![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2024\/05\/AdobeStock_618222312-636x424.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The goals of the From Self-Driving Labs (SDLs) to Community-Driven Labs FRP<\/strong> are to develop the digital infrastructure and basic science to transform SDLs into community-driven laboratories by establishing facile, safe, and efficient methods for external researchers to run experiments on autonomous systems. This work will convert isolated instruments into shared community resources akin to HPC that allows diverse materials researchers to address important societal challenges.<\/p>\n The autonomous allocation of physical resources required to perform experiments contains a series of risks and considerations not present in High Performance Computing (HPC). Envisioning a system in which multiple user-driven campaigns (i.e. a series of experiments towards a specific goal) may proceed simultaneously, it is important to optimally share resources. This thrust\u2019s research goal is to develop algorithms to manage physical resources in a safe and efficient manner.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n\t Wenchao Li<\/p>\n\t\t Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Systems Engineering (SE), Computer Science (CS) <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n \n\t Aaron Beeler<\/p>\n\t\t CMD Co-PI; Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n William Boley<\/p>\n\t\t Assistant Professor; ME, MSE<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n Catherine Klapperich<\/p>\n\t\t Professor Engineering (BME, MSE, ME)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n Sabrina M. Neuman<\/p>\n\t\t Assistant Professor, Computer Science, CAS<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n J\u00f6rg Werner<\/p>\n\t\t Assistant Professor; ME, MSE<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n A key feature of community-driven SDLs is that they should be accessible to users that do not have experience developing autonomous systems. This thrust will develop methods for refining Large Language Models (LLMs) to serve as the mediator between potential users and the robotic control scripts to run the SDL while ensuring the efficient and safe use of the SDL. This human-machine partnering will also include a graphical interface to communicate the state of the SDL, depict the structures to be studied, and enable user interaction in real time.<\/p>\n \n\t Emily Whiting<\/p>\n\t\t Associate Professor, Computer Science, \u00a0 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n \n\t Sean B. Andersson<\/p>\n\t\t Department Chair, Mechanical Engineering; Professor (ME, SE)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n Wenchao Li<\/p>\n\t\t Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Systems Engineering (SE), Computer Science (CS) Eshed Ohn-Bar<\/p>\n\t\t Junior\u00a0Faculty Fellow (2023) Bryan Plummer, PhD<\/p>\n\t\t Assistant Professor, CS; <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n The researchers hypothesize that the large and growing database can be used to perform an array of tasks that users can leverage to accelerate the progress of any individual campaign. To explore the synergies associated with this vast database, this thrust will use unsupervised learning approaches to generate latent spaces of mechanical responses that allow for rapid learning. As the data available to these models will be orders of magnitude larger than what is available in a single campaign, these models can be correspondingly more sophisticated and data-intensive such as variational autoencoders.<\/p>\n \n\t Emma Lejeune<\/p>\n\t\t Junior Faculty Fellow (2020) <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n \n\t Keith A. Brown<\/p>\n\t\t Associate Professor (ME, MSE, Physics), ENG; Douglas Holmes<\/p>\n\t\t Professor of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Material Science Engineering (MSE)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n Elise Morgan<\/p>\n\t\t Mechanical Engineering, ENG<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n Harold Park<\/p>\n\t\t Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, College of Engineering<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n How to get involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n For program specific inquiries and questions, please contact FRP leader: Keith A. Brown<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Faculty interested in submitting a Focused Research Programs proposal are strongly encouraged to discuss their ideas with Yannis Paschalidis<\/a>, director of\u00a0the Hariri Institute for Computing.<\/span><\/p>\nFocused Research Program led by:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Research Thrusts<\/strong><\/h4>\n
1. <\/strong>Efficient and Safe operation of Self-Driving Labs<\/h5>\n
Thrust Leader<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2018\/03\/Wenchao-Li-pic-for-web.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nCollege of Engineering<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\nCore Faculty<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2021\/03\/aaron-424x636.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2024\/05\/Boley_Will_1_09.14.2018-1024x1024-1-636x636-1-636x636.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2023\/11\/Klapperich_Catherine_7_22-291_2-600x600-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2023\/10\/sabrina-neuman-300x300-1.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2024\/05\/Joerg-Werner-Color-600x600-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t2. Dynamic User Interfaces for Self-Driving Labs<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Thrust Leader<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2018\/03\/ARROWS__1253__06-21-22-18-Edit-509x636.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nDirector, BU Shape Lab,
\r\nCo-Director, Computer Graphics Lab
\r\nDirector of Ph.D. Admissions<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\nCore Faculty<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2023\/09\/sean-b-andersson.png\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nCollege of Engineering<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2021\/05\/ESHED-003-424x636.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nAssistant Professor, ECE
\r\nAffiliate Professor, CS<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2019\/08\/Bryan-Plummersh-636x636.png\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nCo-Director, AIR;
\r\nJunior Faculty Fellow (2023)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n3. Accelerated Learning using Mechanics Informatics<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Thrust Leader<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2020\/06\/emma_lejeuene.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nMechanical Engineering, ENG<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\nCore Faculty<\/h5>
<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2025\/10\/KeithABrown_Boston-University.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t
\r\nAssociate Chair for Graduate Programs (ME)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2024\/05\/sqr_dpholmes20161-600x600-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2018\/03\/sqrME.Faculty.Morgan-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2019\/12\/H.Park_1_09.14.2018-700x700-636x636.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\tEvents<\/h3>
Material’s Day: Reimagining the Future of Materials Discovery: From Automation to Collaboration<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Event Date: October 24, 2025<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n