Our Co-Founder Wins Two More Prestigious Awards

Prof. Zetian Mi recognized for the development of revolutionary nanoscale LEDs and other semiconductor technology breakthroughs

Scientists like to say that great achievements are possible when they stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before. At NS Nanotech, we’re lucky to have our own giant, Professor Zetian Mi, as our co-founder. We are proud to announce that Prof. Mi has just added two hugely prestigious honors to his long list of academic and scientific research accomplishments. He has received the 2025 Nick Holonyak Jr. Award from Optica, the leading global organization dedicated to the science of light. And he received the University of Michigan’s Wise-Najafi Prize for Engineering Excellence in the Miniature World.

Prof. Zetian Mi (Credit: University of Michigan, Jero Lopera)

Optica’s Holonyak Jr. Award recognizes significant contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based optical devices and materials, including basic science and technological applications. It honors Nick Holonyak Jr.’s distinguished contributions to the field of optics through the development of semiconductor-based light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers. Optica will present the award to Prof. Mi at the Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2025 meeting in Denver, Colorado in October.

The University of Michigan Wise-Najafi Prize recognizes outstanding research and scholarship related to engineering at the meso-scale, micron-scale, nanoscale, and beyond. Prof. Mi is currently a University of Michigan professor of electrical engineering and computer science and previously served as a tenured professor at McGill University following Ph.D. studies at Michigan. 

Transforming research into revolutionary products

As my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Mi inspired me to pursue research on breakthroughs in nanoscale light emitting diodes. After graduating, he encouraged me to join NS Nanotech to help create the world’s first commercial nanowire LEDs. Since then, several of his other former students have joined the team as well.

Prof. Mi’s career has been defined by pioneering work in low-dimensional and wide -bandgap semiconductors leading to numerous groundbreaking advancements in commercial micro-LEDs for augmented reality displays and ultraviolet optoelectronics for disinfection. The decades of work he has dedicated to this research are the foundation of NS Nanotech’s breakthroughs in nanowire-based LED technology.  

Our company has exclusive licenses to patents based on his work at the University of Michigan and McGill University, and we are making significant strides toward commercialization of the world’s first efficient submicron-scale nanowire LEDs for visible micro-displays and invisible UVC disinfection applications.  

Continuing our journey "from lab to fab"

Prof. Mi’s research has enabled NS Nanotech to deliver significant “firsts” in the world of micro-displays, including world-record performance of red nanoLEDs. We have also made advancements in the realm of invisible ultraviolet light with the NS Nanotech ShortWaveLight 215 Emitter. As the first solid-state semiconductor device to produce human-safe 215 nanometer disinfecting far-UVC light, it delivers the world’s highest energy photons. 

As Prof. Mi continues to innovate in the nano-realm, NS Nanotech will continue to stand on his shoulders. On our exciting journey “from lab to fab,” we will continue progressing towards solid-state nanoscale products delivering the next generation of micro-displays and disinfection applications powered by invisible ultraviolet light.  

David A. Laleyan, NS Nanotech Senior Research Scientist, received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2020 following undergraduate studies at McGill University.