MEMORANDUM

TO: Teacher name, Instructor, English 214

FROM: Student name, (CHE), Student ID, English 214-Section Number
DATE: ___________
SUBJECT: ENGL 214 Progress Report:
Title: Incorporation of AI in Augmenting the Process of Polymer Design

• INTRODUCTION
The specific purpose of this report is to address disincentives that hinder the process of polymer
design and how the implementation of AI can rectify these obstacles and make advancements in
the field of polymer technology. The contemporary perspective of polymers is that they are
composed of macromolecular chains of covalently linked repeating units called monomers
(Rasmussen, 2018, p. 356). Moreover, polymers vary in their chemical and physical properties
due to their complex and long molecular chains that allow for diverse arrangements and
conformations of monomers. Therefore, its applications are ubiquitous, and it is arguably one of
the most important materials synthesized by humans. However, because of the complexity of
these materials, designing new polymers with pre-determined characteristics is both time
consuming and challenging. Consequently, the need of innovative solution is essential to
overcome these difficulties. This report will propose the employment of AI in developing a new
strategy for designing polymers.

• WORK COMPLETED
• Sources
Regarding this report’s sources, I have found and read seven sources that I deemed reliable and
relevant to this report content. (See references below). I have completed source evaluation for
two of the seven listed sources. (See source evaluation section). As with the methods by which I
found these sources, 4 of them were articles found in KFUPM online library and three articles
were found in the internet through google scholar search engine. I was able to extract all articles
in full-text PDF format.

References
AlBkhetan, Z., Kadlof, M., Kraft, & A. Plewczynski, D. (2019). Machine learning polymer
models of three-dimensional chromatin organization in human lymphoblastoid cells.
Methods, 166, 83-90. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2019.03.002
Giro, R., Cyrillo, M., & Galvao, D. (2003). Using Artificial Intelligence methods to design new
conducting polymers. Materials Research, 6(4), 523-528. Retrieved from
 http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-14392003000400017&script=sci_arttext
Haenlein, M., & Kaplan, A. (2019). A brief history of Artificial Intelligence: on the past, present,
and future of Artificial Intelligence. California Management Review, 61(4), 5-14. doi:
10.1177/0008125619864925
Kumar, J., Li, Q., & Jun, Y. (2019). Challenges and opportunities of polymer design with
machine learning and high throughput experimentation. MRS Communications, 9(2),
537-544. doi: 10.1557/mrc.2019.54
Machine learning helps discover new polymers. (2019). AZO Materials. Retrieved from
https://www.azom.com/news.aspx?newsID=51748
Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, A., Pilania, G., Huan, T., Lookman, T., & Ramprasad, R. (2016).
Machine learning strategy for accelerated design of polymer dielectrics. Scientific
Reports, 6(20952), 1-10. doi: 10.1038/srep20952
Seth C. Rasmussen. (2018). Revisiting the Early History of Synthetic Polymers: Critiques and
New Insights. Ambix, 65(4), 356-372. doi: 10.1080/00026980.2018.1512775
• Preliminary outline
The following 3-level outline below is my initial rough plan.

INTRODUCTION
• BACKGROUND ON POLYMERS AND AI
• History of Polymers and their Applications
• Past and Modern Records of Polymers
• Industrial Polymers
• The Interdisciplinarity of Artificial Intelligence
• CHALLENGES IN DESIGNING POLYMERS
• Imperfections in Polymers
• The Slow Process of Designing New Polymers
• IMPLEMENTATION OF MACHINE LEARNING IN DESIGNING POLYMERS
• Designing Polymers with Desired Properties Through AI
• The Role of AI in Speeding up Polymer Production
CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES

• Source evaluation
 ENGLISH 214 SOURCE EVALUATION #1

NAME: __________ ID: ___________ SEC: 17

REPORT TITLE: Incorporation of AI in Augmenting the Process of Polymer Design

1. THE SOURCE

How long is your source? 8pages

How did you find the source? I
typed “Artificial Intelligence applications in designing polymers” into
KFUPM online library search engine and found the article listed second in the search result.
Write a complete APA reference for your source:

Kumar, J., Li, Q., & Jun, Y. (2019). Challenges and opportunities of polymer design with
machine
learning and high throughput experimentation. MRS Communications, 9(2), 537-544.
doi: 10.1557/mrc.2019.54
2. SUMMARY OF THE SOURCE
In about 100 words, summarize the main points of your source.

This article discusses the current standing of polymer design and production technology
and potential advancements in this field. First, it delves into the ubiquitous applications of
polymers and their unique structure that allow for the materializing of diverse properties. It then
examines past and present methods for designing polymers and explain their flaws and how
integrating AI and data science can expedite and develop these processes. It concludes with
suggesting the promise of machine learning in polymer production.

