David H. Koch Professor of Engineering
Faculty Director of the Lemelson-MIT Program
Ph.D. 1986, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Michael J. Cima is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an appointment at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1982 (phi beta kappa) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1986, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Prof. Cima joined the MIT faculty in 1986 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to full Professor in 1995. He was elected a Fellow of the American Ceramics Society in 1997. Prof. Cima was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011. He now holds the David H. Koch Chair of Engineering at MIT. He was appointed faculty director of the Lemelson-MIT Program in 2009 which is a program to inspire youth to be inventive and has a nationwide reach.
Prof. Cima is author or co-author of over two hundred and fifty peer reviewed scientific publications, fifty-eight US patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of materials processing. Prof. Cima is actively involved in materials and engineered systems for improvement in human health such as treatments for cancer, metabolic diseases, trauma, and urological disorders. Prof. Cima's research concerns advanced forming technology such as for complex macro and micro devices, colloid science, MEMS and other micro components for medical devices that are used for drug delivery and diagnostics, high-throughput development methods for formulations of materials and pharmaceutical formulations. He is a coinventor of MIT’s three dimensional printing process. His research has led to the development of chemically derived epitaxial oxide films for HTSC coated conductors. He and collaborators are developing implantable MEMS devices for unprecedented control in the delivery of pharmaceuticals and implantable diagnostic systems. Finally, through his consulting work he has been a major contributor to the development of high throughput systems for discovery of novel crystal forms and formulations of pharmaceuticals.
Prof. Cima also has extensive entrepreneurial experience. He is co-founder of MicroChips Inc., a developer of microelectronic based drug delivery and diagnostic systems. Prof. Cima took two sabbaticals to act as senior consultant and management team member at Transform Pharmaceuticals Inc. a company that he helped start and that was ultimately acquired by Johnson and Johnson Corporation. He is a co-founder and director at T2 Biosystems a medical diagnostics company. Most recently, Prof. Cima co-founded SpringLeaf Therapeutics a specialty pharmaceutical company and Taris Biomedical a urology products company.
Positions and Honors
Professor with tenure, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Investigator at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Director, Convergence Products Research Laboratory. Faculty Director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. His honors include W. David Kingery Award 2019, as well as election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011, David H. Koch Professor of Engineering 2011, the Fulrath Award 2003, Winner of the International Award of Materials Engineering for Resources, 1998, Sumitomo Electric Industries Chair, 1997, Fellow of the American Ceramics Society, 1997, R&D 100 Award for 3DP Applied to Metal Casting, 1994, ALCOA Foundation Science Award, 1991, Extractive Metallurgy Award, TMS, best paper, 1990, Norton Chair, 1989, Phi Beta Kappa, UC Berkeley, 1982
