Dr. Cynthia Arnold - The business case for materials informatics

In this episode, Dr. Bryce Meredig and Dr. Arnold discuss:

• The business case for adopting data-driven methodologies and materials informatics within materials and chemicals organizations
• Suggestions for kicking off digital initiatives within materials and chemicals organizations
• Cynthia’s wide-ranging career in the materials industry, and her perspective on the impact that data-driven R&D can have on the pace of innovation within an organization
• The similarities between Six Sigma and materials informatics adoption and implementation
• How materials informatics and a data strategy can help facilitate knowledge transfer within an organization

“Start with where you have problems and opportunities, and ask what data can support delivery on these solutions and these opportunities.” – Dr. Cynthia Arnold

Dr. Cynthia Arnold spent an over 30 year career in materials industries, leading technology development and innovation and marketing partnerships for diverse applications including medical, automotive, aerospace, electronics, building and construction and printing. She most recently served as the Chief Technology Officer of the Valspar Corporation and as the Senior Vice President of Global Technology for Sherwin Williams, where she was responsible for a world-wide team of 1100 staff developing paints, coatings and associated technologies and services. Prior to Valspar, Cynthia was the Chief Technology Officer at Sun Chemical, a leading producer of inks and pigments. Prior to that, she held technical leadership positions at Eastman Chemical and General Electric.

She served as a Sloan Executive Science & Engineering Fellow in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy for several years, focused on industry-government technology alliances. She is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science; a Board member of the Minnesota Zoo; and serves in advisory and consulting roles for a number of materials companies, including Carbon, Cabot, Citrine Informatics, and Milliken.

Dr. Bryce Meredig, is the host of DataLab: The Materials Informatics Podcast, and Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Citrine Informatics. Dr. Meredig researches the application of machine learning to materials science. He earned his PhD in materials science from Northwestern University, where he focused on materials informatics, and his BAS and MBA at Stanford University, where he is also on the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is the author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, including some of the earliest on applying machine learning (ML) to materials development. He was an Arjay Miller Scholar and Terman Fellow at Stanford, and a Presidential Fellow and NDSEG Fellow at Northwestern.

Connect with Dr. Bryce Meredig:

Twitter: @brycemeredig

Website: Citrine.io