Local programs create training pipeline for Intel plant's jobs

The Dayton Daily News highlighted training programs at the University of Cincinnati and other Ohio universities to prepare students and workers for 3,000 new jobs at Intel Corp.'s new microchip fabrication plant.

UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science helped organize the Ohio Southwest Alliance on Semiconductors and Integrated Scalable Manufacturing, which offers microcredentials to prepare students and workers for jobs in microchip manufacturing.

Engineering faculty teach the fundamentals of superconductor design and manufacturing and give students real-world experience in the Mantei Center’s 8,000-square-foot clean room where they work with equipment similar to the kind found at chip-makers such as Intel.

UC is leveraging a $1 million federal grant to purchase new state-of-the-art microchip manufacturing equipment so students and workers can get more hands-on experience.

Intel Corp. is building two new semiconductor manufacturing plants outside Columbus. The company is working with UC and other universities to help training students for thousands of high-tech jobs the plants will create.

“We are standing them up now because we want to have the workforce ready to go,” Intel spokeswoman Linda Qian told the Dayton Daily News. “There will be plenty of jobs for the entire region.”

According to the Dayton Daily News, the company is also investing in K-12 public education to boost science and technology classes, among others.

UC also is part of the Midwest Microelectronics Consortium, a collection of more than 60 universities, businesses and government agencies across the Midwest that are helping to build a high-tech hub around microelectronics manufacturing.

Read the Dayton Daily News story.