Bangladeshi youth Bahauddin on US National Academies committee

Bangladeshi youth, Syed Bahauddin Alam has been elected and appointed as a member on a committee under the prestigious United States institution, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

Bahauddin is an assistant professor in the an assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). According to UIUC website, he is only the second faculty member from his department to have been elected to this committee in recent years.

In January, Bahauddin was selected as a member of NASEM’s 11-member expert committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI), titled ‘Foundation Models for Scientific Discovery and Innovation: Opportunities across the Department of Energy’.

Bahauddin shared the news of his election and appointment on 28 February via Facebook. The same day, the news was published on UIUC website as well. His name has already been listed on the committee’s page on the NASEM website.

According to NASEM website, the committee is tasked with exploring cutting-edge AI-based foundation models in energy research. It focuses particularly on developing and expanding such technologies for the United States Department of Energy. The committee serves as an advisory body to the energy department on these matters.

The committee includes experts and researchers from several top institutions, including the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Southern California.

This year, Bahauddin has also added another significant achievement to his portfolio. He has been awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor 2025 by the Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC.

There are 12 engineering departments at the Grainger College of Engineering and every year, four to five assistant professors are recognised with this award for outstanding research. According to an announcement from the institution on 4 March, Bahauddin is among the recipients of the award this year.

Speaking to Prothom Alo via Facebook messenger, Syed Bahauddin Alam said he is now working on monitoring whether components such as pipes, cables and temperature levels are functioning properly in the nuclear energy systems using the advancement of AI.

Bahauddin noted that by combining AI with digital twin and real-time technologies, it is now possible to detect critical parameters in the nuclear systems that are typically hard to detect or not directly measurable, within milliseconds.

Originally from Chattogram, Bahauddin completed his graduation in electrical and electronic engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), after completing his secondary and higher secondary education at Faujdarhat Cadet College.

His interest in energy solutions was sparked in childhood, driven by frequent load shedding. This early experience inspired him to pursue a career dedicated to solving energy challenges.

Later, he earned his Master’s and PhD degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Over the years, he has carried out research in the United States, France, and in South Korea.

Bahauddin began his academic career at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in the US, where he founded a research lab titled ‘Machine Learning and ARTIficial Intelligence for Advancing Nuclear Systems (MARTIANS).

The lab has since moved to the University of Illinois and is dedicated to research on digital twin technologies and real-time prediction algorithms. The main goal of the research is to develop explainable artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance systems, and online monitoring system for nuclear energy applications.

Bahauddin settled in the United States towards the end of 2019. He lives there with his wife, Tohfatur Ridwan, and their two children: a six-year-old daughter named Ikra Syeda and a one-year-old son named Ibad Syed. His parents and younger sister are in Bangladesh.

While speaking to Prothom Alo, Syed Bahauddin Alam said that his family, particularly his wife, helped him immensely to reach this stage in his career. He also acknowledged that the contributions of his parents, sister, in-laws, and extended family were undeniable as well.

Securing a position at a prestigious university in the United States after completing a PhD in the UK was really challenging. Plus, relocating to the US during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic added to the challenge, Bahauddin noted.

Bahauddin dreams of helping build a world powered by safe nuclear energy. He believes his appointment to the NASEM committee offers a rare opportunity to influence national policy and research where artificial intelligence meets energy.

While speaking about AI, Bahauddin told Prothom Alo, “A child learns whatever it is taught. To put it simply, AI is also a lot like a child. It will function just the way it’s put to use. A sort of fear has built up in many people regarding the AI technology. However, it’s safe to say that the power to make critical decisions remains, and will continue to remain, in human hands.”

Talking about his current research, Bahauddin said, “Our research group has proposed a new method that is able to monitor vital nuclear system conditions in real time to keep the nuclear energy systems safe using cutting-edge machine learning technology. Many of the critical parameters inside a nuclear reactor are extremely difficult to measure because they often exist in highly hostile environments.”

“With our digital twin approach, we can use virtual sensors to predict temperature and heat flow conditions. This method can deliver results up to a thousand times faster than conventional computational fluid dynamics simulations, significantly reducing the need for installing physical sensors at every point in the system,” he continued.

Bahauddin shared that several PhD researchers in his group, Kazuma Kobayashi, Farid Ahmed, Samarendra Roy, and Trevor Talbot are currently engaged in this research actively.

Explaining the concept, he said, “Imagine we have a virtual map of the reactor in our hands—one that provides real-time feedback. This system eliminates the need to place sensors in hazardous areas. Not only does it significantly improve the speed of monitoring, but it also enhances accuracy and reliability. As a result, potential issues can be detected early, which marks a major step forward in both aspects of safety and efficiency. And this is exactly what we’re working on.”

He added that, “AI is not replacing human oversight. Instead, it’s opening up new possibilities for detecting and observing potential faults or failures within various components of complex systems, well before they become critical.” 

Bahauddin also mentioned that there are vast opportunities for AI research in Bangladesh. In fact various such projects are already being carried out here, he added. Bahauddin also expressed his ambition to collaborate with universities to offer specialised AI training to Bangladeshi students in the energy sector.