Micralyne Inc. Announces Winner of Microsystems Design Award
Value of Prize Bolstered to Increase Support of Leading-edge MEMS & Microfluidics Research in Canada
Edmonton, Alberta, July 8, 2003 - Micralyne Inc., one of the only profitable pure MEMS companies in the world, is pleased to announce the winner of its annual Microsystems Design Award for 2003. The winning design was a MEMS-based Endoscopic Coherent Optical Microscope (ECOM) that is highly suitable for in-vivo biomedical imaging. John (Tze-Wei) Yeow, a Ph.D. student in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, submitted the design. Three-dimensional images, showing internal micro-organs of a fruit fly, have been acquired with the MEMS scanner. The MEMS scanner project is a collaboration between the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Hospital/St. Michael's Hospital. The $3,000 Microsystems Design Award was presented to Mr. Yeow at the national TEXPO research competition facilitated by CMC (Canadian Microelectronics Corporation) on June 18th.
This year Micralyne bolstered the value of the annual Microsystems Design Award to $3,000, increasing the company's support of leading-edge MEMS and Microfluidics research in universities across Canada. The award is granted to a university researcher or post graduate student who demonstrates the most novel and industrially-relevant research results in the areas of microsystems: MEMS, Microfluidics, or Materials research. This award is just one example of Micralyne's overall commitment to higher education building on the $500,000 of annual combined support provided to the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary.
"The Microsystems Design Award is an important show of support for Canada's University research in the area of MEMS and microfluidics," said Chris Lumb, President of Micralyne. "Micralyne supports the significant effort across the country and looks forward to playing a pivotal role in the future development and manufacture of commercial applications emerging from this research."
Brian Barge, President of CMC, the organization who coordinates the applications for the award, emphasizes that companies like Micralyne are crucial to helping Canada maintain a leadership position internationally for MEMS research and development in universities. "CMC is proud to partner with industry leaders such as Micralyne to position Canada as a future powerhouse in MEMS and microfluidics research. Industry support of university research is essential to develop a national pool of skilled people with microsystems expertise - people who will help open up new markets for Canada's microsystems industry, and develop new products and services that will improve Canada's competitiveness and its prosperity."
The Micralyne Microsystems Design Award is an annual award open to students in a post-graduate degree program in a Canadian university or to a member of the faculty of a Canadian university. Submissions can be either working or demonstration applications, or specific techniques and design tools that contribute to the body of knowledge dealing with MEMS and microfluidics.
Konrad Walus, winner of the 2002 Micralyne Award, used his award to attend the IEEE Emerging Telecommunications Conference, held in Dallas, TX in September, 2002, where he presented a paper entitled "Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata Carry-Look Ahead Adder and Barrel Shifter". Konrad valued the opportunity to attend this international conference and reported, "The Micralyne award has given me the opportunity to promote my work and abilities to top researchers across the US and Canada. As a result, I have acquired new knowledge, and developed many valuable contacts; one of which lead to a formal invitation to give a talk to the entire IEEE student base at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX later this year."
For more details on the Microsystems Design Award and the judging criteria please view
www.cmc.ca/news/awards.
About CMC (Canadian Microelectronics Corporation)
CMC is a unique model of government/industry/university collaboration that delivers advanced tools and technologies to Canadian universities to enable leading-edge research and high-quality training in microelectronics and related areas. Established in 1984, CMC is a not-for-profit corporation funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, matched by industrial contributions of technology, services and cash. CMC also manages major grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT) through Queen's University to deliver research infrastructure for system-on-chip investigations at Canadian universities; in addition to the Provinces of Manitoba and Quebec to enable the testing of high-performance microchip designs through the upcoming National Microelectronics and Photonics Testing Collaboratory.
www.cmc.ca
About Micralyne
Micralyne develops and manufactures microfabricated and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems)-based products. Micralyne is one of the largest independent companies in the world that manufactures MEMS in high volumes. MEMS technology is built on the premise of making industrial components smaller, faster and less expensive and facilitates radical improvements in the miniaturization of electronic and mechanical devices. These types of devices are used in many industries including communications, automotive, aerospace, and life sciences. More specifically, Micralyne’s micron-scale solutions (i.e. 1000 microns = 1 millimetre) are found in automotive emission sensors, optical switching technology in telecommunication networks, lab-on-a-chip devices for drug discovery, and commercial press equipment for printing today’s most popular magazines. Micralyne is a profitable and growing company headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
For further information contact:
Mr. Chris Lumb
President & CEO
Micralyne Inc.
1911 - 94 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6N 1E6
Phone: 780-431-4400
clumb@micralyne.com
