About Tiny Technologies
Nano- and micro-scale technologies hold great promise to change our lives – a realization that we are beginning to witness everywhere. MIT is playing a pioneering role in this revolution: the departments, labs, and centers of MIT's School of Engineering bring a unique set of strengths to the challenges of designing and building these technologies and systems. Our faculty and research staff are prominently involved in cutting-edge projects, with achievements that include the creation of a prototype for a "pharmacy on a chip" – an implantable, computer chip-sized device that can harbor 1,000 or more separate drug doses – to turbines the size of a shirt button.
The revolution in micro- and nano-technologies is so pervasive and holds such enormous potential to fundamentally change our lives that the School of Engineering has begun a School-wide initiative, the "Tiny Technologies" ("TT") Initiative, to enhance our capabilities in developing these technologies.
The current focus of research is on four target technology areas:
- Computation and Communication: Expanding the usefulness of integrated circuits and related technologies will provide a vital component of our efforts. The area of computation and communication is expected to offer fertile ground for many such advances. We need to make major advances in both materials and processing techniques to realize the potential in this area.
- Photonics: MIT researchers have already helped to bring closer the day when homes and computers use all-optical networks. For example, researchers developed a micro-scale structure that lets users bend light beams around a 90-degree turn. However, major added progress requires additional advances in chip materials, structures, and architectures, issues that MIT groups are currently addressing.
- Micro- and Nano- Mechanical Systems: Groups from a broad spectrum of disciplines, electrical, civil, mechanical, materials, bioengineering, and computer science, are exploring specific applications of devices at the micro- and nano-scale. Examples of exciting projects include tiny microturbines, artificial muscles, and a nanorobot designed to manipulate individual molecules on materials' surfaces. Upgrading our capabilities in this area will lead to advances in areas such as communications, healthcare, and space exploration.
- Nano-scale Engineering Materials: Ultra-small systems will offer benefits that were unimaginable before researchers had developed the techniques and materials to make them possible. Current work in projects such as carbon nanotubules, self-assembling polymers, and lightweight multifunctional materials offer the promise of applications in a wide variety of areas including display, communications, and defense technology.
For more information about the initiative's research programs and projects in these areas, please visit the project pages listed under our departments, labs, and centers. To learn more about getting involved and participating in collaborative research or supporting our efforts in these areas, please contact:
Philanthropic Support:
Anthony St. George
Assistant Dean for Development and Communications
School of Engineering
Phone: 617.324.8500
Fax: 617.253.8549
stgeorge@mit.edu
Corporate Research Collaboration:
Cynthia Bloomquist
Associate Director of Corporate Relations
Office of Corporate Relations
Phone: 617.253.8982
Fax: 617.253.0002
bloomquist@ocr.mit.edu
