The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at was founded in 1946 as the first of the Institute’s great modern interdepartmental academic research centers. Today, it is one of MIT's largest such organizations, and the most diverse research laboratory at MIT in its scope of intellectual interests.

Newslinks and Press Releases

• RLE Newslinks
• RLE Press Releases

Research

• RLE Research Groups, Centers, and Laboratories
• RLE Progress Report Series
• RLEatMIT

Research in RLE encompasses an extensive range of natural and man-made phenomena, and its projects are both basic and applied. Common among all RLE efforts is an expansive 21st century interpretation of the 19th century term "electronics," starting at the most basic physical realm of particles and quantum physics and extending all the way to sophisticated engineering application technologies.

Research in RLE today is focused on six major themes:

• Circuits, Systems, Signals and Communications
• Physical Sciences
• Quantum Computation and Communication
• Photonic Materials Devices and Systems
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering
• Communication Biophysics

Faculty

• RLE Faculty and Principal Investigators
• RLE Contact

Sixty principal investigators in RLE—of whom fifty are members of the MIT faculty—direct the Laboratory's research projects. RLE’s professors reflect the Laboratory’s diversity of intellectual interests, and are drawn from eight MIT academic departments and divisions:

• Biological Engineering Division
• Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering
• Department of Mathematics
• Department of Mechanical Engineering
• Department of Physics
• Engineering Systems Division
• Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology

Over three hundred MIT graduate and undergraduate students—also drawn from the MIT departments and divisions above—make RLE one of the primary environments for student learning at MIT. This combination of forefront research with student participation across multiple academic disciplines that characterize the RLE culture.

Sponsors

The wide range of RLE research efforts are supported by the most diverse sponsor base at MIT. Principal sponsors of RLE research include:

• The Department of Defense (DOD)
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• The National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Industry
• Non-profit foundations and organizations

In addition, a significant share of RLE activities is self-funded from gifts and from the discretionary resources of the Laboratory and its principal investigators. Approximately a third of RLE’s activities involve collaborations outside of MIT with universities, institutions, and industry, making RLE one of the principal points of MIT connection with peer institutions, government, and the business world.

Leadership

• Current Directors
• Past Directors

Location

Nearly all RLE activities take place at the MIT main campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Core RLE research facilities and offices are located in the Fairchild Complex (MIT buildings 36 and 38) and in the Compton Laboratories (MIT building 26). RLE Headquarters and the office of the Director are in building 36. RLE principal investigators also have offices and laboratories in other MIT locations, including MIT buildings 3, 12, and 13, and off-campus at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, Massachusetts.

History

• The MIT Radiation Laboratory (RadLab)
• Founding
• The RLE Incubator
• Timeline: 1946-1959
• Timeline: 1960-1979
• Timeline: 1980-1999
• Timeline: 2000-Today
• RLE Currents

External links

• http://www.rle.mit.edu/

Massachusetts Institute of Technology