Inaugural Midwest Infrared Semiconductor Technology (MIST) Workshop hosted at Ohio State

Electro-optic and infrared imaging sensors power innovations in critical systems across U.S. defense, aerospace, industry and medicine. EO/IR systems can be found across a range of applications, from lidar systems for autonomous vehicles to greenhouse gas detection to medical diagnostics. 

However, as these technologies continue to evolve, the next generation of innovators will be needed to shape discoveries and keep the U.S. at the forefront.

In October, the nation's leading EO/IR experts from academia, industry and government came together for the inaugural Ohio State and MMEC Midwest Infrared Semiconductor Technology (MIST) Workshop at The Ohio State University to inspire and recruit top undergraduates for careers in the rapidly advancing field.

At MIST, dozens of top engineering undergraduates from across the country engaged with leaders in the EO/IR field during several days of immersive activities and direct engagement with leaders in the field. Through talks, demos, hands-on experiential activities and tours of Ohio State’s top research facilities related to the event’s theme, Atoms to Arrays, the event’s partners connected with and created opportunities for students around internships, careers and graduate study, with the goal of building the next generation of talent before a potential critical talent gap slows innovation as today’s top engineers begin to look toward retirement.

“The goal of MIST was to connect and educate. It connected engineering students, who may soon be on the front lines of developing technologies that shape national security, with industry and government,” said Tony Vengel, Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) sales, business development, and corporate strategy executive. “It also educated them on the possibilities ahead in opto-electronics and IR if they choose to contribute, especially to U.S. national defense efforts.”

The event’s foundational sponsors included not only MMEC, based in Dayton, Ohio, but the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Ohio State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the College of Engineering, and the university’s Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR).

“It was great that Ohio State was able to take a leadership role in organizing this workshop to address a critical aging workforce challenge,” said Sanjay Krishna, Ohio State professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and George R. Smith Chair in Engineering. “The response from the EO/IR professionals from industry who were very generous with their time in mentoring and recruiting students spoke volumes of the importance of this effort.”

Leaders from academia and industry, as well as MMEC and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shared insights through technical talks and panel discussions. Dr. Joshua Borneman, electro-optics chief scientist at the Navy Crane Center, delivered a keynote on infrared sensing for naval applications. Students also met with industry and government research lab representatives during a job and internship fair to learn more about career opportunities in the EO/IR field.

“I learned a lot about different parts of the industry that I hadn’t heard about before,” said Sarah Nobbe, who studies nanoengineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. “I am an undergrad, but I am planning to go into industry, I was actually able to make a lot of connections that I think will help me get into that.”

Students also gained hands-on experience observing how infrared sensors detect temperature variations in real-world environments, as groups set out across campus with IR cameras on a scavenger hunt to capture images demonstrating varying heat patterns. Attendees later toured the Semiconductor Epitaxy and Analysis Laboratory (SEAL), Ohio State’s primary facility for molecular beam epitaxy. As one of the largest MBE facilities in the U.S., SEAL is a shared user facility, open to both university and industry researchers, that supports interdisciplinary research and development on epitaxial growth of electronic and photonic materials and devices.

“I was not very familiar with how in depth the world of semiconductor and infrared sensing was. I know a lot of the baseline applications, whether that be for defense imaging or astronomy,” said Jeremy Goodenough, an undergraduate student in Photonic Science and Engineering at the University of Central Florida. “I didn’t realize how involved all the systems were that go into creating new and iterating on those systems — and how widespread it is through academia, national labs, and industry.”

SEAL, along with multiple research spaces at Ohio State’s Nanotech West Lab, are currently completing a series of enhancements to epitaxial growth, device characterization and fabrication capabilities, as a cluster of state-of-the-art user facilities at the university that will enhance the transition from research to commercial manufacturing of advanced semiconductor technologies. The project, called the Microelectronics Innovation and Technology Cluster (MITEC), is a core part of MMEC, a Department of Defense-designated regional hub funded through the Microelectronics Commons Initiative, which will boost the Midwest region's position as a major innovation hub for microelectronics.

“The new MITEC capabilities will have a significant impact on Ohio State’s semiconductor ecosystem and infrastructure, with the goal to support device development and prototyping for Department of Defense technology transitions working with the consortium,” said IMR Executive Director Steven Ringel, who leads the MITEC project and is a Distinguished University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Senior Associate Vice President for Research at Ohio State. “We are excited about our partnership with the MMEC as the Midwest’s leading innovation hub for compound semiconductor technologies.”

Additional sponsors of the 2025 MIST workshop included leading organizations such as Safran Defense & Space and Atollo Engineering, as well as L3Harris Technologies, the University of Central Florida’s College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), Arcnano, IEEE Columbus Joint Chapter of the Solid-State Circuits and Circuits and Systems Societies, Lake Shore Cryotronics, SenseICs, iQE, IntelliEPI, SK Infrared, and QDIR.

Visit the our event webpage to learn more about MIST 2026, Sept. 28-30.