ITHACA, N.Y., May 17 -- Nanofabrixa, a startup company based in Ithaca, is in the process of developing new novel materials to produce high-performance microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. The privately-held company's founders recently won second place and $2,500 in the second annual Business Idea Competition sponsored by the Cornell University Big Red Venture Fund. Nanofabrixa founders are Cornell Materials Science and Engineering (MS&E) alumnus Shahyaan Desai, Nanofabrixa president; MS&E professor Michael Thompson; and Theoretical and Applied Mechanics professors Anil Netavali and S. Leigh Phoenix. Nanofabrixa's technology is based on an entirely new class of materials to address actuator limitations in existing MEMS technologies, according to its founders. The company is initially targeting very high-resolution, large-area televisions and head-mounted imaging displays based on its MEMS technology, but its materials and processing technology has the potential to enable an entire market for high-performance micromechanical devices, they said. Nanofabrixa is doing preliminary research, development and prototyping in collaboration with Cornell. Expansion is anticipated in the fourth quarter of this year.