IDSC was pleased to host Luis Ruiz Pestana, Assistant Professor, University of Miami Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, for a lecture on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 (4:00-5:00 PM ET). The Meet a Data Scientist series is a chance to get up close and personal with top-level data science professionals for a glimpse at their interests, career choices, their work, and their passion for how they use data to solve grand challenges in their respective fields. This virtual lecture series is co-sponsored by the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The Meet a Data Scientist series is free and open to the public.

TALK TITLE:  “Can data science help us understand the laws of nature?”

During the last decade, data science has had a tremendous impact on a variety of industries ranging from technology companies to marketing or finance. Only recently have data-driven approaches begun to be applied to solve problems in the physical sciences. Furthermore, the scientific community is divided as to whether black-box approaches can help us better understand the world around us. In this talk, I will overview some hard problems in physics, materials science, and chemistry, where data-driven methods may be our only hope to make progress. I will also discuss the enticing possibility of combining physical simulations—a potentially unlimited source of big data—with data science approaches to tackle persistent challenges in materials science and engineering.

About Luis  |  CompNanoLab

Dr. Ruiz Pestana has been an Assistant Professor in the Civil, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Miami since 2019. He obtained his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Northwestern University in 2015, where he made important contributions to the areas of nanomechanics, self-assembly, and selective molecular transport in peptide nanotubes, as well as developed mesoscale models to study the mechanical properties of large-scale multilayer graphene assemblies. After his PhD, he became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he used quantum mechanical simulation methods to investigate nanoconfinement effects on chemical reactivity.

Currently, he uses physics-based multiscale simulation techniques and data-driven approaches to investigate the unusual properties of nanostructured materials. The ultimate aim of his research is to discover and design advanced nanomaterials that can tackle persistent societal challenges, from sustainable infrastructure to clean energy.