The Independent Activities Period (IAP) is a special term at MIT that runs from early January until the end of the month. IAP provides members of the MIT community (students, faculty, staff, and alums) with a unique opportunity to organize, sponsor and participate in a wide variety of activities, including how-to sessions, forums, athletic endeavors, lecture series, films, tours, recitals, and contests.
Make your own chip inside the lab!
Instructors: Fab.nano Staff
Dates & times: multiple date & times offered throughout January
Location: MIT.nano Cleanroom, meet in 12-3005
Registration
Step inside MIT.nano's fab to create a 1x1 inch chip with your favorite image to take home with you! We will work inside the MIT.nano cleanroom: learn how to gown up, understand the different fab tools, and use the tools to pattern a 50nm thin layer of aluminum with your design. At the end, we will separate out the chips from the wafer, and you get a chance to put your chip in a small frame or carrier to take with you.
Form Forge: Scan, Design, Print
Instructors: Talis Reks, MIT.nano Immersion Lab; Elijah Shirman, MIT.nano Domain Expert
Date: Monday, January 5, 2026
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: MIT.nano, Building 12 Room 3216
This short workshop introduces participants to the full pipeline of digital fabrication, from creating 3D models to scanning real-world objects and producing high-quality 3D prints. Participants will learn fundamental modeling workflows, capture physical objects using 3D scanning tools (mobile phone), and prepare files for professional-grade additive manufacturing.
Attendees, please bring the following items: a mobile device (iPhone or Android), Laptop (Mac or Windows). Note your prints can be picked up on Thursday, January 8.
Integrated Systems: Imaging, Machine Learning, and physical AI
Instructors: Talis Reks, MIT.nano Immersion Lab; Rob Hupp, Researcher
Date: Tuesday, January 13 and Thursday, January 15, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: MIT.nano, Building 12 Room 3216
This course is a hands-on micro-workshop that showcases how imaging, machine learning, and physical AI come together to create intelligent systems. In this 3-hour interactive session, participants will work with imaging devices, explore real-time computer vision workflows, and experiment with small physical AI demonstrations. The workshop provides a practical preview of the full course, offering participants a chance to see, hear, and experience the core concepts of the main course.
Strategies for X-ray Structural Analysis
Instructors: Charles Settens, Research Specialist
Date: Thursday, January 15 - Friday, January 16, 2026
Agenda:
Thursday, January 15
10:00 am - 12:00 pm (12-0168) - Strategies Lecture
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (13-4027) - Demonstration/Training
Friday, January 16, 2026
10:00 am - 12:00 pm (13-4027) - Data Analysis
Please note session 1 is in a different location than session 2 & 3.
Strategies for X-ray Structural Analysis introduces diffraction techniques used to elucidate structural properties in powder, bulk polycrystalline, textured and epitaxial thin film materials. The course teaches how to plan experiments for X-ray powder diffraction, grazing-incidence and in-plane XRD for thin-film and surface-sensitive measurements. Students learn to how to interpret high-resolution XRD data, including reciprocal space maps, to characterize lattice strain, defects, and epitaxial quality.
A brief introduction to e-beam lithography
Instructors: Mark K. Mondol, ebeam Domain Expert; Juan Ferrera, Research Scientist
Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: MIT.nano, Building 12 Room 0168 (basement teaching space)
A high level overview of e-beam lithography including- reasons for e-beam lithography, e-beam columns, pattern design and formation, pattern placement and resolution, electron interactions with resist, Proximity Effect Correction, resist characteristics, exposure and pattern transfer.
Physiological Sensing in the Built Environment
Instructors: Izzi Waitz, Architectural Designer; Praneeth Namburi, Research Scientist
Date: Monday, January 26 – Friday, January 30, 2026
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: MIT.nano Building 12 Room 3216
This course is aimed for architecture and urban planning students and enthusiasts. It will introduce the synthesis of data-driven research and urban design. The workshop will walk participants through their own data collections using gaze tracking glasses and heart rate monitors on campus.