Title:

Machine Learning for Intelligent Manufacturing: From Process Monitoring to Knowledge-Driven Engineering

Speaker:

Prof. Yaoyao Fiona Zhao

Affiliation:

McGill University

When:

Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 3:00:00 PM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 3515

Host:

Yan Wang
yan-wang@gatech.edu
4048944714

Abstract

The integration of machine learning (ML) into design and manufacturing is transforming how complex systems and products are developed, optimized, and monitored. Since 2015, Prof. Zhao's team has conducted research on applying ML techniques to enhance various aspects of design, manufacturing, and engineering knowledge extraction. This talk presents advancements in ML-driven methodologies for manufacturability assessment, in-situ process monitoring, data-driven design, and intelligent decision-making in engineering systems. Key developments include audio-visual cross-modality learning for defect detection in laser additive manufacturing, hybrid deep learning approaches for auxetic metamaterial design, and uncertainty-aware active learning for data-driven design optimization. Additionally, reinforcement learning has been explored for optimizing hybrid energy system operations, demonstrating ML's potential to reduce operational costs in industrial applications. Research on fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) and vision transformers for extracting and structuring engineering knowledge from technical documents further highlights the role of AI in enabling ML-assisted design and decision-making. Challenges related to data quality, fairness, and knowledge transfer will be examined, along with strategies to accelerate ML adoption in industrial settings. Case studies in metal additive manufacturing, ML-augmented manufacturability assessment, and ML-driven energy system optimization will illustrate real-world applications and their impact.

Biography

Dr. Yaoyao Fiona Zhao is a Professor, William Dawson Scholar, and Ram Panda Faculty Scholar in Sustainable Engineering & Design at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Zhao's lab – the Additive Design and Manufacturing Laboratory (ADML) - is one of the leading research laboratories in additive manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing field. Her research expertise lies in the general field of design and manufacturing including the exploration of new design methods, developing efficient numerical simulation method for additive manufacturing processes, manufacturing informatics, application of machine learning in design and manufacturing, sustainable product development and intelligent manufacturing. Dr. Zhao is currently a member of the editorial board of Virtual and Physical Prototyping. She has received multiple Best/Outstanding paper awards in major design and manufacturing journals and conferences. Other major awards she received include the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Accelerator Supplement award in 2018, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design Associate Editor Award in 2019, 2020, and 2024.