Phase II IUCRC at University of Virginia: Center for Multi-functional Integrated System Technology (MIST)

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impacts of the Multi-functional Integrated System Technology (MIST) Center are to develop the hardware technologies necessary to propel the next generation of smart systems. The center focuses on translating novel materials, devices, and manufacturing processes into multi-functional integrated systems via collaboration with industry and government partners. The MIST Center targets pre-competitive research along the entire stack from emerging materials, electron, magnetic, acoustic, photonic, microelectromechanical, and photonic devices, to circuits and architecture needed to tackle complex challenges in developing the hardware underlying the Internet of Things (IoT). The Center trains the next generation of graduate students versed in the center's precompetitive research, actively recruits and mentors participants from underrepresented groups in science and engineering, and fosters public-private research networks across multiple academic, industrial, and government organizations. The UVA Site will expand the development of promotional videos, career fairs for internships in member companies, minority recruitment events, and its annual “Truck Touch” event as a hands-on discovery station for children. The proposed MIST Industry University Cooperative Research Center will be structured around five technology thrust areas – sensing, computing, wireless, power, and integration – to drive system technologies such as wearable devices, IoT systems, sensor networks, and "mist computing", bringing computing hardware to the sensor node and is the logical progression of the IoT ecosystem beyond cloud computing and fog computing. The MIST center will address specific technology challenges such as high-speed communication; self-powered, edge-of-the-node sensing; energy-efficient, low-power computing; advanced networking; and system integration. The UVA Site will pursue research in low-power electronics for computing, high speed photonics for sensing, and thermal management for power mitigation, with applications in the defense sector, such as AI for target tracking, low-power communication for battlefield-objective-warrior-network technology, and heat- energy propagation for microbolometer technology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.