Machine Learning for Microscopy Hackathon 3

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

Register here

North America

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois

Auburn University

Baylor University

California Institute of Technology

California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Santa Barbara

Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT)

Colorado School of Mines

Columbia University, New York

Duke University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Indiana University Bloomington

Johns Hopkins University, Maryland

National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), LBNL

North Carolina State University

Northwestern University, Illinois

Ohio State University

Oklahoma State University

Pennsylvania State University

Purdue University, Birck Nanotechnology Center

Rice University, Texas

Texas A&M University

University of Arizona

University of California Merced

University of Central Florida

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Connecticut

University of Florida

University of Houston, Texas

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)

University of Southern California

University of Texas at Arlington

University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at San Antonio

University of Toronto, Canada

University of Virginia

University of Washington

University of Wyoming

Virginia Tech

Yale University

Europe

Aarhus University, Denmark

Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis (FELMI-ZFE), Austria

Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Constructor University, Germany

Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Germany

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany

Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Spain

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain

Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Spain

Italian Institute of Technology, Italy

Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM), Germany

Linköping University, Sweden

Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Germany

Nanosurf, Switzerland

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

Rosalind Franklin Institute, United Kingdom

Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

The University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

TU Wien, Austria

Ulster University, United Kingdom

University of Aveiro, Portugal

University of Leeds, United Kingdom

University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Asia & Middle East

AISCIA Informatics, Qatar

Indian Institute of Science, India

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

Kanazawa University, Japan

Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea

Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea

The University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science, Japan

South America

Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Bolivia

Virtual

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

Phase	Date	Description
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, NTT DATA, Zurich Instruments, Park Systems, Waviks, DENS solutions, DECTRIS, Quantum Design, Asylum Research, JEOL USA, Anthropic, Constructor Labs, Covalent Metrology, Theia Scientific, Computational Materials Science (Elsevier), Hitachi High-Tech, and Gatan AMETEK.
Learn more about our partners on the Sponsors page.

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.