Professor Lionel Kimerling’s research centers on the design and processing of semiconductor materials and devices. His work has had a fundamental impact on the understanding of chemical and electrical properties of defects in semiconductors. His research teams have enabled long-lasting telecommunications lasers; produced the first 1 MB DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory; developed semiconductor diagnostic methods; and pioneered silicon microphotonics.

Jurgen Michel is a Senior Research Scientist in the Microphotonics Center and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   He leads research projects in silicon-based photonic materials and devices as well as advanced solar cell designs.  His main focus is currently on on-chip WDM devices, Ge-based high performance detectors and modulators, and Ge-based lasers with the goal to implement active photonics devices in CMOS based chips.
Prior to joining MIT in 1991 he was Postdoctoral Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, studying defect reactions and defect properties in semiconductor materials.  He was educated in Germany and earned his diploma in Physics at the University of Cologne and his doctorate and habilitation in Applied Physics at the University of Paderborn. He has co-authored more than 200 refereed scientific papers, 4 book chapters, 19 awarded patents, and more than 20 pending patents.

Mr. Otte has been President & CEO of Promex Industries Inc. since 1995. Promex is an ISO 9001:2008, ISO 1348:2003, and ITAR registered manufacturing services provided specializing in onshore mixed technology assembly of medical, biotech, and semiconductor devices in its facilities in Santa Clara and San Diego California.
Prior to that, he was the General Manager of AMP’s Kaptron Passive Fiber Optic Products Subsidiary in Palo Alto.
Prior to that, he was President of Advanced Packaging Systems, a Raychem-Corning Joint Venture, and with other Raychem business units for 20+ years where he filled various positions, many related to product development for the electronics industry utilizing unique materials including Nitinol.
Early in his career, Mr. Otte was an electronics engineer.
Otte Chairs the iNemi Optoelectronics Roadmap Technical Working Group, Chairs the International Photonic Systems Roadmap (IPSR) Assembly TWG, is a member of the MIT Communication Technology Roadmap Advisory Board, a member of the IEEE, IPC, Optica (formerly OSA), and SMTA. Over 75 patents issued throughout the world list Otte as an inventor.
He has a BSEE and an MSEE from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University.

Dr. Alan Evans has 40 years of experience in fiber optics and integrated photonics and over 50 patents. For 27 years, Dr. Evans had various roles at Corning Incorporated including Research Director of Optical Physics and Transmission Technology and Integrated Optical Connectivity Program Director. He is currently Chair for MIT’s Microphotonics Center Industrial Advisory Board, an MIT research affiliate, and runs a business and scientific consulting business.

Dr. Richard Grzybowski is the Director of Research and Development at MACOM Photonics, where he leads a silicon photonics design team and developed the MACOM L-PIC technology platform. His leadership opened a $1B+ market for MACOM.
Previously, Dr. Grzybowski was Chief Technical Officer at Photonic Controls, a multi-million dollar startup specializing in wrapping electronic controls and packaging around photonic cores. Dr. Grzybowski also held the position of Research Director of Systems Engineering and Program Management at Corning where he led teams bringing systems engineering to major products, including high-performance glass manufacturing, automotive controls, ultra-capacitors, and others.
Dr. Grzybowski has been Chairman of the Industrial Board of Directors for the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) and is currently Chairman of the Industrial Board of Directors for the MIT Microphotonics Center’s Communication Technologies Roadmapping Consortium. He holds a Ph.D. from UConn, an M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a B.S. from Yale University—all in electrical engineering. He has 24 patents, over 90 publications and is co-author of the book High Temperature Electronics (CRC Press).

Dr. Anu Agarwal is a Principal Research Scientist at MIT’s Microphotonics Center and Materials Research Laboratory.  Her work has focused on the technologies for the foundational components of electronic-photonic chips including polysilicon waveguides, LEDs, couplers, photodetectors, and optical buffers. Dr. Agarwal has led several research projects at the Microphotonics Center/Initiative for Knowledge and Innovation in Manufacturing (IKIM) at MIT, since its inception. Her prior research includes the integration of active and passive optical components on silicon, using standard Si-CMOS fabrication processes. As a part of this research, she developed, evaluated, and later confirmed, the utility of polycrystalline silicon material for waveguide applications. She also developed a design for a graded-index chip-to-fiber edge coupling scheme.

