Bryce Meredig
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Citrine Informatics
Redwood City, CA
Bryce Meredig co-founded Citrine Informatics in 2013 to bring data-driven software to materials R&D and manufacturing. Prior to co-founding Citrine, Dr. Meredig earned his Ph.D. in the research group of Professor Chris Wolverton at Northwestern, where he co-authored 11 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Meredig’s doctoral research focused on developing algorithms and approaches for computational discovery, optimization, and characterization of materials. These ideas form the basis of Citrine’s long-term vision of enabling routine materials informatics for materials researchers everywhere. During his Ph.D. studies, Dr. Meredig was awarded the Northwestern University Presidential Fellowship and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
Abstract
MATERIALS DATA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: FROM MISHMASH TO MONEYBALL
Bryce Meredig1*
1Citrine Informatics, Redwood City, CA
*email: bryce@citrine.io
The scientific method consists of generating and analyzing data to create knowledge. Indeed, every materials scientist uses data from syntheses, characterization, and models to explain and optimize materials behavior. Yet, despite the centrality of data to progress in materials, the world’s immense body of materials data remains unstandardized, unstructured, and trapped in myriad publications, isolated repositories, and private computers. This disaggregation (the mishmash) not only prevents materials scientists from standing on the shoulders of giants, but also limits our ability to use large-scale data analytics to dramatically accelerate materials modeling, discovery, and manufacture (à la Moneyball).
Citrine Informatics is a team of Silicon Valley materials scientists dedicated to uniting all materials data on a single platform within a single data standard, and putting user-friendly, data-driven tools into the hands of all materials researchers. We intend to provide this ecosystem of data, visualizations, and models for free to academic and government researchers, while charging companies for access so that our platform is sustainable. In this talk, we will review the present state of affairs in materials data, notable progress to date, opportunities for the future, and the significant challenges likely to arise along the way.