Dear Colleagues, 

We are pleased to announce that Micromachines is now inviting nominations for the Micromachines 2023 Young Investigator Award. This prize will be given to one young investigator in recognition of their excellence in the field of micro/nano-scaled structures, materials, devices, and systems and their applications. All nominations will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief.

The Prize:
− CHF 2000;
− Option to publish one paper free of charge in Micromachines after peer review before the end of 2024;
− An electronic certificate. 

Eligibility and Requirements:
− Must have received their PhD no more than 10 years prior to 31 December 2023;
− Must have produced ground-breaking research and a significant contribution to the advancement of research field;
− Must be nominated by senior scientists. 

List of Documents for Nomination:
− Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;
− Scanned copy of doctorate certificate;
− Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists. 

Schedule:
Open for nomination: 31 March 2023
Nomination deadline: 30 November 2023
Winner announcement: 31 January 2024

How to Submit Nominations:
Nominations must be submitted online.

Contact
Mr. Dikies Zhang
Section Managing Editor
Email: [email protected]
Micromachines Editorial Office

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Micromachines 2023 Best Paper Award”. All papers published in Volume 12 of Micromachines (between 22 December 2020 and 23 December 2021) were considered for the award. Five articles will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the EiCs, and the winners will be announced in March 2023.

Eligibility for the award:
– Papers published in Volume 12 of Micromachines (between 22 December 2020 and 23 December 2021);
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria (data source: Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)):
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citation and download rates in 2022.

Prizes:
– Five articles award: 500 CHF and a chance to publish a free paper in Micromachines in 2023;
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in March 2023.

Kind regards,
Micromachines Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Micromachines 2022 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Pingan Zhu.

Dr. Pingan Zhu is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Dr. Pingan Zhu’s research interests include microfluidics, fluid dynamics, surface wettability, micro/nanorobots, and biomimetics. Dr. Pingan Zhu received his PhD in 2017 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 41 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and 1 international patent. Dr. Zhu’s Scopus scientific citations number is 1,783 and his Hirsch index is 18. He is clearly a leading figure in the field of microfluidics. As a single applicant, Dr. Pingan Zhu has secured funding of more than HKD 4 million since 2018. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Pingan Zhu for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Pingan Zhu will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 2023 in Micromachines after peer review, and an electronic certificate.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations.

Micromachines 2022 Young Investigator Evaluation Committee

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Micromachines 2022 Best Paper Award. All papers published in Volume 11 of Micromachines (between 18 December 2019 and 21 December 2020) were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, the five winning papers, which were nominated by our Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor-in-Chief, have been selected. The winning papers are as follows:

Research Articles:
Size Sorting of Exosomes by Tuning the Thicknesses of the Electric Double Layers on a Micro-Nanofluidic Device
By Satoko Fujiwara, Kyojiro Morikawa, Tatsuro Endo, Hideaki Hisamoto and Kenji Sueyoshi
Micromachines 2020, 11(5), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11050458

Additive Manufacturing of Sub-Micron to Sub-mm Metal Structures with Hollow AFM Cantilevers
By Giorgio Ercolano, Cathelijn van Nisselroy, Thibaut Merle, János Vörös, Dmitry Momotenko, Wabe W. Koelmans and Tomaso Zambelli
Micromachines 2020, 11(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11010006

A Robotic Biopsy Endoscope with Magnetic 5-DOF Locomotion and a Retractable Biopsy Punch
By Manh Cuong Hoang, Viet Ha Le, Kim Tien Nguyen, Van Du Nguyen, Jayoung Kim, Eunpyo Choi, Seungmin Bang, Byungjeon Kang, Jong-Oh Park and Chang-Sei Kim
Micromachines 2020, 11(1), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11010098

Development of Fully Flexible Tactile Pressure Sensor with Bilayer Interlaced Bumps for Robotic Grasping Applications
By Lingfeng Zhu, Yancheng Wang, Deqing Mei and Chengpeng Jiang
Micromachines 2020, 11(8), 770; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11080770

A mm-Sized Free-Floating Wireless Implantable Opto-Electro Stimulation Device
By Yaoyao Jia, Yan Gong, Arthur Weber, Wen Li and Maysam Ghovanloo
Micromachines 2020, 11(6), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11060621

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive CHF 500 and the opportunity to publish a paper, free of charge, in Micromachines in 2022.

On behalf of the assessment committee, I would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Micromachines, as well as to the award committee for voting and helping with this award.

Micromachines Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Micromachines 2021 Best Paper Awards.

