ABSTRACT: This talk presents recent progress from Dr. Hongyi Xu’s research group in three interconnected areas aimed at enabling generative AI-assisted design and manufacturing of architectured materials: (i) Deep generative models and explainable AI-assisted design of complex structures, demonstrated through mechanical metamaterial design; (ii) stochastic reconstruction of material microstructures; and (iii) Large Language Model (LLM)-assisted modeling of under-informed manufacturing processes.

In the area of deep generative models and explainable AI-assisted metamaterial design, this talk will introduce frameworks that enable and automate property-driven and manufacturability-aware design of metamaterials with unprecedented properties and varying structural stochasticity, including the use of stochastic nature microstructures to inspire periodic designs. In the area of stochastic reconstruction of material microstructures, the talk will highlight approaches to quantitatively represent and generate statistically equivalent digital microstructures within the context of process–microstructure–property modeling. Lastly, in the area of LLM-assisted modeling of under-informed manufacturing processes, the talk will present recent efforts in regression modeling with limited data and anomaly detection for additive manufacturing by leveraging information retrieved from the literature when experimental data is unavailable.

BIOSKETCH: Dr. Hongyi Xu s an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut and has been promoted to Associate Professor, effective August 23, 2025. His research interests include Generative AI-assisted design of microstructures and metamaterials, predictive modeling for digital manufacturing, and stochastic microstructure reconstruction and modeling. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2014. Prior to joining UConn, Dr. Xu worked as a Research Engineer at Ford Motor Company (2014–2019). He currently serves as an Early Career Special Committee member and Newsletter Editor for the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSMO), and as an associate editor for two international journals. Dr. Xu received the ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, selection for participation in the National Academy of Engineering EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium, four Best Paper/Editor’s Choice Awards from ASME conferences and journals, a Super Paper Award from the Tire Society, and several ASME Reviewer’s Awards.