News & updates
Latest developments from our institute
Stay informed about new research results, awards, events, and collaborations across our scientific community.
Nachi Stern awarded ERC Starting Grant to explore how matter learns
Why do brains learn, but rocks do not? Could a material one day adapt to its environment the way a living organism does? AMOLF group leader Dr. Nachi Stern has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to investigate the physical laws of learning, in a project called, “Physical Learning in Dynamical Systems.”
‘Autonomy’ takes center stage at symposium
On June 11, researchers gathered at the Autonomous Matter Symposium to discuss the concept of autonomy from different perspectives. Professor Jay Groves (UC Berkeley) argued that autonomy may not begin with decision-making, but with amplification. Professor Elisabetta Chicca (University of Groningen) offered a complementary perspective from the field of neuromorphic engineering.
New focus on physical learning as Nachi Stern receives NWO grant
AMOLF group leader Nachi Stern has received an NWO ENW-M1 grant to support his research project on how physical systems can learn. His research could help develop new types of energy efficient hardware for artificial intelligence. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) uses the ENW-M1 grant to fund high quality fundamental research driven by curiosity and important scientific questions.
Research shows physical networks become what they learn
In an article published in Physical Review Letters on April 11th, theoretical physicist Menachem Stern describes his latest findings on physical learning. This is a new research field that connects how neural networks learn with how living systems evolve and adapt. One of the advantages of physical learning is that it is extremely energy efficient, which is different from machine learning models, like ChatGPT, that use substantial amounts of energy.
Max Kerr Winter receives Ammodo Fellowship for fungi research project
On April 3rd, the Ammodo foundation announced that AMOLF/VU researcher Max Kerr Winter is one of the five recipients of the Ammodo Fellowship. The Ammodo Foundation stimulates the development of art, science and architecture. With this new fellowship they want to enable early-career researchers to expand their international networks and to carve out a clear vision for their future academic career. Each fellow receives between 100.000 and 200.000 euros. As an AMOLF/VU postdoctoral researcher, Max will work on getting a better understanding of fungal behavior.
Computers that work like our brain: Menachem Stern takes on the challenge
Menachem Stern started at AMOLF as a group leader on August 1st. His research group, Learning Machines, focuses on topics such as power-efficient algorithms for neuromorphic computers. Recently, the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) published an article titled “Controlling AI’s Growing Energy Needs,” which features an interview with Menachem about his work.
AMOLF welcomes new group leader Menachem Stern
On August 1st Menachem (Nachi) Stern will start as tenure track group leader at AMOLF. He will lead the Learning Machines group, which will be shared between the autonomous matter and information in matter research themes at AMOLF. Stern’s research efforts will focus on the physics of learning in natural and synthetic systems. Such learning machines can adopt desirable properties and functions given real world examples and environments. Leveraging the advances of statistical learning theory in physical machines, physical learning is a promising bridge between computational machine learning and biology, and enables the development of new classes of bio-inspired smart metamaterials that adapt in-situ to users’ needs.