The MPI Workshop is a lively, five-day interaction on problems of interest to science and industry. On the first day, the industry representatives present their problems to the whole group. These problems vary widely in nature from those requiring basic physical modeling to those requiring significant computation. For the rest of the week, the workshop participants break up into small working groups consisting of senior faculty and attending scientists, graduate students, and the industrial representatives, to discuss and tackle the problems in an informal setting. On the last day of the workshop, an academic representative from each group presents the results obtained and discusses possible future directions. A written report detailing the progress made during the workshop is prepared subsequently and sent to the industry representatives.

The first MPI workshop was held at RPI in May, 1985, and has been held annually since then. The format of the workshop was based on the long-running Oxford Study Group with Industry held annually at Oxford University at the time, but now held at participating universities throughout England. The format has proven to be a successful one and has not changed significantly over the years. The first 10 workshop were held at RPI, but since then the workshop have been held at RPI and at other participating institutes. In 1995, the workshop was organized jointly with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and held at the University of New Mexico. Since then, the workshop has been held at RPI and at a number of participating universities, including the University of Delaware and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A list of problems brought to past workshops and links to the home pages appears below. The 2009 workshop will be held at the University of Delaware.

The following is a list of problems (with links to reports) brought to workshops since 1995:

• MPI 2008, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
  • Evolution of an Elliptical Bubble in an Accelerating Extensional Flow Field, Corning Inc.
  • Do the Barker Codes End? Technology Service Corporation.
  • Modeling Battery Electrode Properties, TIAX LLC.

• MPI 2007, University of Delaware.
  • Maximizing the Minimum Pressure in Fluid Dynamic Bearing for Hard Disk Drives, Hitachi Global Storage Technology.
  • Simple Filtration using Porous Media, W.L. Gore Associates.
  • Drawing of Glass Fibers: stability and time dependence, Corning Inc.
  • Modeling Diffusion in a Lens Capsule via Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware.

• MPI 2006, Olin College.
  • Algorithms for Digital Halftoning, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center (report).
  • Development of a Quaternion-Based Algorithm to Process Data in Robotics Applications, TIAX LLC (report).
  • Mosaic on Map Generation for a Forward-Looking Camera, AMRDEC, Redstone Arsenal (report).
  • Flow Diverting to Prevent Aerodynamic Buffeting in Hard Disk Drives, Hitachi GST (report).

• MPI 2005, Wocester Polytechnic Institute.
  • Enhanced Leak Detection, Veeder-Root (report).
  • Stability of the Oil-Air Boundary in Fluid Dynamic Bearings of Hard Disk Drives, Hitachi.
  • Lubrication Layer Perturbations in Chemical-Mechanical Polishing, Araca Inc.

• MPI 2004, University of Delaware.
  • The Capillary Interface under Lubrication Conditions, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (report).
  • A Network Model of Alcoholism and Alcohol Policy, School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, Univ. of Delaware (report).
  • Fluid Flow Properties in a Porous Media Air Bearing, New Way Precision (report).
  • Multi-Phase Flow in a Thin Porour Material, W.L. Gore & Associates (report).

• MPI 2003, Wocester Polytechnic Institute.
  • Optimal Wear for a Laying Pipe, Morgan (report).
  • Need a Lift? An Elevator Queuing Problem, UTRC (report).
  • Safe Fuel/Air Slow Compression, Veeder-Root (report).

• MPI 2002, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
  • Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of Accumulators in Vapor Compression Systems, UTRC (report).
  • Mathematical Models for Effective Smile Management, Bear Stearns (report).
  • Dynamics and Models of Thermo-Acoustic Instabilities, UTRC (report).
  • Mathematical Modeling Issues in Chemical-Mechanical Polishing, Motorola (report).

• MPI 2001, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
  • Boundary Layers and Material Deformation in Fiber Drawing, Corning (report).
  • Symmetry Breaking in Jetting, Xerox (report).
  • Multi-name Credit Derivatives, Nomura (report).
  • Shape Optimization of Pressurized Air Bearings, IBM (report).

• MPI 2000, University of Delaware.
  • Options on Baskets, Numerix (report).
  • Inverse Problems for Optical Fiber Device Measurement and Design, Corning (report)
  • A Water Wave Interaction Problem, Vehicle Research (report).

• MPI 1999, University of Delaware.
  • Shape Optimization of the Read Coil Used in Hard Disk Drives, IBM.
  • Modeling of Epitaxial Semiconductor Crystal Growth on Patterned, Masked and/or Structured Substrates, AstroPower.
  • Interference Filters for Thermophotovoltaic Applications, KAPL (report).
  • The Dynamics of a Roll Press Nip, Albany International.

• MPI 1998, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
  • Analysis of Vapor and Liquid Flow in Packed Columns, BOC Gases (report).
  • Thermomechanical Models of Air Gap Nucleation During Pure Metal Solidification on Moving Molds with Periodic Surface Topographies, Alcoa (report)
  • Particle Deposition on a Loaded Fiber, Donaldson Company (report).
  • Measurement of Modal Power in Optical Fibers, Corning (report).
  • Reverse Pumping in a Rotary Lip Seal with Microundulations, Rockwell (report).
  • Pressure Drop in Chromatography Columns, BIOGEN (report).

• MPI 1997, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
  • Optimization of a Flexible Cable, IBM (report).
  • Bond Default Correlation, Merrill Lynch (report).
  • Gas Concentration Measurements in Underground Waste Storage Tanks, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (report).
  • Kinetic Modelling of Multicomponent Electrowinning, Los Alamos National Laboratory (report).
  • MEMS Diffraction Grating, Interscience (report).

• MPI 1996, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
  • Sintering of Non-Uniform Porous Materials, Corning (report).
  • Retrieving Pore Size Distribution from Bubble Flow Data in Porous Membranes, Pall (report).
  • Annular Two-Phase Flow, KAPL (report).
  • The Design of Hard Drive Slider Bearings, IBM (report).
  • Optimizing Membrane Separations of Two-Component Protein Solutions, Genentech (report).

• MPI 1995, University of New Mexico.
  • Determination of Index Data from Refracted/Diffracted Rays, Corning (report).
  • Gas Jet Cleaning of Filters, Pall (report).
  • Cracks in Laser and Arc Welds, Rockwell (report).
  • Large Gas Release Events from "Dry" Waste Tanks, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (report).
  • Reducing the Cost of Monte Carlo Analysis of Well Logging Data, Chevron Petroleum (report).
  • Uncertainty in the Solution of Porous Media Flow Models, Golder Associates (report).