NCSA AI and Industry Team at 2021 ML4I Forum

A team of artificial intelligence and industry thought leaders from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently participated in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Machine Learning for Industry Forum in August. The team comprises experts from NCSA’s Industry Program and Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation including, NCSA Technical Assistant Director and Illinois MechSE Research Professor Seid Koric, Industry Director Brendan McGinty, and Research Scientist Shirui Luo.

McGinty moderated an engaging session on “Industry Use Cases,” which included talks from Avyuct CEO/Founder Rajesh Aggarwal and LLNL Senior Research Scientist Vic Castillo.

Koric and Luo presented aspects of their novel research in a talk titled “Confluence of Numerical Modeling Methods and Artificial Intelligence in Physics-based Simulations.” During this session, they touched base on the innovative deep learning models enabled by NCSA’s advanced digital resources.

“State-of-the-art deep learning (DL) techniques require enormous datasets for successful training,” stated Koric and Luo in their abstract. “Physics-based simulations using high-throughput and parallel capabilities of high-performance computing are used to generate a large amount of training data for DL on thousands of simulated modeling scenarios. Once our innovative DL models are properly trained on HPC, they can instantly make inferences on any low-end computing system various forms of accurate modeling predictions when a novel input is presented.”

They shared that NCSA researchers have developed and used these data- and physics-driven DL models to accelerate topological optimization, highly nonlinear material responses, turbulence, advanced manufacturing, and similarly computationally demanding workflows in science and engineering.

ABOUT ML4I

The ML4I forum exists to foster the free exchange of ideas and best practices in applying ML/AI methods for solving practical industrial problems. Industrial participants work with the broader research community and solution vendors to identify the most promising solution strategies and demonstrate methods of data analytics that can achieve actionable outcomes. The industrial participants learn solution strategies for their own needs while the research community gains a broader perspective of ultimate use cases for ML/AI methods. All participants will benefit from a tighter community bond between research and the application of data analytical methods.

ABOUT NCSA

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and advanced digital resources for the nation’s science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students and collaborators from around the globe use these resources to address research challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been advancing many of the world’s industry giants for over 35 years by bringing industry, researchers and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale.