December 15-17, 2026 · Hybrid (In-person + Virtual)

See the 2024 edition · See the 2025 edition

What is the Hackathon?

The Machine Learning for Microscopy Hackathon is a hands-on event that brings together researchers, students, and professionals to solve real microscopy problems using AI and data-driven tools. Participants work in small interdisciplinary teams to explore imaging, spectroscopy, and automation challenges, learning from mentors and peers along the way.

Multi-Site Participation

Attend in person or join remotely — teams will collaborate across sites and time zones. Confirmed 2026 host sites include:

University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
North Carolina State University
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Germany
Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
The University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Kanazawa University, Japan
Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Ulster University, United Kingdom
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, Spain
Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea
Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Germany
AISCIA Informatics, Qatar
University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Spain
Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM), Germany
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
Georgia Institute of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Pennsylvania State University
Columbia University, New Yokr
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois
Northwestern University, Illinois
Texas A&M University
Oklahoma State University
Ohio State University
Rice University, Texas
University of Houston, Texas
Indiana University Bloomington
University of Arizona
Colorado School of Mines
University of Texas at Arlington
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT)
University of Colorado
University of Washington
University of Southern California
University of Florida
California Institute of Technology
University of California
Yale University
Purdue University
Duke University
University of Wyoming
Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis (FELMI-ZFE), Austria
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany
University of California Merced
Baylor University
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
Linköping University, Sweden
Indian Institute of Science, India
Vienna University of Technology, Austria
University of Toronto, Canada
Virginia Tech
Nanosurf
University of Texas at Austin
Online (Global)

More sites will be added soon. Stay tuned!

Interested in hosting a site? Contact Sergei Kalinin: sergei2@utk.edu.

→ Go to Organizers Q&A

Why Participate?

Learn by doing
Work with real microscopy datasets and apply state-of-the-art AI methods.
Collaborate globally
Form teams with participants from around the world — fully remote participation supported.
Contribute to open science
Share code, data, and discoveries that extend beyond the event.
Grow your visibility
Showcase your work to researchers, labs, and industry partners.

Timeline

PhaseDateDescription
Registration & Team Formation Now - Dec 13 Register to attend online or in-person at one of our sites. Registration for attending in-person closes December 6
Team Formation Now - Dec 15 Join Slack, and find collaborators.
Challenges release Dec 14 Access to Miro Board and team formation.
Hackathon Start Dec 15 Opening session.
Mentorship & Collaboration Dec 15-16 Hands-on work with mentors and cross-site support.
Final Presentations Dec 17 Team presentations and submissions.
Judging Period Dec 18 - Jan 2027 Judging of submissions by the Jury.
Award Announcement Jan 2027 Winners announced after judging is completed.
Post-Event 2027 Paper writing and open-source integration.

Logistics

The hackathon will take place in hybrid format using Zoom for talks and Slack + Miro for collaboration.

  • Join the Slack workspace
  • Access to the Miro Board to overview challenges and create teams will be provided on December 14, 2026

Sponsors & Partners

Supported by Nanosurf, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Renaissance Philanthropy, Zurich Instruments, Park Systems, Waviks, DENS solutions.

Our list of sponsors is growing! Check back closer to the event for the most up-to-date list of our supporters.

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact Sergei Kalinin: sergei2@utk.edu.

Join us to connect AI and microscopy — through collaboration, creativity, and open science.