Professor Pavlo O Dral, an AI scientist and former postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, has built an independent research program in computational chemistry at Xiamen University (XMU), where he joined the faculty in 2019.
Since arriving at XMU, Professor Dral has developed his early work in AI-driven chemistry into a comprehensive research direction at the intersection of machine learning and quantum mechanics. XMU's chemistry discipline, ranked among the best in China, and collaborations with scholars such as Professor Wu Wei have provided a strong academic foundation for his research.
His program aims to position artificial intelligence as a trusted partner for chemists rather than a complex or inaccessible tool. By integrating machine learning into quantum chemical frameworks, Professor Dral's team developed AIQM1, a method that delivers near "gold standard" accuracy at a fraction of the traditional computational cost.
To make these capabilities widely accessible, the lab launched the open-source software package MLatom and the Xiamen Atomistic Computing Suite (XACS), a cloud platform designed for interactive chemical simulations.
He manages a team of over 10 graduate students from China and Pakistan, as well as students from European universities. His laboratory operations prioritize output over fixed office hours, while holding daily coordination meetings.
Institutional support for the program includes initial research start-up funds from XMU and technical infrastructure provided by the State Key Laboratory to house the team's computing clusters. Having obtained Chinese permanent residency, Professor Dral is part of a growing community of international researchers contributing to China's scientific ecosystem.
