About the Institute

At the Missouri Institute for Defense & Energy (MIDE), our mission is to improve the quality of life by bridging academia with industry to address wicked problems.

Our Mission

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

Our 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.

Our Core Values

$80 million

Awarded since 2019

48

Faculty & Staff

52

Graduate Research Assistants

34

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Starting Out

The Missouri Institute for Defense & Energy (MIDE) was founded on bridging fundamental physics with applied engineering to solve challenges in defense, energy and related commercial sectors. It started with a focus on magnetic and electronic structures, moving into hybrid nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, and nuclear engineering. The primary challenge was 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 with a long lifetime. This project was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and successfully demonstrated sustained power output from a thin film promethium-147 source at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Development

After 2007, the group spent the next nine years working on thin film neutron detectors for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), ultra-thin film dielectrics for the Intel Corporation, and a special neutron detector for the Office of Naval Research and DTRA. The neutron detector measured the kinetic energy, identified the source type, and the location from which the neutrons originated. This generated a number of side projects that had a mathematics focus, helped bolster two regional companies, and was awarded an R&D 100 award in the Analytical category.

Today

In 2016, MIDE expanded to study and develop technologies in the Counter Directed Energy and High Power Microwave space for the Office of Naval Research, returning to their foundation in condensed matter physics, pulsed power physics/engineering, and radio-frequency engineering space. MIDE welcomes collaboration and is excited to continue to take on new challenges in the areas of urban agriculture, improving quality of life through health intelligence, and enabling less deterministic machine intelligence through the physics lens. Go to Research & Development to learn more about our current research endeavors.

Known as Kansas City's University

Known as Kansas City’s university, UMKC MIDE consists of faculty, professional staff members, and students from a myriad of academic disciplines including Computing and Electrical Engineering, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Education, History, and more.

UMKC MIDE currently employs, and actively supports, the recruitment of military student veterans for research internships and employs military veterans who have technical and research experience.