The awards have been granted to:

4D Printing of Multi-Hydrogels Using Direct Ink Writing in a Supporting Viscous Liquid
By Takuya Uchida and Hiroaki Onoe
Micromachines 2019, 10(7), 433; doi: 10.3390/mi10070433

Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance and Mechanism of [email protected]₃ Composites with Au Nanoparticles Assembled on CaTiO₃ Nanocuboids
By Yuxiang Yan, Hua Yang, Zao Yi, Ruishan Li and Xiangxian Wang
Micromachines 2019, 10(4), 254; doi: 10.3390/mi10040254

Three-Dimensionally Structured Flexible Fog Harvesting Surfaces Inspired by Namib Desert Beetles
By Jun Kyu Park and Seok Kim
Micromachines 2019, 10(3), 201; doi: 10.3390/mi10030201

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper in Micromachines in 2021.

On behalf of the Assessment Committee, we congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Micromachines, as well as thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with these awards. 

Kind regards,
Micromachines Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Micromachines 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Micromachines Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Micromachines. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Prof. Dr. Khashayar Khoshmanesh
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Research Interests: microfluidics; lab-on-a-chip; organ-on-a-chip; mechano-biology; soft matter

Dr. Nathan Lazarus
US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, USA
Research Interests: 3D printing; stretchable electronics; self-folding origami

Prof. Dr. Ion Stiharu
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Quebec, Canada
Research Interests: microsystems; sensing (inertial, flow, load, strain); design of MEMS; data processing; modeling of coupled micro and macro systems; packaging of microsensors; MEMS for turbulence control; microfabrication; non-conventional microfabrication; rapid prototyping; migration from auto to aero; reliability of MEMS; failure models; test methodologies

Dr. Yi Zhang
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Research Interests: micro/nanomedicine; microfluidics; diagnostics; bio-sensing; nanomaterials

Kind regards,
Micromachines Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Micromachines 2020 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Junsuk Rho.

Junsuk Rho is currently a Mu-Eun-Jae endowed Chair Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea. Before joining POSTECH, he received his B.S. (2007) and M.S. (2008) degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Seoul National University, Korea, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, respectively. After receiving his Ph.D. (2013) in Mechanical Engineering and Nanoscale Science & Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, Junsuk Rho worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Ugo Fano Fellow in the Nanoscience and Technology Division at Argonne National Laboratory. His research is focused on developing novel nanophotonic materials and devices based on fundamental physics and experimental studies of deep sub-wavelength light–matter interaction. Dr. Rho has published approximately 150 high-impact peer-reviewed journal papers and has also presented keynote and invited talks more than 250 times at world-leading institutes and international conferences/workshops. He also has 4 US patents and 26 Korean patents.

As the awardee, Dr. Junsuk Rho will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge in Micromachines after peer-review, and an engraved plaque.

We would like to thank all nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.

Micromachines 2020 Young Investigator Evaluation Committee

Micromachines established the Best Paper Award to recognize its best published papers in Volume 9 (between 21 December 2017 and 19 December 2018). Nominations are selected by the Editorial Office of Micromachines based on the review reports. All research articles and review papers published in Volume 9 are eligible for consideration.

The Evaluation Committee consists of 42 Editorial Board Members chaired by the Section Editor-in-Chief, Professor Ai-Qun Liu. Each paper nominated was examined carefully before the decision was made for the Micromachines Best Paper Award 2019. The Best Paper Award winners are:

• Li, X.; Mou, F.; Guo, J.; Deng, Z.; Chen, C.; Xu, L.; Luo, M.; Guan, J. Hydrophobic Janus Foam Motors: Self-Propulsion and On-The-Fly Oil Absorption. Micromachines 2018, 9, 23; doi.org/10.3390/mi9010023. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/9/1/23
• Yoon, D.H.; Tanaka, D.; Sekiguchi, T.; Shoji, S. Size-Dependent and Property-Independent Passive Microdroplet Sorting by Droplet Transfer on Dot Rails. Micromachines 2018, 9, 513; doi.org/10.3390/mi9100513. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/9/10/513
• Stier, A.; Halekote, E.; Mark, A.; Qiao, S.; Yang, S.; Diller, K.; Lu, N. Stretchable Tattoo-Like Heater with On-Site Temperature Feedback Control. Micromachines 2018, 9, 170; doi.org/10.3390/mi9040170. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/9/4/170

In recognition of their accomplishments, each Best Paper Award winner will be given a certificate, a cash award of 500 CHF, and an opportunity to publish a paper in Micromachines free of charge (equivalent to 1600 CHF) in Open Access format after the standard peer-review process.

Dear Colleagues,

The Micromachines Editorial Office would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy given by reviewers in evaluating manuscripts submitted to the journal. It is thanks to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick submission-to-publication process are maintained.

The following referees have been selected to receive the “Micromachines Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2019” for the quantity, timeliness, and quality of their reviews in 2019. Each of them will receive 500 CHF, and a certificate for their outstanding review work:

• Arnaud Bertsch, EPFL-STI-IMT-LMIS, Switzerland
• Luoran Shang, Harvard University, USA
• Toan Dinh, Griffith University, Australia
• Yi Zhang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the two winners of the 2019 Micromachines Travel Awards: Emre Kizilkan, Postdoctoral Scholar at Kiel University, Germany, and Kosuke Iwai, Postdoctoral Scholar at Sandia National Laboratories/Joint BioEnergy Institute, California, USA. The awards consist of 800 Swiss Francs each to attend any academic conference in the second half of 2019 or first half of 2020.

