Manufacturing Systems and Technology Programme (MST)

Focusing on micro- and nano-manufacturing

 

Description

The Manufacturing Systems and Technology Programme is a comprehensive education and research effort that concentrates on enabling manufacturing systems and technologies for emerging industries. In the nutshell, the MST Programme focuses on micro- and nano-manufacturing.

We define emerging industries as those based on new technologies that are just beginning to be considered for commercialization. Currently, this includes a host of new concepts in micro-and nano-technology such as molecular diagnosis, advanced drug screening, new ideas for photonic devices, micro-robots, nano-scale optical devices, and a multitude of potential products employing micro-and nano-scale fluidics. At the commercial manufacturing-level these industries will be characterized by micron-scale product dimensions, high value-added, extreme quality requirements, mass customization, time sensitive distribution and entirely new business structures.

In the immediate time frame our research will focus on an emerging industry that is now at the point of large-scale commercialization, namely: microfluidic devices for chemical, biomedical and photonic applications. While specific in nature, we also believe that the manufacturing issues for this emerging industry will have manufacturing process, systems and business issues that are common with many others yet-to-emerge industries, such as fluidic devices computation, advanced drug delivery systems and advanced health maintenance systems. Our research themes focus on critical issues enabling high volume, low cost, high quality products in these industries. Thus, our R&D effort focuses on acquiring the scientific know-how for micro- and nano-manufacturing.

Scope of Manufacturing for MST

In the MST programme we define manufacturing as the collection of technologies and systems that are necessary for commercial scale production and distribution to customers. This includes the disciplines of:

  • Materials and Processes for Production
  • Process Equipment and Tooling
  • Equipment Automation and Control
  • Metrology and Quality Control
  • Design for Manufacturing
  • Factory System Design and Control
  • Supply Chain Design and Coordination

In addition, since commercial viability is a key issue, it is necessary to address the business economics of the new operations in these emerging systems. In MST these topics are treated as an integrated set, sharing common performance metrics such as cost, quality, rate and flexibility in all aspects of the system.

An NUS/NTU PhD degree with SMA Certificate: 4-year programme

Students in the PhD programme will be part of a concentrated research effort to address the critical technological roadblocks brought about by working at the micron and sub-micron-level length scale and on this new class of products. PhD. students will have a primary supervisor at NTU or NUS with formal participation by MIT faculty. They will also spend no more than two semesters at MIT during their degree. Students must pass a qualifying exam before entering PhD study. The total financial support is capped up to US$6000 during the residence at MIT inclusive of both trips. This is in addition to the regular monthly stipend.

What makes SMA attractive?

  • Receive full support for tuition at MIT
  • Receive full support for tuition at NUS/NTU
  • Receive travel support for a semester in residence at MIT
  • Receive stipend support when studying in Singapore and at MIT
  • Learn from world-renowned faculty and research scientists
  • Experience life in Boston/Cambridge and the surrounding New England area

SMA Graduate Fellowship

·        Stipend of SGD1500 per month

·        Living allowance of USD1000 per month up to a maximum of USD6000 during residence at MIT

·        Fully-paid return airfare to MIT

·        Full tuition fee subsidy