Enabling Multifunctionality through AI Informed Material Discovery and System Design

Artificial intelligence (AI), which emerged about 70 years ago, has recently reached a tipping point that will profoundly change many facets of our lives, including scientific research. The 2026 GRC on Multifunctional Materials and Structures, celebrating its 10th anniversary, attempts to capture the pulse of our time and brings together a vibrant international community of scientists and engineers at the interface of AI and a wide range of disciplines encompassing physics, mechanics, engineering science, chemistry, materials science, biology, and mathematics to discuss how AI can impact and enhance the field of multifunctional materials and structures. Additionally, we will discuss how fundamental research in multifunctional materials and structures directly and indirectly impacts our society through commercialization. The five-day program, comprised of stimulating lectures, in-depth discussions, poster sessions, power-hour events, and group social activities, aims at cultivating productive interactions and nucleating new and innovative ideas for technical and scientific breakthroughs in (a) material and structure discovery through informatics and automated labs, (b) machine learning based material modeling and system design, (c) intelligent materials that are active, adaptable, reconfigurable, and computable, (d) living engineering and engineering living material systems, and (e) paths to commercialization of multifunctional materials and structures. The conference will address key scientific issues and bottlenecks in making major advances in these innovative research areas.?