About The Institute

MIDE history

The Missouri Institute for Defense & Energy (MIDE) is founded on bridging fundamental physics with applied engineering to solve longstanding challenges in the defense, energy and related commercial sectors.

Originally, of a magnetic and electronic structure focus, the group morphed into hybrid nuclear-physics, condensed-matter-physics and nuclear-engineering menagerie, addressing the grand challenge of creating a battery that used semiconductor-like conversion of radioactive energy to generate electrical energy, to form a high energy-density but small form factor battery with long lifetime; this project was funded by DARPA and successfully demonstrated sustained power output from a thin film promethium-147 source at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

From this point (ca. 2007) the group spent the next nine years working on thin film neutron detectors for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, ultra-thin film dielectrics for the Intel Corporation, and a special breed of neutron detector for the Office of Naval Research and DTRA that could measure the kinetic energy of neutrons, identify the source type of those neutrons, and the location from which they originated. The ‘neutron spectrometer’ as it was inappropriately coined, generated a number of side projects that were math heavy, enjoyed an R&D100 award in the Analytical Category, and went on to help two regional companies stand up.

In 2016, the group expanded and pivoted to study and develop technologies in the Counter Directed Energy and High Power Microwave space for the Office of Naval Research, both returning to the core condensed matter physics foundation to drive new solution states in pulsed power physics/engineering and radio-frequency engineering space. The Institute welcomes collaboration and is excited to continue to take on orthogonal challenges in the areas of urban agriculture, improving quality of life through health intelligence, and enabling less deterministic machine intelligence through the physics lens.

Mission

We improve quality of life by bridging academia with industry to address wicked problems.

Vision

To lead in the development of technologies that directly and positively impact society, and to grow the leaders of tomorrow in a team-focused culture.

Core Values

Gritty Innovation

Question. Take risk. Fail. Get up. Succeed.

Research Integrity

Represent the data objectively, be relentlessly critical, and uphold an expectation of rigor.

Team

Be accountable. Uplift those around you. Seek out and capitalize on complementarity.

Confident Humility

When in doubt, rotate your own tires.

Passion

Embrace the challenge. Be curious. Stay hungry.

Balance

Don't forget to play.

As of January 2025, MIDE has 30 faculty and staff, 20 graduate research assistants, 20 undergraduate research assistants, over 50 collaborators, and an annual research portfolio of $10 million.