3. EVALUATION:
In about 100 words, explain why you chose this source for your report.
Relevance: connect relevant parts of the source with your outline.
Article: what level is it? How up-to-date is the information?
Publication / website / author: are they reputable, unbiased and knowledgeable?

I choose this article because of its relevance to major parts of my report. The article
expounds upon the importance and utility of polymers, which fit in the Background (2.1) section
of the report and it addresses the current challenges in the polymer production industry, which
corresponds to challenges in designing polymers (3.1 & 3.2) section of the report. The focus of
the article, however, is on the deployment of AI to innovatively overcome challenges in
designing and producing polymers which belongs to a part of the solution (4.1) section of my
report.

MRS is an authentic scientific journal that is highly reliable, and the level of the article is
aimed at readers with scientific background. The article was published in April of 2019, so it is
quite recent and the ideas it presents are contemporary. I googled the authors and found out that
each one of them has many scientific publications in the fields of Polymer Chemistry,
Nanotechnology, Organic Chemistry and Artificial Intelligence.
 ENGLISH 214 SOURCE EVALUATION #2

NAME: ________________ ID: ___________ SEC: 17

REPORT TITLE: Incorporation of AI in Augmenting the Process of Polymer Design

1. THE SOURCE

How long is your source? 10 pages

How did you find the source? I typed “Machine learning and designing polymers” into Google scholar
search engine and found the article listed first in the search result.

Write a complete APA reference for your source:

Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, A., Polonia, G., Huan, T., Lookman, T., & Ramprasad, R. (2016).
Machine learning strategy for accelerated design of polymer dielectrics. Scientific
Reports, 6(20952), 1-10. doi: 10.1038/srep20952
2. SUMMARY OF THE SOURCE
In about100 words, summarize the main points of your source.

This article presents a creative approach for accelerating the design of polymer dielectrics
through the utilization of machine learning algorithms. It firstly list number of factors that hinder
the process of designing dielectric polymers. Next, it offers an ingenious solution involving
machine learning to efficiently design polymers with desired properties by training algorithms to
analyse experimental data and make predictions based on them. It concludes with emphasizing
on the importance of generating more empirical data to feed the ML algorithms with more
information to better tune it in order to widen its applications.

3. EVALUATION:
In about 100 words, explain why you chose this source for your report.
Relevance: connect relevant parts of the source with your outline.
Article: what level is it? How up-to-date is the information?
Publication / website / author: are they reputable, unbiased and knowledgeable?

I chose this article because it is relevant to the main part of my report. It lists out multiple
elements that obstruct designing polymers with requested properties, which fits in imperfection
of polymers (3.1) section. Most of the article, nonetheless, is involved with discussing how ML
employment in designing polymers can revolutionize the industry which is an inventive concept
that matches a part of the solution (4.1) section of my report.

Scientific Reports is an authentic scientific journal that is highly reliable, and the level of
the article is aimed at readers with scientific background. The article was published in February
of 2016, so it is relatively recent and the ideas it presents are contemporary. I googled the authors
of the article and found out that each one of them has many scientific publications in Chemistry,
Polymer Chemistry and Physics.

• WORK TO BE COMPLETED
I have already found 7 sources, read all of them, and assigned each source to its relevant parts in
the report. However, I did not revise these sources neither did I take notes and highlight key
information. This will prepare me for the in-class drafting. Furthermore, I will emphasize on
reading sources that are associated with the main body of my report since it is the part of which I
am going to write about during the in-class drafting sessions. After receiving feedback on this
progress report and the in-class drafts, I plan to make revisions and amendments to parts of the
report before finalizing and submitting the report.
To meet these goals, I intend to follow this schedule of work:
DATE ACTIVITY
Review printouts of sources for in-class
28 Sep
drafting
In-class drafting begins | Take a picture of the
29 Sep draft and type it in the initial draft of the full
report soft copy
Work on full report following feedback on
October progress report and in-class drafts from
instructor
In-class drafting session 2 | Take a picture of
3 October
the draft and type it in the initial draft of the
full report soft copy
In-class drafting session 3 | Take a picture of
6 October
the draft and type it in the initial draft of the
full report soft copy
Receive feedback on the in-class drafts and
8 October
correct elementary errors
9-11 October Finish first draft of the final report
Amend parts of the report, read it extensively
and tr-organize some aspects if necessary. Go
12 October – 20 November back and forth between your instructor and
sources to produce a report that is as refined
as possible
28 November Report is due