Graduate Student Seminar
December 05, 2025
12:45 p.m. ET
7500 Wean Hall
Bridging AI and Quantum Materials: Opportunities and Challenges
Quantum materials such as delafossites and perovskites exhibit remarkable magnetic, electronic, and catalytic behaviors arising from their complex atomic structures. Understanding and predicting these properties remain challenging due to their vast compositional diversity and correlated interactions. Recent advances in graph-based machine learning integrated with ab initio modeling are helping to address these challenges. In delafossites, graph neural networks reveal how stacking geometry and d-shell occupancy govern magnetic ordering, while in perovskite oxides, machine learning enables rapid prediction of electronic descriptors - such as oxygen p- and metal d-band centers - directly from unrelaxed structures, accelerating catalyst discovery. These studies highlight how physics-informed AI approaches can complement theory and experiment to uncover structure–property relationships across materials classes. The seminar will discuss emerging opportunities and challenges in integrating explainable AI with quantum materials research for data-driven materials design.
Mina Yoon, Senior R&D Staff & Group Leader, Microstructural Evolution Modeling Group
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Mina Yoon is the Group Leader of Microstructural Evolution Modeling Group in the Materials Science and Technology Division (MSTD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and a Joint Faculty at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee (UTK), Knoxville. Her research focuses on the application of materials theory, advanced computational approaches, and data analytics/ML to understand fundamental physical phenomena and translate the knowledge into the development of novel energy materials, including nanoscale materials and topological quantum materials. Prior to joining the laboratory Dr. Yoon spent three years on a Max Planck Fellowship at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society. She is a recipient of the Lee Hsun Young Scientist Award from the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Science, and Outstanding Scholarly Output team award in 2020 and 2023 UT-Battelle Awards Night program.
Upcoming Events
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January 23 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
Retractions: On The Rise, But Not Enough, presented by Ivan Oransky, Retraction Watch
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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January 30 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
Fountain of Youth: metals that resist fatigue and heal themselves, presented by Brad Boyce, Sandia National Laboratories
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 4 2026
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM ET
Rivers Casino Event Center
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February 6 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
presented by Kaushik Bhattacharya, Caltech
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 13 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
Interfacial Fracture in Soft Polymer Networks: Revisiting Gent's Picture, presented by Gabriel Sanoja Lopez, University of Texas, Austin
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 20 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
High-Fidelity Atomistic Simulations of Chemistry-Microstructure Interactions in Metals, presented by Rodrigo Freitas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CUC McConomy Auditorium