{"id":254,"date":"2021-01-16T04:26:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T04:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbahauddin.tech\/\/?page_id=254"},"modified":"2025-05-15T18:21:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:21:40","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sbahauddin.tech\/","title":{"rendered":"MARTIANS Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Dr. Syed Alam<\/strong>‘s (Dr. Syed Bahauddin Alam<\/strong>) MARTIANS<\/strong> (M<\/strong>achine Learning and ARTI<\/strong>ficial I<\/strong>ntelligence for A<\/strong>dvancing N<\/strong>uclear S<\/strong>ystems) Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal Investigator’s Bio:<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Dr.\u00a0Syed Bahauddin Alam (Syed Alam)<\/strong>\u00a0is an\u00a0Assistant Professor of the Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0department at the\u00a0University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<\/strong><\/a>. He has been appointed as one of 11 National Committee Members on\u00a0Foundation Models for Scientific Discovery and Innovation: Opportunities Across the Department of Energy<\/em><\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).\u00a0<\/strong>He has also been selected\/invited as\u00a0one of ~100 Select Leaders<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>by\u00a0<\/strong>the\u00a0Simons Foundation (Flatiron Institute with Princeton University and New York University)<\/strong>\u00a0to bring leaders and enablers of Foundation Models\u00a0(FM) for Science together from across the globe<\/a>. He has also been featured in the\u00a0Illinois Grainger “Top of Mind”<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a02024<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02025<\/a>. For his seminal contribution in AI and Digital Twins for Nuclear Power Systems, Dr. Alam received the\u00a0Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research<\/strong><\/a>, \u00a0assistant professor level, from the UIUC Grainger College of Engineering in 2025. For his research on AI and digital twins, he was one of the top three finalists for the\u00a0Illinois Innovation Award<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>2024 for excellence in cutting-edge innovation or translational research that addresses real-world problems and has the potential to make a significant impact. Dr. Alam has been named as a\u00a0national AI leader and expert\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>in UIUC’s official institutional response to the\u00a0White House\u00a0<\/strong>Request for Information on the\u00a0U.S. National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(2025)<\/strong>. His Nature Portfolio-published research on\u00a0AI-powered digital twins for nuclear systems<\/a>\u00a0attracted extensive national and international media coverage\u00a0featured by over twenty global major news outlets,<\/strong>\u00a0including\u00a0American Association for the Advancement of Science<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(AAAS\/Science Magazine\/EurekAlert),\u00a0<\/em>Microsoft Network<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Ground News<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Quantum Zeitgeist<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>LeBigData\u00a0<\/em><\/a>(France),\u00a0<\/em>EYE Magazine<\/em><\/a>, \u00a0<\/em>Interesting Engineering<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Innovant.fr<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(France),\u00a0<\/em>Scienze Notizie<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Italy),\u00a0<\/em>Enerzine.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(France)<\/em>\u00a0and so on. The research also\u00a0ranked in the top 5%\u00a0<\/strong>of all research outputs scored by\u00a0Nature Altmetric<\/strong>\u00a0globally<\/a>.

Dr. Alam received several Awards and Honors<\/strong><\/a> for his research and teaching. He received the Outstanding Teaching Award<\/strong><\/a> for two consecutive years,<\/em> 2021 and 2022, in recognition of notable contributions to teaching and commitment to the students<\/em> by Missouri S&T in 2021. He was awarded the Most Exemplary Graduate Fellow Award on \u201cNuclear Nonproliferation Fellowship 2017<\/strong>\u201d<\/a> by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Tech (KAIST). He was also the winner of the ANS Best Student Paper Award in recognition of the \u201cExceptional Quality of the Paper\u201d<\/a> <\/strong>(ICAPP 2016), Nominated for the Young Generation\/Student Award for Outstanding Paper<\/strong><\/a> (ICAPP 2017), and ANS Best Technical Poster Award<\/strong><\/a> (NURETH-16). For the continuation of an exceptionally promising piece of research beyond the usual standard of the PhD<\/em><\/a>, he was also awarded the Cambridge Philosophical Society \u201cResearch Studentships Award\u201d<\/strong><\/a> (2017) during his Ph.D. at Cambridge University.

Dr. Alam received Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering<\/strong> from the University of Cambridge<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> He also completed his MPhil in Nuclear Energy<\/strong> from the University of Cambridge<\/strong><\/a>. He received his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering<\/strong> from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0He worked in different parts of the world. He was a Researcher at the French Atomic Energy Commission<\/strong><\/a> (France). He worked as a MeV Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory<\/strong><\/a> (USA) and a Nonproliferation Fellow at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology<\/strong><\/a> (South Korea).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overarching Research Theme of Dr. Alam’s MARTIANS Lab<\/strong><\/a> is “Hybrid Data<\/strong><\/em>+<\/em><\/strong>Physics-Driven & Explainable Machine Learning Techniques and Multiscale Modeling with Surrogate-Modeling-Based Uncertainty Quantification and Robust Optimization for Multi-Criteria Decision-making for Nuclear Engineering Problems<\/strong>.”<\/em> Dr. Alam’s research interests and expertise broadly lie in the intersection of nuclear engineering, explainable machine learning, mechanics & materials \u2014 focusing on data-driven analysis that warrants frequent excursions among the boundaries of applied mathematics and data science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal Investigator’s Experiences:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n