and engineering models, create art and optimize society. With the volume, variety and rate of data generation continuously increasing, human analysis becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. In this talk, the role of computers in science, cinema and society is explored with an emphasis on the human-machine partnership. The value of the approach is illustrated using examples from material design, real-time optimization of manufacturing processes, cinematography, and artificial intelligence.

Bio
Dr. Marius Stan is a scientist and an author in Chicago, U.S.A. You might also recognize him as Bogdan Wolynetz, the car wash owner in the Emmy award-winning TV series Breaking Bad.  Dr. Stan holds a BS in physics from the University of Bucharest and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Romanian Academy. In 2018 he was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Politehnica University of Bucharest. Until 2021, Dr. Stan was a senior scientist and leader of Intelligent Materials Design in the Applied Materials Division at Argonne National Laboratory and a senior fellow at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Dr. Stan and his group used artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance, multi-scale computer simulations to understand and predict physical and chemical properties of complex systems for energy production (nuclear fuels and reactor materials), energy storage (batteries), electronics (computer memory) and national security applications. The group also used AI to optimize complex manufacturing processes such as 3-D printing and flame spray pyrolysis. Dr. Stan has extensively published in the scientific literature, holds several patents, and is currently writing a book on human and artificial intelligence. Marius Stan has published short stories, poetry and essays in Romanian and English. He is currently working on a novel and a second collection of short stories.