Cunningham chosen to head Micro and Nanotechnology Lab

Brian T. Cunningham, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and and of bioengineering, has been chosen as the director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois. His appointment is effective February 16, 2015, pending approval by the University’s Board of Trustees.

“I am very pleased that Professor Cunningham has agreed to serve as the next MNTL director,” stated Andreas Cangellaris, dean of the College of Engineering. “His enthusiasm and bold vision for the future of MNTL as a driver of groundbreaking research in nanosciences and nanotechnology promise a bright future for the Laboratory and its global impact. His highly-visible scholarship, his successful translation of nanophotonics innovations to technologies and devices for biosensing applications, and his multi-faceted experience in leading interdisciplinary teams on successful center activities, have made him the perfect choice for the job.”

The Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) is one of the nations largest and most sophisticated university-based facilities for semiconductor, nanotechnology, and biotechnology research. It contains over 8,000 square feet of class 100 and class 1000 clean room laboratory and state-of-the-art ultra-high-speed optical and electrical device and circuit measurements. The MNTL is a User Facility that is available for use by university and industrial personnel from across the nation.

A leader in the area of nanophotonics and biosensing, Cunningham has extensive administrative and leadership experiences from a variety of positions at Sandia National Laboratory, Raytheon Research Division, Draper Laboratory, and his own startup company, SRU Biosystems. As a faculty member, he has been a proactive contributor to the establishment and growth of the Department of Bioengineering. He was instrumental in the development of an interdisciplinary graduate program in bioengineering and the first master of engineering degree in bio-instrumentation.

In addition to serving as director of the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Innovative Instrumentation Technology, Cunningham has served as MNTL’s acting director for the past year.  

An Illinois alumnus, Cunningham (BS 1986, MS 1987, PhD, 1990, Electrical and Computer Engineering) has received many awards and honors, including Fellow status with IEEE, the Optical Society of America, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2010, he received the IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award and the EMBS Technical Achievement Award, and was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2014.