Reflecting on 2025
Reflecting on this past year, I’m reminded that while our mission is autonomous science, the driving force behind it remains entirely human.
2025 was defined by the effort to bridge the gap between the aspirations of AI and the messy reality of the lab. We tackled some incredibly complex problems this year—from stabilizing radiation-hard microelectronics to pushing the boundaries of advanced energy storage. Navigating these challenges wasn't just about the algorithms or the hardware; it was about the resilience and creativity of the people in the room.
I am incredibly fortunate to mentor and work alongside a team that turns obstacles into opportunities every single day. A massive, heartfelt thank you to Michelle Smeaton, Renae Gannon, Maddy Hoffmann, Maddie Van Winkle, John Mangum, Ravi Lin, Grace Guinan, Addie Salvador, Danny Sallis, Ben Wyland, Emerson Liu, Jayden Grunde, and Nicole Bryant.
Thank you for your curiosity and for making the hard work memorable. I’m proud of what we’ve built this year and excited for the discoveries we’ll unlock in 2026!
A Selection of our work in 2025
Pratiush, U. et al. “Mic-hackathon 2024: hackathon on machine learning for electron and scanning probe microscopy.” Mach. Learn.: Sci. Technol. 6 (2025): 040701. DOI:10.1088/2632-2153/ae1f5d [Download PDF]
Ter-Petrosyan, A., Holden, M., Bilbrey, J.A., Akers, S., Doty, C., Yano, K.H., Wang, L., Paudel, R., Lang, E., Hattar, K., Comes, R.B., Du, Y., Matthews, B.E., and S.R. Spurgeon. “Revealing the evolution of order in materials microstructures using multi-modal computer vision.” npj Comput. Mater. 11 (2025): 349. DOI:10.1038/s41524-025-01831-y [Download PDF]
Kalinin, S.V., Spurgeon, S.R., and V. Dravid. “Self-driving microscopy for AI/ML-enabled physics discovery and materials optimization.” National Academy of Engineering The Bridge Magazine 55.3 (2025). Publication Link
Banerjee, P., Orgiani, P., Meingast, A., Lazar, S., Sushko, P.V., Spurgeon, S.R., and R. Ciancio. “Strain-driven oxygen vacancy ordering in LaNiO3 thin films revealed by integrated differential phase contrast imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy.” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2025). DOI:10.1039/D5CP02284C
Guinan, G., Salvador, A., Smeaton, M.A., Glaws, A., Egan, H., Wyatt, B.C., Anasori, B., Fiedler, K., Olszta, M.J., and S.R. Spurgeon. “Mind the gap: Bridging the divide between AI aspirations and the reality of autonomous electron microscopy.” APL Mach. Learn. (2025). DOI:10.1063/5.0267699 [Download PDF]
Malica, C., Novoselov, K., Barnard, A.S., Kalinin, S.V., Spurgeon, S.R., Reuter, K., Alducin, M., Ciso, G., Zancanaro, A., Csanyi, G., Marzari, N., Huang, S., Cuniberti, G., Deng, Q., Ordejón, P., Cole, I., Choudhary, K., Hippalgaonkar, K., Zhu, R., von Lilienfeld, O.A., Hibat-Allah, M., Carrasquilla, J., Deringer, V.L., Wenzel, W., Ferrari, A.C., Ustyuzhanin, A., and S. Roche. “Artificial intelligence for advanced functional materials: exploring current and future directions.” J. Phys. Mater. (2025). DOI:10.1088/2515-7639/adc29d [Download PDF]
Top left photo credit: Brooke Buchan / NLR.