How to monitor steel alloys with Grafana: the story of a Golden Grot Awards winner

Christopher Field, co-founder and president of Theia Scientific, has been recognized with the Golden Grot Award for his innovative use of Grafana dashboards in monitoring steel alloys for next-generation nuclear reactors. His company developed a system that streams images from electron microscopes into a time series database and machine learning models, allowing researchers to quickly identify defects in alloys exposed to radiation. This approach has significantly reduced the time required for analysis, transforming a process that used to take years into one that can be completed in real-time. This innovative application of Grafana highlights its versatility beyond traditional IT and DevOps uses, demonstrating its potential in scientific research by facilitating faster, more efficient decision-making. Field's advice to new users of Grafana is to engage with the community, start small, and not fear initial failures, emphasizing that experimentation can lead to powerful, effective solutions.