Ryan earned a BA in Philosophy and BS in Physics from the University of Arkansas and a PhD in Physics from the University of Connecticut. His first decade at SLAC saw the rise of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray Free Electron Laser (xFEL) with his efforts to promote a “measure-and-sort” stochastic experimental design–e.g. stochastic time-energy scans of induced molecular coherences. His second decade at SLAC naturally shifted into EdgeAI as acceleration for streaming information distillation which in turn naturally flowed beyond the LCLS and into a recent ALCC award for leveraging Frontier for real-time disruption prediction in magnetically confined fusion at DIII-D. His evolution has resulted in a particularly enthusiastic individual who is pushing forward a world of that couples an origin in the Philosophy of Mind with a love of experimental physics for a convergence of AI and Agency to create a future of “Autonomous Everything.”
Presentation Title:
The Autonomous Revolution
Presentation Abstract:
Given the growing ubiquity of AI in commercial domains, we will explore what the complimentary integration into science domains could mean for the National Laboratory ecosystem. The autonomous labs of the future really could mean an autonomous flow of innovation that draws from all branches of domain science and converges to inject invention directly into the marketplace.
In such a future, the historical dividing line between federally funded research and US private industry would need to blur.
The benefits to the US economy, one built upon a foundation of integrated Sensors-to-Edge-to-HPC, would be the kind of revolutionary industrial transformation that seems at once terrifying, exciting, and inevitable.