Dr. Aditya Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He is also the Interim Director of the Materials Research Center (MRC). He joined the Missouri S&T faculty in September 2015 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor of MSE and granted tenure in September 2021. Dr. Kumar received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Dr. Kumar’s research is focused on the convergence of experiments, multiscale simulations, and artificial intelligence to design, discover, and implement sustainable materials for construction of infrastructure. This includes the development of original, theory-guided artificial intelligence platforms to inform and guide the design and performance-optimization of energy- and carbon-efficient construction materials, formulated by replacing more than half of the cement with industrial wastes such as fly ash and slag and geologically-sourced materials such as limestone and quartz. Recent research is focused on the development of original experiments and thermodynamically-guided machine learning models to enable pilot-scale production of Portland cement and other alternative cements at low temperatures, with substantially lower carbon intensities compared to state-of-the-art production methods. Dr. Kumar’s research is supported by several state and federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Army Research Labs, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration. Dr. Kumar has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He serves on the editorial board of several journals, including Cement and Concrete Composites, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, and Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering.