HORTENSE LE FERRAND

Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore • 2018 MRS Bulletin Postdoctoral Publication Prize recipient

How will the current environment fundamentally change the way in which materials research will be done in the future?

Developing a long-term vision is challenging. In my group, as we are planning experiments to be done in the next few months, we are trying to be a lot more specific in our experiment designs to optimize time and output. In short, although laboratory experiments will maintain an explorative and serendipitous component, we try first to predict the results using theory, computational simulation tools, and established literature.

Generally, I believe that materials research in the future will increasingly use the extensive amount of data available as well as the predictive tools currently developed with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Possibly, this way of approaching research and building databases will also re-evaluate what is “a good result” and make use of “failed” experimental results.

What is one significant way the materials community can contribute to overcoming the current COVID-19 pandemic?

All scientific fields can contribute to overcoming the pandemic, through direct and indirect ways. For the materials science community, many significant contributions have already been made, such as 3D printing of valves for respiratory aids, of face shields, and the development of protective equipment. There are a lot more indirect contributions as well. For example, contact tracing could not exist without micro- and nanoelectronics, and social distancing and space cleaning can be carried out by autonomous robots.

I believe that there is a lot of existing research that could be used already, but we are lacking the tools to transpose those developments to real applications. We are also lacking overview of the ocean of research produced so far to determine what those promising developments are. Maybe instead of racing toward new research and development, it is a good opportunity to stop and ponder over what has been achieved so far and how to best utilize it.

What are your additional thoughts on the current situation and how it has altered our world and life?

I think the biggest impact of the current situation is that it is questioning nearly everything in our lives: the way we interact; the way we work; the way we do business, politics, research, cleaning, teaching, shopping, etc. It is an alarm that reminds us that we are part of the natural world and that there we are far from being omnipotent. Yet, it also demonstrates our great ability to react and adapt and I hope we will constructively learn from it.