About

The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) is a team of MIT, Army, industry, and other partners working together to discover and field technologies that dramatically improve the protection, survivability, and mission capabilities of the Warfighter and of Warfighter-supporting platforms and systems.
A Venn diagram showing the ISN at the junction of MIT, the Army, and industry

What is the ISN?

The ISN was established in 2002 as one of MIT's special labs and centers — a University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) sponsored by the US Army.
Glass tubes on a laboratory work bench

The ISN Mission

The ISN mission is to help shape the future of Warfighter capabilities. To do this, we seek to enable revolutionary advancements to the protection, survivability, and mission capabilities of Warfighters and of Warfighter-supporting platforms and systems by extending the frontiers of nanotechnology, and by transitioning promising outcomes of that research in partnership with the Army, other US military services, and industry.
 
A U.S. tank at night

Challenges

Soldiers and other members of the US Armed Forces face many challenges in performing their diverse missions. The ISN was established to address many of these challenges through the targeted application of cutting-edge research and engineering, and through the efficient transitioning of promising results of that work.
Bars of Color within Squares (MIT) in Building 6C. (Photo: Gretchen Ertl)

History

The ISN is an Army-sponsored University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC). It is a product of the Army’s vision to explore the potential power of nanotechnology to enable unprecedented advances in Soldier protection, survivability, and mission capabilities. The ISN was designed to collaborate on basic and early applied research with Army and industry partners, and to enable the rapid and efficient transitioning of promising results.
A researcher works in an ISN lab. (Image: Lily Paquette)

Funding Research

The ISN is an MIT special laboratory focused on helping the Army, other US military services, and industry enable innovative capabilities for the Soldier and other US warfighters.

Dual-use applications to benefit commercial customers are also of great interest. The ISN’s approach is discovery and preliminary maturation of innovative technologies through on-campus research including initial prototyping, followed by transitioning promising outcomes of that research to ISN partners.