> On a recent show on the History Channel on the history of
> engines, they
> briefly showed a MEMS Wankel engine.  Does anyone know who is
> doing this
> research?

That is work at the Mechanical Engineering Department
and Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Centerat U.C. Berkeley.
See
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/mrcl/
They are starting with a metal milliscale Wankel engine,
then will proceed to a silicon or other material microscale engine.