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2607526

Cooperative Agreement

Overview

Grant Description
PCL-TEST BED: THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR MATERIALS DESIGN NETWORK (AIMD-NET) -PCL-TEST BED: THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR MATERIALS DESIGN NETWORK (AIMD-NET) FLEXIBLE NETWORKS OF AUTONOMOUS ?SELF-DRIVING? LABORATORIES, WHICH COMBINE AUTOMATED ROBOTIC EXPERIMENTATION WITH DISTRIBUTED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) WILL REVOLUTIONIZE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BY VASTLY INCREASING THE RATE AT WHICH KNOWLEDGE IS GENERATED. THE AI FOR MATERIALS DESIGN NETWORK (AIMD-NET) WILL ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES OF SCALING AUTONOMY FROM INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS AND LABS TO ACHIEVE REAL-TIME INFORMATION FLOW AND COORDINATED AI-DRIVEN DECISIONS SPANNING A NATIONAL TEST BED NETWORK OF PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD LABORATORIES. AIMD-NET?S ROBUST, SECURE, AND NOVEL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE WILL CREATE AI-READY DATA WITH UNPRECEDENTED SPEED TO ENABLE TRAINING ADVANCED AI MODELS AND ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURAL MATERIALS FOR A BROAD RANGE OF CONDITIONS INCLUDING EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS ENCOUNTERED IN DEFENSE, TRANSPORTATION, AND ENERGY APPLICATIONS. IN SUM, AIMD-NET WILL HELP SECURE THE NATIONAL DEFENSE, ENHANCE ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS, AND TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS WITH THE SKILLS NECESSARY TO ADVANCE THE FRONTIER OF AI-DRIVEN RESEARCH. BUILDING AN AI-DRIVEN AUTONOMOUS NETWORK OF PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD LABORATORIES REQUIRES SOLVING CRITICAL CHALLENGES AT ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION, FROM THE INSTRUMENT LEVEL TO COORDINATION ACROSS THE LAB TO FULL INTEGRATION INTO A NETWORK OF LABS. AIMD-NET WILL ADDRESS CHALLENGES ACROSS ALL THESE LEVELS WITH A NOVEL DATA AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE LAYER OF THREE INTEGRATED COMPONENTS: (I) A SCALABLE, EVENT-DRIVEN AND INTEROPERABLE CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE FOR REAL-TIME CROSS-SITE DATA AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE? (II) A MODULAR MULTI-AGENT DECISION FABRIC USING A SHARED UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION SCHEMA SUPPORTING INFORMATION FLOWS BETWEEN AI DECISION MAKERS AND AGENTIC WORKFLOWS? AND (III) A SEMANTICALLY COMPLETE YET LIGHTWEIGHT EXCHANGE MODEL FOR DATA, WORKFLOWS, AND AUTHORIZATION WITHIN AND BETWEEN NETWORK NODES. TO FACILITATE AI-DRIVEN AUTONOMOUS OPERATIONS, MULTIPLE AI AGENTS WILL INTERACT ACROSS THIS DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AND COOPERATE AT SCALES RANGING FROM INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS TO THE ENTIRE NETWORK. AIMD-NET WILL ESTABLISH A HIERARCHY OF AGENTS USING A STANDARDIZED COMPUTATIONAL AND COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE TO ENABLE AI-DRIVEN UNCERTAINTY-AWARE AND OPTIMAL DESIGN WORKFLOWS AUTOMATING EXPERIMENTAL EXECUTION, COORDINATION ACROSS INSTRUMENTS, ALIGNING WITH HUMAN-PROMPTED SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES TO ENSURE SECURE, ROBUST AI AND HUMAN INTEROPERABILITY ACROSS THE SYSTEM. AIMD-NET WILL TRANSFORM MATERIALS RESEARCH THROUGH TWO SCIENCE CAMPAIGNS: DATA-DRIVEN MULTI-OBJECTIVE MATERIALS OPTIMIZATION OF ALLOYS FOR EXTREME CONDITIONS, E.G., HIGH TEMPERATURE, SHOCK LOADING, AND AGGRESSIVE OXIDIZING/PLASMA ATMOSPHERE, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST DATA-DRIVEN SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION MODEL (SCIFM) FOR MATERIALS. AIMD-NET WILL ALSO PROVIDE A POWERFUL TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE FOR AUTONOMOUS AGENTIC WORKFLOW DEVELOPMENT. THE PROJECT WILL BUILD A COMMUNITY OF INNOVATION ACROSS ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY THAT DRIVES AUTONOMOUS MATERIALS DESIGN AND DISCOVERY AND ADVANCES AI-DRIVEN DISTRIBUTED AUTONOMY MORE GENERALLY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
Funding Goals
THE GOAL OF THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY, "TEST BED: TOWARD A NETWORK OF PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD LABORATORIES", IS IDENTIFIED IN THE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.NSF.GOV/PUBLICATIONS/PUB_SUMM.JSP?ODS_KEY=NSF25541
Awarding / Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-2608 United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
The Johns Hopkins University was awarded AI-Driven Autonomous Network for Materials Design Cooperative Agreement 2607526 worth $5,000,000 from National Science Foundation in August 2026 with work to be completed primarily in Baltimore Maryland United States. The grant has a duration of 4 years and was awarded through assistance program 47.084 NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships. The Cooperative Agreement was awarded through grant opportunity Test Bed: Toward a Network of Programmable Cloud Laboratories.

Status
(Ongoing)

Last Modified 8/25/26

Period of Performance
8/1/26
Start Date
7/31/30
End Date
2.0% Complete

Funding Split
$5.0M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$5.0M
Total Obligated
100.0% Federal Funding
0.0% Non-Federal Funding

Activity Timeline

Interactive chart of timeline of amendments to 2607526

Additional Detail

Award ID FAIN
2607526
SAI Number
None
Award ID URI
SAI EXEMPT
Awardee Classifications
Private Institution Of Higher Education
Awarding Office
491502 INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEMS
Funding Office
491502 INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEMS
Awardee UEI
FTMTDMBR29C7
Awardee CAGE
5L406
Performance District
MD-07
Senators
Benjamin Cardin
Chris Van Hollen
Modified: 8/25/26