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Dear MTL Community,
I hope you are all enjoying a great start to 2026. January is always a special time for MTL, as we kick off the year with our annual Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC) and Industrial Advisory Board annual meeting.
A huge thank you to the entire MTL community for making this year’s MARC an incredible success. Despite one of the biggest snowstorms we've seen here in the Boston area in a few years, more than 250 members of the MTL community still made their way to the Omni Mount Washington Resort in beautiful Bretton Woods, NH, for a day and a half of outstanding research, energizing conversations, and what matters most - community. MARC2026 proved once again that the MTL community shows up.
A special thank you to our 2026 co-chairs, Hyeonseok Kim, Stella Lessler, and the entire student organizing committee, for their tremendous efforts in making MARC2026 such a memorable one. Students, faculty, industry partners, and staff came together to enjoy an engaging Tuesday evening featuring a lively game of Family Feud, Shark Tank–style startup pitches, and an insightful panel discussion from our "sharks" - Richard Collins from Engine Ventures, Vera Schroeder from Safar Partners, Vladimir Bulovic from MIT, and Lisa DeCrescente from Revvity, Inc. We heard an enlightening and engaging talk from our keynote speaker, Dr. Myung-Hee Na, on Wednesday morning followed by pitch and poster sessions highlighting the amazing research happening within MTL. A big thanks to Analog Devices and Texas Instruments for sponsoring the awards to the best pitches, demos and scientific pictures! I would also like to thank everyone who joined the faculty-industry mini-retreat, a new feature of our MARC program this year. It was great to see you there and the discussions and brainstorming on the future of data centers and microelectronics were really energizing. I hope you all enjoyed MARC as much as I did - you can view photos from the conference here. I am already looking forward to MARC2027!
Following MARC, MIG members and MTL faculty joined together for the 2026 Industrial Advisory Board annual meeting. This meeting provides an opportunity to discuss research highlights at MTL, developments across the microelectronics and microsystems industry, and the future direction of both. Thank you to all who participated and helped make this a productive and insightful meeting! View photos of the meeting here.
Looking ahead, we’re excited for all that’s coming up at MTL this spring! Below you’ll find a preview of the events we have planned so far for the semester, including the MTL Seminar Series, Health Sciences & Semiconductors Seminar Series, as well as community favorites like cookie socials, our annual end-of-year BBQ, and celebrations honoring our 2026 graduates.
As many of you may already be aware, MIT will begin renovations on Building 39 this spring. In preparation, all members residing in Building 39 will be relocating over the coming weeks. Building 39 has been a big part of MTL in its 40+ years of history. It is exciting to see that it will be receiving a well deserved make over to make sure it continues to play a critical role in MIT's microsystems community for many years to come.
While there are many changes happening this spring semester, one thing that is not changing is our commitment to supporting you and maintaining a strong, connected community. Please stay in touch and never hesitate to let us know if we can help in any way.
We’re looking forward to a fantastic spring semester together and hope to see you at many of our MTL events!
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