About
The Institute for NanoSystems Innovation (NanoSI) is helping researchers, government and industry strengthen the country’s semiconductor capacity by driving the discovery, pilot manufacturing and transition of the new NanoSystems technologies.
Our Purpose
EXPLORE
To explore advanced technologies developed by an interdisciplinary research team specializing in micro/nano technology, quantum engineering, electronics, sensors, machine learning, artificial intelligence, photonics, terahertz and radio frequency systems, computing, and biotechnology.
BUILD
To build new generations of smart devices and systems capable of addressing fundamental technology gaps in several fields including the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, Quantum Engineering, Digital Agriculture, Robotics and Healthcare.
BRIDGE THE GAP
To bridge the gap by leveraging our university-wide innovation ecosystem and offering the complete value chain to prototype development and pilot manufacturing with the aim of reducing the time for innovation and technology transition to the private sector.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
From electrical engineering to entrepreneurship—The Institute of NanoSystems Innovation is powered by a cross-disciplinary team of innovators and changemakers.
Matteo Rinaldi, PhD
David Horsley, PhD
Wenjun Zhang, PhD, MBA
Our History
In 2018 NU established Northeastern SMART (https://youtu.be/CDv6RQGCZUA), a university research center that, by fostering partnership between university, industry and government stakeholders, focused on the discovery, pilot manufacturing and rapid transition of new micro and nano systems technologies that are foundational for emerging paradigms like zero-power sensing, 5G/6G communications, artificial intelligence, quantum information science and nanomedicine. Northeastern SMART relied on an interdisciplinary, collaborative and strongly interactive team consisting of 15 core faculty and over 100 researchers (graduate students and research staff).
The center had been funded through over $20M per year in federal and industry funding and it is home to leading national programs supported by DARPA, ARPA-E, DoD, DHS and NSF in RF and mmWave devices and systems, ultra-low power sensors, advanced functional materials, nano photonics and quantum devices and systems, medical devices.
Northeastern SMART had access to unique experimental capabilities including a 5,000 sf class 10 and 100 cleanroom and over 5,000 sf of laboratory space with state-of-the-art electrical, mechanical and optical testing capabilities for micro and nano systems and RF, mmWave ant THz devices and systems. Northeastern SMART had also recently deployed the nation’s only 8-inch academic R&D line for piezoelectric micro and nano systems. Furthermore, Northeastern SMART was supported by a vibrant industry consortium with $2M in membership fees to date.