Support for Rise of Data in Materials Research Workshop; University of Maryland; June 29-30, 2015

This award provides support for a workshop to bring together 80-100 participants to discuss issues and opportunities arising from the creation and use of digital data in materials research and work toward a community consensus on best practices. The workshop will be held during June 29-30, 2015 on the Campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

Materials research is undergoing a revolution driven by the generation and integration of vast amounts of experimental and computation data created by scientists and engineers from various fields including Materials Science, Engineering Mechanics, Physics, and Chemistry. There is potential to dramatically advance the creation of predictive methodologies coupling theory, computation, and experimentation in innovative ways for the design of new materials. This process could not only expedite existing techniques for materials design, but has the potential to lead to entirely new approaches and paradigms that are yet to be identified. At the same time, there is potential for enhanced access to data to advance more traditional and formal approaches to science including those based on minimal models that capture the essence of physical, chemical, and materials phenomena.

This workshop provides an opportunity for the community to discuss themes related to the rising importance of data in materials science with the aim of identifying high priority issues and work toward a concrete way-forward to facilitate the emerging data revolution while fostering scientific excellence.