To promote micro- and nanoengineering in Europe, the MNE Steering Committee has decided to recognize, on yearly basis, a researcher or engineer who has made outstanding contributions to fields addressed by the MNE conference. The aim is to honour a researcher or engineer who has strong research roots in Europe by having worked in Europe for an important part of his or her career. The successful candidate must have inspired the MNE community by his or her leadership or outstanding work. This could, for example, be through leadership in the successful development and commercialization of a technology, the pioneering of a method or development of a tool with significant impact on current research or manufacturing methods, or an outstanding invention.

The MNE Steering Committee has elected an independent Fellowship Committee to oversee the nomination process. The successful nominee will be awarded the MNE Fellowship. He or she will be invited to present a Plenary Lecture at the next MNE Conference and will receive a commemorative plaque accompanied by monetary prize. The awarding ceremony will place during the Plenary Session of the MNE Conference. The newly elected fellow will also be presented on the MNE website.

Prior to the establishment of a yearly fellowship in 2010, the MNE Fellowship was bestowed three times, namely to

• Dr. Haroon Ahmed from University of Cambridge (founder of Microengineering conference, which became the Micro & Nanoengineering conference) at MNE 2003, Cambridge
• Dr. Peter Vettiger from IBM Research – Zurich at MNE 2005, Vienna
• Dr. Mike Hatzakis from NCSR Demokritos Athens at MNE 2006, Barcelona

The fellowship 2010 jury consists of:

• Dr Michel Despont, IBM Research - Zurich, Switzerland (Chair)
• Dr Harish Bhaskaran, Yale University, USA
• Prof David Juncker, McGill University, Canada
• Prof Dong-Weon Lee, Chonnam National University, South Korea
• Dr Michael Lercel, Sematech and IBM, USA

The fellowship jury, in agreement with MNE international steering committee, has attributed the 2010 MNE Fellowship to:
Dr. Bruno Murari from ST Microelectronics for his leadership role in the inception, development and success of MEMS in ST Microelectronics.
Dr. Murari will receive his award within a short ceremony during the plenary session of MNE 2010.