The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech is playing a leading role in a nearly $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) award received by Georgia Tech that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and advanced manufacturing technologies and facilities to accelerate scientific discovery.  

Georgia Tech received the award through NSF's Programmable Cloud Laboratories initiative, a national effort to create AI-enabled automated laboratories that researchers can access remotely.  

ISyE’s contribution is led by Pascal Van Hentenryck, the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and professor in ISyE, and includes faculty members Nagi Gebraeel, Roshan Joseph, Kamran Paynabar, Eunhye Song, Xiaochen Xian, and Yao Xie. The broader multidisciplinary effort is co-led by Van Hentenryck, Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Tom Kurfess, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

“Manufacturing is moving toward intelligent, autonomous, and interconnected systems that can learn, adapt, and accelerate innovation,” said Pinar Keskinocak, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair of ISyE. “This award positions ISyE and Georgia Tech at the forefront of that transformation. By combining ISyE’s strengths in AI and systems engineering with interdisciplinary collaboration and state-of-the-art facilities, this initiative will accelerate scientific discovery and autonomous manufacturing, and create new opportunities to tackle complex challenges in engineering and manufacturing.”

At the center of Georgia Tech’s contribution is the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), operated through GTMI. The facility combines advanced manufacturing equipment, industrial robotics, and automated research capabilities to help accelerate the development of new materials and manufacturing technologies.  

While the initiative brings together experts from multiple disciplines, many of its core challenges align closely with ISyE’s strengths in systems thinking, optimization, machine learning, workflow design, and systems engineering. As part of the effort, ISyE researchers will contribute expertise in these areas to support the development of autonomous research workflows and AI-enabled manufacturing systems.  

“This is the AI that will transform scientific discovery and manufacturing,” said Van Hentenryck, who also serves as the director of the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization. “This is deep multidisciplinary collaboration.” 

Beyond its research impact, the initiative will provide ISyE students with hands-on experience working on complex, multidisciplinary challenges involving AI, robotics, and scientific discovery while gaining exposure to new domains where ISyE methodologies can be applied.  

“This type of deep collaboration across disciplines gives students a window of what is possible in the future and how they can help shape it,” Van Hentenryck added.   

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