Yi Cao
Conference Presentations,
Teaching & Science Communication

AAAI XAI4Science Workshop

January 2026    Singapore Expo    Spotlight Talk (Top-tier recognition)

"What is Your Force Field Really Learning? Gaining Scientific Intuition with a Dual-Level Explainability Framework"

NeurIPS AI4Mat Workshop

December 2025    San Diego, CA, USA    Spotlight Talk & Travel Grant Awardee

"Migration as a Probe: A Generalizable Benchmark Framework for Specialist vs. Generalist Machine-Learned Force Fields"

AIChE Annual Meeting 2025

November 5, 2025    Boston, MA, USA    Poster

"Dissecting Cr-Doped Interfaces: How Diffusion Dynamics Reshape the Van Der Waals Gap and Shift Sb₂Te₃ Thermoelectric Performance"

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society Annual Conference 2025

October 26-31, 2025    Bellevue, WA, USA    Invited Talk & Session Chair

• Doctoral Symposium - Selected as 1 of 10 PhD students globally; showcased AI applications in predictive maintenance.
• Chaired "Advanced AI/ML for PHM" and "Digital Twins and Aviation" sessions.

Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) Workshop, NIST

July 9-10, 2025    Rockville, MD, USA    Poster

Women in AI 2025

April 9, 2025    Baltimore, MD, USA    Poster Presentation - Award Winner

"Exploring Low-Energy Pathways for Self-Healing Defects in CsPbBr₃—A Computational Study"

Quantum Matters in Materials Science Workshop, NIST

February 19-20, 2025    Rockville, MD, USA    Poster

"Topological Materials Engineering for Next-Generation Thermoelectrics"

Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting 2024

December 1-6, 2024    Boston, MA, USA    [Poster] [DOI] [Post]

"Exploring Low-Energy Pathways for Self-Healing Defects in CsPbBr₃—A Computational Study"

Empower Your Pitch Competition - Finalist

April 8, 2025    Johns Hopkins University    Finalist (1 of 12 PhD students university-wide)

Selected as a finalist among all JHU PhD competitors to deliver a 3-minute pitch presenting my research on AI-driven materials discovery to a broad, non-specialist audience. This competition emphasized clear science communication and the societal impact of research. [Flyer] [Post]

Johns Hopkins Teaching Institute Certificate

May 28-30, 2025    Johns Hopkins University    Teaching Certificate

Completed comprehensive pedagogical training through the JHU Teaching Institute, including coursework on evidence-based teaching methods, inclusive classroom practices, and a micro-teaching project. Received official teaching certificate recognizing proficiency in university-level instruction.