Greetings from the Microsystems Technology Laboratories at MIT! I am delighted to send you this newsletter with news and updates on recent activities of MTL.
It's been about four months since I was given the privilege of heading this remarkable organization. I have been associated with MTL my entire career at MIT. Nevertheless, my appreciation for MTL's research and educational mission, for the passion of participating students, postdocs and faculty, and for the dedication of its staff has grown tremendously in the last few months. I have also come to respect and admire more than ever before the invaluable legacy left by the generous and skillful leadership of past MTL Directors. A special note of thanks goes to Prof. Vladimir Bulovic, who passed the baton to me and who was recently named Associate Dean for Innovation in the School of Engineering at MIT.
As a new MTL Director, I am on a quest to personally pay a visit to each and every representative of the companies that are members of the Microsystems Industrial Group (MIG). I am about half way finished at the moment and hope to complete this soon. The MIG is one of the key enablers of MTL's mission. It provides us with vital financial as well as intellectual support and guidance. In MTL, we particularly enjoy the long-term presence of industrial visitors from MIG companies that are embedded into research programs, participate in thesis committees and facilitate many rich interactions between their colleagues and the students and faculty of MTL. We are grateful for the engagement and generosity of our MIG partners (see current list below).
This issue of the newsletter highlights recent research accomplishments of the MTL community. MTL research activities span an ever-widening range of materials, technologies, devices and systems with impact in an increasing number of application fields. This newsletter includes a feature article about our recent Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC2014) which took place in January at the historical Mt. Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. MARC is a student-run conference that brings together the broader MTL community to share recent research results and ideas and establish new links and acquaintances. Under the extraordinary leadership of PhD students Farnaz Niroui and Phillip Nadeau, MARC2014 reached new heights in excellence. This issue of the newsletter also showcases recent scientific and technical excellence awards received by members of the MTL community as well as a few significant outreach activities of the last few months. We also introduce Associate Professor John Hart of Mechanical Engineering as the latest core member to join the MTL community.
We are always happy to hear from our alumni and friends. Please send us a note with an update or drop by to visit. I am personally eager to receive your suggestions on ways to enhance MTL's operations and the impact of its activities on our community, our industry partners and the world.
Warmest regards,
Jesús A. del Alamo
Director, Microsystems Technology Laboratories