Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group (IMG) has a rich and varied history, as detailed in “Labs Without Walls, Ideas Fueled by Coffee,” in celebration of the group’s 20-year anniversary. Through most of its history, IMG has been a “flat” organization with no specific senior leader.  The thought had always been that this particular organizational structure was a strength for maximizing the success of all students and faculty in IMG.

However, as IMG grew in size, IMG faculty realized several years ago that the group required some sort primary point of contact—especially for interactions with students, staff, and university administration. And so it was that IMG agreed to appoint a “Director,” with the expectation that this would be a pseudo-rotating position. The following simple ground-rules were adopted:

• year by year appointment, with election or re-appointment by vote at annual IMG Faculty Retreat
• terms would be a maximum of 3 consecutive years for one person

From 2016 to 2019, David Arnold served as inaugural IMG Director. After their recent faculty retreat, IMG announced that effective May 1, Mark Sheplak would take over as director. Dr. Sheplak is currently a Professor holding joint appointments in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mark Sheplak.