Anatole von Lilienfeld appointed inaugural Clark Chair

Machine learning and physical chemistry specialist Anatole von Lilienfeld has been named the inaugural holder of the Clark Chair in Advanced Materials at the Vector Institute and the University of Toronto, becoming a pivotal faculty member at the Acceleration Consortium

Read more about the appointment, the Clark Chair and U of T donor Edmund Clark →

A leading expert in designing novel approaches for rapidly predicting chemical compound behaviour, von Lilienfeld will support the Acceleration Consortium’s goal of revolutionizing the field of materials science. Based in the Faculty of Arts & Science in partnership with the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and the Division of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, the Acceleration Consortium is a global coalition of academia, industry, and government that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to accelerate the design and discovery of materials that do not yet exist.

Currently a full professor in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna and previously associate and assistant professor of physical chemistry at the University of Basel, von Lilienfeld brings expertise in developing and applying machine learning methods that drive the design and discovery of new materials using quantum mechanics, big data, statistical mechanics and computing.

“The pursuit to digitize chemistry is grand and requires many team-players, and the Acceleration Consortium is shaping up to become the perfect framework for this effort.”

Anatole von Lilienfeld

Read an interview with Anatole von Lilienfeld on the Acceleration Consortium website →