• Dr. Emre Kizilkan’s research involves photoresponsive polymers, bioinspired adhesives, and surface microstructuring. He will present his research “Photocontrollable Adhesion: A Bioinspired Microstructured Transport Device” at the “International Conference on Materials Science and Engineering, 16–18 September 2019, in Melbourne, Australia.
• Dr. Kosuke Iwai’s research involves droplet microfluidics, CRISPR-based gene-editing, and synthetic biology. He will present his research “A Versatile and Robust Droplet-Based Microfluidic Automation System for High-Throughput Optimization of Biosynthetic Pathways” at the 23rd International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (μTAS 2019), 27–31 October 2019, in Basel, Switzerland.

On behalf of the award committee, we would like to thank all applicants and to congratulate Dr. Emre Kizilkan and Dr. Kosuke Iwai for their accomplishment.

Micromachines Editorial Office

Micromachines established the Best Paper Award to recognize its best published papers in 2017. Nominations are selected by the Editorial Office of Micromachines based on the review reports. All research articles and review papers published in 2017 are eligible for consideration.

The Evaluation Committee consists of 25 Editorial Board Members chaired by the Section Editor-in-Chief, Professor Ai-Qun Liu. Each paper nominated was examined carefully before the decision was made for the Micromachines Best Paper Award 2018. The Best Paper Award winners are:

• Cho, E.; Mohammadifar, M.; Choi, S. A Single-Use, Self-Powered, Paper-Based Sensor Patch for Detection of Exercise-Induced Hypoglycemia. Micromachines 2017, 8, 265; doi:10.3390/mi8090265. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/8/9/265
• Au Ieong, K.I.; Yang, C.; Wong, C.T.; Shui, A.C.; Wu, T.T.Y.; Chen, T.-H.; Lam, R.H.W. Investigation of Drug Cocktail Effects on Cancer Cell-Spheroids Using a Microfluidic Drug-Screening Assay. Micromachines 2017, 8, 167; doi:10.3390/mi8060167. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/8/6/167
• Eisenhaure, J.; Kim, S. A Review of the State of Dry Adhesives: Biomimetic Structures and the Alternative Designs They Inspire. Micromachines 2017, 8, 125; doi:10.3390/mi8040125. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/8/4/125

In recognition of their accomplishments, each Best Paper Award winner will be given a certificate, a cash award of 500 CHF, and an opportunity to publish a paper in Micromachines free of charge (equivalent to 1400 CHF) in Open Access format after the standard peer-review process.

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Micromachines, I am pleased to announce the two winners of the 2018 Micromachines Travel Awards: Frederik Kotz, Ph.D. Candidate at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Fernando Soto, Ph.D. Candidate at University of California San Diego. The awards consist of 800 Swiss Francs each to attend any academic conference in the second half year of 2018 or first half year of 2019.

Mr. Frederik Kotz’s research involves material science, microtechnology, glasses and 3D printing. He will present his research “High-throughput polymer molding of transparent fused silica microfluidic chips” at the 22st International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2018), 11-15 November 2018, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Mr. Fernando Soto works on developing ultrasound power nanorobots as novel platforms towards advancing microscale tissue penetration and delivery of therapeutic payloads. He will presen this research “Recent advances in the powering and actuation of nanorobots using sound waves” at the 2018 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit, 25-30, November 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

On behalf of the award committee, we would like to thank all applicants and to congratulate Mr. Frederik Kotz and Mr. Fernando Soto for their accomplishments.

Nam-Trung Nguyen
Editor-in-Chief, Micromachines

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Micromachines, I am pleased to announce the two winners of the 2017 Micromachines Travel Awards: Kevin Paulsen, Ph.D. Candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Ke Du, Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California, Berkeley. The awards consist of 800 Swiss Francs each to attend any academic conference in the second half year of 2017 or first half year of 2018.

Mr. Kevin Paulsen’s research involves 3D particles, particle fabrication, optofluidics and inertial microfluidics. He will present his research “Sub-100 micron 3D-shaped particles from optofluidic fabrication with on-the-fly pillar fabrication” at the 21st International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2017), 22 –26 October 2017, in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Dr. Ke Du works on microfluidics, micro- and nanomanufacturing, and nanomaterials. He will present his research on optofluidic waveguides and sensors at the Hilton Head Workshop 2018: A Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Workshop, which will be held at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA, 3–7 June 2018.

It was a difficult decision, given the exceptional quality of more than 50 applications for the awards, and on behalf of the award committee, I would like to thank all applicants and to congratulate Mr. Kevin Paulsen and Dr. Ke Du for their accomplishments.

Nam-Trung Nguyen
Editor-in-Chief, Micromachines