Meet Our Staff Scientists: Owen Melville
"The AC is helping to move scientific discovery away from the mundane into something both abstract but also potentially much more meaningful."
As a staff scientist at the Acceleration Consortium, Owen Melville works in the Self-Driving Lab for Polymers. He says his interest in polymers (natural or synthetic substances made up of macromolecules) stems from their complexity and their wide-ranging applications in healthcare, sustainable plastics, and coatings.
At the AC, Owen has helped to develop a robotic platform called Lash-E, supporting research projects in photocatalysis (using light to trigger a chemical reaction), polymer degradation, surfactant interactions (molecules that can form 3D structures in solution), machine learning benchmarking, and more. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Ottawa.
Learn more about Owen and his work in the Q&A below.
What excites you the most about working at the AC and in a self-driving lab?
The world is changing, which is both scary and exciting. As digital tools become powerful, we risk outsourcing our thinking while also learning to think in new ways. I have hope that the streamlining of scientific research will unlock human creativity and ingenuity to help collectively benefit humanity at a pace we have never seen before, changing the way we think about technology and ourselves.
What motivated you to pursue a career in accelerated discovery?
When I was doing my undergrad, master’s, and PhD, I did a lot of repetitive experiments. Although I value the hands-on experience of learning a new skill, I do wish that I could have spent more time building cool systems and thinking about what problems to solve rather than endlessly collecting data. The AC is helping to move scientific discovery away from the mundane into something both abstract but also potentially much more meaningful.
What’s a misconception or misunderstanding about AI for science?
I think one important misconception is that AI will replace scientists. From all I have seen, AI is both impressive in its capabilities and limited in its strengths. As the technology matures, I believe scientists will adjust their expectation for how work is done, rather than be replaced.
Outside the lab, what’s a hobby of yours?
I realized a few years ago how much I love gardening. It serves as a means for me to connect with the world that I physically live in as my thoughts increasingly live within the realm of abstract and rapidly changing systems. Also, it’s fun to learn the names of all the plants and to try to remember them all when I show them to people.
Industry partners can work directly with AC staff scientists like Owen on R&D projects using our self-driving labs.
To learn more about partnering with the AC, visit our Partnerships page.
To learn more about the Self-Driving Lab for Polymers, visit the lab's page.
