On behalf of the chair of the 1st International Conference on Micromachines and Applications, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Presentation Award:

Topic: Controlled Light-Driven Levitation of Macroscopic Plates

authored by Mohsen Azadi, George A Popov, Zhipeng Lu, Andy G Eskenazi, Avery Ji Won Bang, Matthew F Campbell, Howard Hu, Igor Bargatin

Mohsen Azadi is pursuing his PhD in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. He received his MSc in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 and his BSc in mechanical engineering from Shiraz University in 2013. His research at the University of Pennsylvania is focused on photophoretic levitation, mechanical metamaterials, microfabrication, and energy transformation. He received the Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students in 2019. He also received the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Master of Science in Engineering Merit Scholarship in 2016, as well as the Singh Center for Nanotechnology Graduate Student Fellowship, also in 2016. He currently serves as a member of the Dean’s Doctoral Advisory Board with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.

Topic: 3D Polymer Structures for The Identification of Optimal Dimensions for Cellular Growth for 3D Lung Alveolar Models

authored by Christian Maibohm, Alberto Saldaña Lopez, Oscar F Silvestre, Jana B. Nieder

Christian Maibohm is currently a staff researcher at the Ultrafast Bio- and Nanophotonics group led by Dr Jana Nieder at INL—International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. He joined INL in April 2016, focusing on the development of experimental setups for advanced multiphoton microscopy and 3D microfabrication. He graduated in physics and applied mathematics (2005) from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in the field of UHV growth and optical characterization of organic nanocrystals. From 2005 to 2007, he was enrolled in the EU network “FastNet” at the Institute of Physics in Siena, Italy, working on light-induced atomic desorption from porous glass. He received a PhD (2010) in physics and nanotechnology from SDU and Carl Von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany, focusing on fabrication and multiphoton microscopy of nanocrystals and organic nanostructures. He was a post-doctoral researcher (2010–2016) at SDU and the Technical University of Denmark, focusing on optical near-field mapping of cleanroom fabricated nanostructures, fabrication and characterization of bio-inspired polymer sensors, photonic properties of diatom frustules and optimization of light coupling to optical fibers embedded in concrete.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To acknowledge the support of esteemed conference attendees and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to launch the Best Presentation Award and the Best Paper Award.

Best Presentation Award (800 CHF)

Micromachines would like to grant two prizes (800 Swiss Francs each) for the two best presentations at the conference as determined by a jury. The two winners will be announced after the conference.

Presentations should have the following information:

• Title (with authors and affiliations)
• Introduction/Objectives/Aims
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Contact information

To be considered for this award, presentations should be accompanied by an introductory video. During the conference, the chair and committee members will be invited to judge the quality of the video and presentations. Presentations will be judged on 1) how well they are able to summarize the described work and capture the interest of viewers; 2) the visual aspect of the presentation and how it contributes to effective and clear communication of the contents.

Evaluation criteria:

• Originality/novelty of the work
• Significance of the content
• Scientific soundness
• Interest to readers
• English language and style

Best Paper Award (500 CHF)

Micromachines would like to grant three prizes for the three best papers as determined by the conference committee. Each winner will receive 500 Swiss Francs. We look forward to reviewing your contributions. The three winners will be announced after the closure of the Special Issue in the third quarter of 2021.

Only full papers submitted to the ICMA 2021 Special Issue will be considered. Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Originality/novelty of the paper
• Significance of content
• Scientific soundness
• Interest to the readers
• English language and style

Evaluation

• Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above
• Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest
• If two or more authors receive the same score, further evaluation will be carried out
• All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final