TY - JOUR
T1 - A Decade of Data-Driven Materials Engineering: Progress, Remaining Gaps, and Unlearned Lessons
AU - Mohamed Salah
AU - Youssef Karim
AU - Ahmed Nabil
AU - Mahmoud Adel
AU - Karim Hassan
JF - Journal of Computational and Data-Driven Materials Engineering
JO - J. Comput. Data-Driven Mater. Eng.
SN - 3149-9368
Y1 - 2026
VL - 5
IS - 1
DO - 10.68159/n873145769
SP - 72
N2 - Machine learning has transformed materials engineering through graph neural networks, equivariant architectures, generative models, and early autonomous laboratories. These advances enabled accurate property prediction, data-efficient force fields, and initial inverse design of inorganic crystals, supported by community databases such as the Materials Project and JARVIS. Generative frameworks now propose novel structures, while closed-loop platforms demonstrate early integration of prediction, synthesis, and robotic experimentation. However, major gaps remain: weak extrapolation beyond training distributions, inadequate handling of long-range interactions, poorly calibrated uncertainty quantification, limited synthesis prediction, underrepresentation of disordered materials, and insufficient experimental validation. Persistent unlearned lessons include benchmark biases that inflate generalization performance, poor reproducibility practices, misuse of invariant models for tensor properties, omission of random baselines in active learning, weak validity filtering in generative workflows, and near-absent failure reporting. This review critically assesses a decade of progress and shortcomings, grounded in 38 peer-reviewed publications. It highlights that hype around foundation models, generative inverse design, and autonomous labs often exceeds demonstrated impact. Realizing the field’s potential requires prioritizing extrapolation-focused architectures, mandatory experimental validation, shared failure registries, and stronger evidentiary standards to accelerate reliable discovery of functional materials.
UR - https://iamrp.net/n873145769
ER -