Keith A. Brown, PhD

Keith Brown is the Head of the Division of Materials Science and Engineering and an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Physics and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University College of Engineering.  At Hariri Institute, he led the FY25 Focused Research Program titled From Self-Driving Labs to Community-Driven Labs.

Brown earned an SB in Physics from MIT, a PhD in Applied Physics at Harvard University with Robert M. Westervelt, and was an International Institute for Nanotechnology postdoctoral fellow with Chad A. Mirkin at Northwestern University.

A widely known and highly respected researcher in advanced materials, automation, and AI-enabled experimentation, Brown’s research spans polymers, smart fluids, additive manufacturing, machine learning, and autonomous experimentation, connecting engineering, physics, computation, and manufacturing to accelerate materials discovery. As Director of the KABlab, Brown studies approaches to accelerate the development of advanced materials and structures with a focus on polymers. The group employs self-driving labs, additive manufacturing, miniaturization of experiments using scanning probe techniques, and novel platforms for parallel materials development to achieve these goals.

Keith has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, six issued patents, and his work has been recognized through awards including the Frontiers of Materials Award from The Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS), a Google Faculty Research Award, being recognized as a “Future Star of the AVS,” the Omar Farha Award for Research Leadership from Northwestern University, and the AVS Nanometer-Scale Science and Technology Division Postdoctoral Award. Keith served on the Nano Letters Early Career Advisory Board, co-organized a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop on AI for Scientific Discovery, and currently leads the MRS Artificial Intelligence in Materials Development Staging Task Force.