The MIG Program provides industrial participants a unique window into the Microsystems Technology Laboratories, to our facilities, our research, and to our students through the following benefits:
The MIG Advisory Board is composed of members representing the MIG member companies, and who help to ensure that the research and education activities in the Microsystems Program are complementary to those conducted elsewhere and are relevant to industry's needs. The Board meets twice annually to review the overall operation of the laboratories, ongoing research projects, and future directions for microsystems research and education at MIT. The Board also serves as a sounding board for specific ideas. Individual members of the Board should become sufficiently familiar with MIT's Microsystems Program to encourage additional informal interactions between MIT personnel and the companies they represent.
Annually MIG member companies may direct 1/3 of their annual fee as follows: towards a faculty member who would apply that funding towards a specific graduate student who would be recognized as a “MIG Company Scholar”, or towards any affiliated MTL research center as partial fulfillment of annual center membership fees. The affiliated centers are:
MTL holds a yearly meeting that gives students an opportunity to share their research with other members of the community. In 2005, we introduced a new identity for the student review called the MTL Annual Research Conference. The objectives of MARC are to provide an MTL-wide forum for the presentation of the research achievements of the past year and to promote interaction between MTL students, faculty, and our MIG partners.
MIT agrees to allow member companies access to the facilities/processes of the MTL. Use of MTL facilities by member companies will be subject to the same standards and review as in-house projects to assure compatibility with existing processes. Review of any request for the use of MTL facilities will be accomplished through the MTL Process Technology Committee (PTC). Member companies use of MTL facilities/processes will be at no additional cost to member company so long as the value of the process services do not exceed 25% of member companies annual membership fee; process charges above the 25% cap will be billed to the company. The company’s process charges will be accrued at the same rate applied to internal MIT research projects. A company's use of MTL Facilities has often been combined with the Visiting Professionals Program.
It is our intention that company representatives have early access
to research results and direct contact with individual students. An electronic
resume book listing the resumes of each graduate student carrying
out their research in the MTL is provided exclusively to the MIG companies
in an electronic format. Additionally, students may be invited to MIG
companies to present preliminary results on their work as well as to
get a first-hand look at the work being done on similar or complementary
topics in the industrial sector. The MIG Co-Advisor Program provides
for the direct interaction by MIG company personnel with MIT students.
The program calls for a company representative to serve in the position
as a Co-Advisor on a student thesis. The company Co-Advisor routinely
visits MIT to meet with the student and faculty, and the student travels
to the Co-Advisors company, when deemed in the best interest of the student.
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A faculty member or group faculty may visit MIG companies at company
request and may be accompanied by one or two of his/her more senior graduate
students on this visit. The purpose of the visit is to describe in broad
terms our MTL research programs, and in more detail the specific interests
of the individual faculty member.
In these visits to the MIG companies,
it is our intention to allow a large number of the MIG company's employees
to see the results of our research as well as to learn who should be
contacted if specific questions arise. During this visit, the faculty
member will be available to discuss in depth specific projects for which
he/she is responsible with various engineers at the company. Also, if
the opportunity arises, the faculty member will discuss future technological
trends in his/her specific area of interest with higher level managers.
We are certain that this face-to-face communication between MIT faculty
members and MIG companies will help maintain a close interaction between
our industrial sponsors and the MTL.
The MTL administrative office works with member companies in the area of recruiting in a variety of fashions, that include maintaining an up-to-date electronic resume book, organizing company recruiting visits, and posting company positions (electronically and hard copy) that reach a broad spectrum of graduate students whose work is closely matched to the interests of the member companies.
MIT agrees to provide MIG companies access to the Microsystems On-Line Resume Book, which contains resumes of students who are planning to graduate during the planned academic year and whose studies or areas of interest include Microsystems. (Resumes posted to the site are renewed/refreshed on a 90-day interval). The resume book also post listing for students who have interest in summer internships.
In addition to the Resume Book, the MTL Associate Director for Administration works closely with MIG member companies in hosting recruiting visits (at company request) and in posting company notices both electronically and hard copy that reach a broad spectrum of students.
MIT agrees to make available to member company engineers and scientists, through our MIG restricted web site, access to the MTL VLSI Memo Series, which is normally only accessible to MIT faculty and research staff. The Memo Series provides a large number of technical papers and thesis; many of the more recent memos are pre-publication. Company personnel agree to keep any new invention described in these memos confidential until MIT files a patent application on it, or states its intention not to file, or publishes it outside MIT. MIT will label any such new invention descriptions as confidential. There is also an extensive listing of archived memos, copies of which are available upon request.
MIT agrees to make available to MIG company engineers and scientists, through our MIG restricted web site, access to streaming video of the MTL VLSI Seminar (8-10 seminars/semester).
To access these videos, you must register to become an MTL Web Member.
In order to foster closer ties to our research and education programs as well as personal contacts with our students, MIG companies are encouraged to send qualified technical employees for a prolonged stay at MIT. Every effort will be made to tailor specific visit details according to the specific MIG company's needs.
The nominations should include a brief resume of the individual applying in order that we may match the applicant's interests with a specific faculty member. If the applicant wishes to work directly with a specific research group, this should be mentioned in the nomination. We will review the nomination and promptly respond with the name of an MTL faculty member who can sponsor the applicant. The only restriction in the admission process is that we will only be able to entertain one visitor per MIG company at a time.
The visitors will have the title of Visiting Engineer or Visiting Scientist at MIT although they will continue to be employed by their companies and will not receive either salaries or employment benefits from MIT. The visitors will have offices and access to computational facilities and all of the laboratory facilities at MTL after receiving proper training. We are also offering our visitors the ability to take courses at MIT during their stay as well as participate in the many conferences, colloquia, and other workshops that occur on campus. The cost of the Visiting Professionals Program for MIG members is free. The only restriction is that we ask that visitors stay for a minimum of one semester.
We hope that this program will be successful in attracting MIG company visiting professionals. We find the interaction with our industrial friends to be both stimulating and important for our research. We also feel that it is one of the best ways in which we can transfer our research ideas back to industry where they will have practical application. Therefore, if a particular MIG company has specific needs which do not seem to fall under the guidelines of the visiting professionals program, we welcome suggestions of how to change and tailor it to their specific needs and will try to accommodate them.
Visting Professionals Memorandum of Agreement - View PDF
The MTL Annual Research Report provides an in-depth overview of the numerous research currently underway at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories. The Report contains abstracts of a variety of research projects in various research areas. MTL Annual Reports are available in archival format for your convenience. All of these documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can view the reports available by year.