Dr. Serna and BSU are part of the LEAP network, bringing industry, government and academia together for the use of integrated photonics and optical technologies. Dr. Serna is an Assistant Professor at BSU since September 2019.

Dr. Kirchain’s research and teaching explores the impact of materials-technology decisions on the economic and environmental performance of the products into which those materials are transformed and the systems in which they are produced, used, and eventually discarded.

Elsa Olivetti is Associate Dean, MIT School of Engineering; Jerry McAfee Professor in Engineering; Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and Strategic Advisor of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium. Her passion for addressing issues related to climate change frames the focus of her research, which centers on improving the environmental and economic sustainability of materials in the context of growing global demand.

Dr. Sajan Saini received his doctoral degree in materials science at MIT in 2004, during which he investigated materials and device designs for optically pumped waveguide amplifiers in silicon microphotonics.

Technology and Silicon Etching

Professor Juejun Hu’s research group focuses on novel materials and devices to exploit interactions of light with matter. Their work covers a wide spectrum of applications, including on-chip sensing and spectroscopy. Capitalizing on a digital Fourier transform technology, Professor Hu and his research group colleagues have created miniaturized and rugged sensors that can be mass produced for industrial process control, medical imaging, and space applications.

Professor Aristide Gumyusenge’s research background and interests are in semiconducting polymers, their processing and characterization, and their role in the future of electronics. Particularly, he has tackled long-standing challenges in operation stability of semiconducting polymers under extreme heat and has pioneered high-temperature plastic electronics. At MIT, Professor Gumyusenge’s research group, OMSE Lab, focuses on developing novel organic semiconducting materials and using them to build organic electronic devices and body-machine interfaces.

Dr. Swager’s research is broadly focused on synthetic, supramolecular, analytical, and materials chemistry. He is interested in a spectrum of topics with an emphasis on the synthesis and construction of functional assemblies.

Dr. Norris directs SHINE (the Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) at MIT. His research focuses on advancing and applying methods for Net Positive sustainability: creation and assessment of positive social and environmental “handprints” that exceed the actor’s footprints. 

Dr. Beth Unger is a distinguished Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Unger’s expertise spans across several key sectors, including advanced manufacturing, ready-mix concrete, and photonics. Her work in workforce development within these areas has been instrumental in addressing labor shortages and skills gaps, particularly through her efforts in curriculum design and professional training programs.

Author of materials, energy systems, and ecology research and evaluation for policy-makers. Study and modelling of techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) for secondary recovery of rare earth metals and energy return on investment (EROI) of economies.

Jesús obtained his BSc at the Universidade da Coruña (Spain). Afterwards, he moved to Santiago de Compostela (Spain), where he completed his MSc and PhD at CiQUS, in the group of Prof. Diego Peña and Prof. Dolores Pérez. Throughout his PhD program, he has worked on the design and synthesis of distorted polyarenes, such as helicenes, and graphene nanostructures.

Engineer and researcher specializing in polymeric material development and additive manufacturing, such as smart morphing devices and organic electronics. Common uses are in the field of soft robotics and electronics sector.

Bio (External)

Jordan Gray is a first-year chemistry PhD student in the Gumyusenge lab at MIT. He is originally from Richmond, Virginia and he received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Howard University. His interests are polymers, sustainability, and synthesis/processing for energy and environmental applications.  His current projects involve using MOFs/COFs for capturing PFAS and developing an electrochemical defluorination process to destroy PFAS specifically targeting the semiconductor industry. 

Thomas Deucher is a materials science and engineering PhD student in the Electronic Materials Research Group at MIT. He received his undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering from Purdue University. His research interests revolve around pushing material limitations, specifically within device fabrication and extreme environments. Currently, he is working to develop photonic packaging architectures to optimize chip-to-chip and fiber-to-chip coupling in large scale manufacturing.

Ira Fay is a Learning Game Designer in The Education Arcade at MIT, an Affiliated Scholar at Hampshire College, and CEO of Fay Games, a studio primarily focused on games for educational impact. Prior to his academic career, Ira was a Senior Game Designer at Electronic Arts (Pogo.com), and before that, he worked at Z-Axis (Activision) on X-Men 3, Maxis on The Sims 2, and Walt Disney Imagineering on ToonTown Online.

Trevor Morrisey is the lead software developer for the VM-Lab project. He joined IKIM in June, 2018.

Brief bio about this team member goes here.