University of Waterloo Professor wins Prestigious AIST Foundation grant

Prince Eze Ihedigbo

Association for Iron & Steel Technology Foundation has announced Kyle J. Daun as the winner of the 2025–2026 Digital Transformation Technologies Grant.

The award, established in 2019, challenges teams from engineering, scientific and mathematical departments at North American universities to submit proposals for grant funding in the theme area of digital technologies within the steel manufacturing industry, including machine learning, computational science, simulation, augmented reality, additive manufacturing, and autonomous robotics, among other related technologies.

The purpose of the US$30,000 award is to support professors in promoting the steel industry to students interested in digital technology, provide direct interaction between students interested in digital technology and the steel industry, and recruit more students interested in digital technology for employment in the steel industry.

Daun is a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., Canada. His industry mentor is Christopher Martin-Root, Stelco Inc. – Hamilton Works. Daun’s proposal is titled “AI-Driven Radiative Sensing for Optimizing Continuous Galvanizing Processes.”

The objective of the research on characterizing the radiative properties of advanced high-strength steels was initially to improve the pyrometry algorithms used to control the annealing and galvannealing processes.

However, the evolving radiative properties provide significant information about the changing surface state of the steel during processing.

The goal of this research is to exploit this information through a combination of in situ spectroscopy and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

“This grant will allow us to transfer this idea from the laboratory to the continuous galvanizing line, to the benefit of steelmakers from around the world. Just as importantly, the unique combination of academic and industrial training will equip a new generation of researchers with the skillset that steelmakers need to remain innovative and competitive,” Daun said.

The AIST Foundation is a Pennsylvania-based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation organized for charitable, educational and scientific purposes to attract technology-oriented professionals to the steel industry by educating the public about the high-tech, diverse and rewarding nature of careers in steel manufacturing.

Through a variety of programs, the AIST Foundation awards more than US$1,000,000 annually in programs and grants to students, instructors and schools to ensure the iron and steel industry of tomorrow will have a sufficient number of qualified professionals.

AIST is a non-profit technical association of 18,500 members from 70 countries, with the mission to advance the technical development, production, processing and application of iron and steel.

The organization is recognized as a global leader in networking, education and sustainability programs for advancing iron and steel technology.