Bio
Milad Abolhasani is the Alcoa Professor and a University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, where he also serves as Director of the Graduate Program. Additionally, he leads as the Director of Accelerated Technologies for NC State’s pioneering Integrative Sciences Initiative, driving next-generation innovation in science and technology. Dr. Abolhasani holds a B.Sc. (2008) and M.A.Sc. (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and the University of British Columbia, respectively, and earned his Ph.D. (2014) from the University of Toronto, with a cross-disciplinary focus encompassing Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering. Prior to joining NC State University in 2016, he was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT (2014-2016).
Dr. Abolhasani leads a dynamic and interdisciplinary research team dedicated to revolutionizing materials science and chemistry through the development of Self-Driving Fluidic Labs—autonomous robotic experimentation platforms for the accelerated discovery and scalable manufacturing of advanced functional materials and molecules.
A distinguished recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Abolhasani’s accolades include the NSF CAREER Award, the 2024 AIChE CRE Early Career Investigator Award, Machine Learning in Chemical Sciences & Engineering Award from The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, 2022 AIChE NSEF Young Investigator Award, and recognition as one of the AIChE 35 Under 35 (2020). His groundbreaking contributions to chemical engineering and materials science have earned him recognition as an Influential Researcher (I&EC Research 2021), as well as the ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, AIChE Futures Scholar, and The John C. Chen Young Professional Leadership Scholarship (AIChE). He is an honored ALCOA Scholar, University Faculty Scholar, and recipient of the Goodnight Early Career Innovator Award, Chancellor’s Innovation Fund Award, and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship. His work has been featured as an Emerging Investigator in leading journals including Nanoscale, Lab on a Chip, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, Digital Discovery, and Journal of Flow Chemistry.
Self-Driving Fluidic Labs for Accelerated Materials and Molecular Discovery
The
Abolhasani Group advances autonomous “self-driving” fluidic laboratories, robotic experimentation platforms designed to dramatically accelerate materials and molecular discovery while enabling scalable, sustainable manufacturing. By integrating microreaction engineering, process intensification, and data-driven automation, the group develops closed-loop systems that can design, execute, and optimize experiments with minimal human intervention. These technologies aim to address urgent global challenges, including meeting growing energy demands while reducing environmental impact. Current research focuses on smart manufacturing of energy-relevant nanomaterials, autonomous catalysis using modular flow reactors for green chemical production, and closed-loop robotic experimentation for data-driven microreaction engineering. Together, this work creates new paradigms for how materials and chemicals are discovered and produced, transforming laboratory research into efficient, adaptive, and scalable manufacturing processes.
