Michel M. Maharbiz

Michel M. Maharbiz is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley and a Co-Director of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center.

Professor Maharbiz's research focuses on the extreme miniaturization of technology focused on building synthetic interfaces to cells and organisms. He is one of the inventors of "neural dust", an ultrasonic interface for vanishingly small implants in the body. His group is also known for developing the world’s first remotely radio-controlled cyborg beetles. 

Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, Professor Maharbiz’s work on microbioreactor systems under Professor Roger T. Howe (EECS) and Professor Jay D. Keasling (ChemE) led to the foundation of Microreactor Technologies, Inc., which was acquired by Pall Corporation in 2009. He is the co-founder of Tweedle Technologies and served as Vice President of Product Development at Quswami, Inc. from July 2010 to June 2011.

Professor Maharbiz was the recipient of a 2009 NSF Career Award for research into developing microfabricated interfaces for synthetic biology. In 2013, he received an Excellence in Engineering Education Award from National Instruments. He has been a GE Scholar and an Intel IMAP Fellow. His group is also known for developing the world’s first remotely radio-controlled cyborg beetles. This was named one of the top ten emerging technologies of 2009 by MIT’s Technology Review (TR10) and was in Time Magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2009.

Professor Maharbiz received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.