Huan Tran

• Artificial Intelligence, Materials Science & Engineering, Physics
• Bridging the gap between Academic Research and Industry

Recent projects

• On-going projects with industrial clients/partners, some of them (in chronological order) published with colleagues from Bosch in Polym. Chem. 16, 3459 (2025), with colleagues from Shell in arXiv:2601.18914 (2026).
• NSF SBIR Phase I: "A Physics-Informed/Encoded Polymer Informatics Platform for Accelerated Development of Advanced Polymers and Formulations", 2023-2024
• ONR SBIR Phase I: "Machine-Learning Approach for Accelerated Design of Low-Flammability Polymer Matrix Composites", 2023-2024
  Press release in GlobeNewswire

• "Superconductor discovery in the emerging paradigm of Materials Informatics", Review Article, Chem. Mater. 36, 10939 (2024), pdf
• "Design of functional and sustainable polymers assisted by artificial intelligence", Review Article, Nat. Mater. Rev. 9, 866 (2024), pdf
• "Machine-learning approach for discovery of conventional superconductors", Phys. Rev. Materials 7, 054805 (2023), pdf, raw data, model training
• "Informatics-driven selection of polymers for fuel-cell applications", J. Phys. Chem. C 127, 977 (2023), pdf
• "Toward recyclable polymers: ring-opening polymerization enthalpy from first principles", J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 13, 4778 (2022), pdf
• "Probabilistic deep learning approach for targeted hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites", Phys. Rev. Materials 5, 125402 (2021) pdf, model training
• "Machine-learning predictions of polymer properties with Polymer Genome", Tutorial Article, J. Appl. Phys. 128, 171104 (2020), pdf
• "Polymer structure prediction from first principles", J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 11, 5823 (2020), pdf
• "Advanced polymeric dielectrics for high energy density applications", Review Article, Prog. Mater. Sci. 83, 236-269 (2016), pdf
• "Pathways towards ferroelectricity in hafnia", Phys. Rev. B 90, 064111 (2014), pdf
  

  This is a first-principles computational discovery of the ferroelectric phases of hafnia (HfO₂). The ferroelectricity in hafnia thin films was observed experimentally in 2011, raising a major "why" question, since the known phases of this material are centrosymmetric. I predicted two metastable ferroelectric phases, namely Pca2₁ and Pmn2₁; the former was quickly confirmed and is now widely recognized. The story of the latter (Pmn2₁) is less straightforward but no less interesting. During the last decade, supporting evidence has continuoued to emerge, most recently with an experimental observation reported by a team at Samsung in May 2026. Read more here.

• "Low-energy polymeric phases of alanates", Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135502 (2013), pdf
• "Valence bond entanglement and fluctuations in random singlet phases", Phys. Rev. B 84, 144420 (2011), pdf

• "Materials Informatics: Accelerating Materials Research with Artificial Intelligence", 7th International Symposium on Frontiers in Materials Science, Hsinchu, Taiwan (Jan. 21 - 24, 2024)
• "Polymer Genome approach for functional polymer design", Machine Learning in Autonomous Science: Synthesis, Characterization, and Theory, ORNL, Knoxville, TN, USA (Aug. 07, 2023)
• "Accelerating materials science with artificial intelligence", 6th International Symposium on Frontiers in Materials Science, Phu Quoc, Vietnam (Nov. 21 - 23, 2022)
• "Polymer informatics: current status and critical next steps", 2021 International Symposium in Materials Informatics, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Ishikawa, Japan (Feb. 26, 2021)
• "Computational materials science: from physics- to data-driven approaches", Colloquium, Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA (Oct. 11, 2019)