The MRC would like to recognize our summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REUs) Addy Ireland and Zach Siapno who presented posters on their research at the NSF HDR ID4 REU conference held at Northwestern University on August 14, 2025. Congratulations to Zach and Addy!
Addy’s poster, titled “Matsci YAMZ: Integrating AI into Metadata Dictionaries,” focused on implementing LLM capability into Yet Another Metadata Zoo (YAMZ), a collaborative tool initially developed by John Kunze. Addy’s research is designed to assist materials researchers by providing alternative LLM-generated definitions for materials research terminology. Addy worked with Scott McClellan.
Zach’s poster, “AI-Ready Data: Structured Processing of Laboratory Notebook Tables,” reported on efforts to improve information extraction from handwritten lab notebooks that have undergone optical character recognition. This work seeks to decrease errors in extracted data and assist materials researchers in transitioning information from paper-based to electronic lab notebooks. Zach worked with Joel Pepper.