Students enrolled in the Indiana Uplands Microelectronics Academy get access to specialty equipment and facilities to begin building careers in the industry. (Provided by Regional Opportunities Initiatives Inc.)
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Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense and driven by a need to build Indiana’s workforce pipeline in a key sector, a Bloomington-based nonprofit is leading the charge on a new training hub and high school curriculum for microelectronics.
In late September, officials with Regional Opportunities Initiatives Inc. cut the ribbon on the Indiana Uplands Microelectronics Training Hub at the WestGate@Crane Technology Park in Odon, about an hour and a half southwest of Indianapolis. The training hub is the first of its kind in the state and is designed to give local high school students hands-on learning experiences in the microelectronics industry through the Indiana Uplands Microelectronics Academy.
The fledgling program is starting with 12 students, but Regional Opportunities Initiatives Inc. CEO Tina Peterson predicted that the training hub will become a crucial part of southern Indiana’s microelectronics and defense ecosystem.
“How do we create regionally relevant, demand-driven strategies that work in a rural part of the state?” Peterson said. “It means a lot to us to be given the resources to be able to create something that we think will be replicable—but more importantly, critical to the long-term prosperity of our particular region.”
Regional Opportunities Initiatives, or ROI, is funding the training hub through a $9.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant meant to strengthen the Indiana Uplands Region’s microelectronics workforce pipeline. The Defense Department operates the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division—often called NSWC Crane—which has become a key player in the federal government’s strategy to outpace its foreign rivals in the booming microelectronics industry. (The Uplands Region includes 11 counties in southwestern Indiana.)
ROI is also relying on Franklin, Tennessee-based Reliable MicroSystems to help support the initiative. The training hub is in Reliable MicroSystems’ facility at the tech park, and the firm is helping with technical consulting.
The new high school curriculum is part of ROI’s larger Momentum initiative to introduce workforce projects aligned with local microelectronics career opportunities in the region. To Peterson, it’s no accident that multiple groups—including nonprofits, the private sector and the government—are coming together.
“We had the opportunity a number of years back to look at what it was going to take to improve outcomes for our rural region, and we recognize we need to build a system like this one,” Peterson said. “It does take a village, and we’re really fortunate to have really trusted relationships with school systems and organizations across our region.”
Ready for the real world
Students in the microelectronics academy’s inaugural cohort come from nearby Bloomfield, Loogootee and Washington high schools, but Peterson said at least four other school districts have expressed interest in the program.
The academy curriculum started with the school year in August, and instruction moved into the training hub when it was completed in September. The class meets every school day for almost two hours and is focused on giving students experience akin to what they would encounter in a professional microelectronics environment. Beyond the basics, the academy includes dual-enrollment coursework with Ivy Tech Community College, paid job experiences and career exploration opportunities.
“They’re going to have access to advanced workstations, electronic testing and design equipment. They’re going to be taught how to function in a clean room, and then we have specialized software that’s used in the microelectronics industry that they also have the opportunity to use,” Peterson said. “We’ve outfitted the facility for both dual-enrollment coursework, technical training and applied projects that we think will mirror the real-world defense and industry needs.”
Mason Goodwin, a junior at Washington High School, took engineering courses his first two years of high school and said the Indiana Uplands ME Academy was a natural fit.
“I’ve always been building and creating stuff with my hands,” Goodwin said. “I had [two years of engineering classes] under my belt, so when this came along, I jumped at it.”
So far, Goodwin said, the program has gone over the various machines needed for microelectronics, engineering principles and—his favorite—soldering techniques.
‘It’s all about qualifications’
ROI’s microelectronics hub project is coming online as Indiana puts a greater emphasis on workforce development in its education system.
Last year, the Indiana Department of Education approved a sweeping set of new graduation requirements for high schoolers. The requirements emphasize work-based learning and offer an “employment seal” as one pathway for students to demonstrate their readiness to enter the workforce.
Carol Rogers, director of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, said the new diplomas will help with job skills, but a bigger benefit might be getting kids to think at a younger age about what they want to do professionally.
“Did I know when I went to college what I was going to do? Hell, no,” Rogers said. “It would have been nice to really have a better idea how people actually find a career. I think we’re getting much closer to tying that back to high school and showing kids what their opportunities are, and where’s the demand for certain types of jobs, and what do I need to do to qualify? Because ultimately, it’s all about qualifications.”
Goodwin, the Washington High student, said ROI’s program has been good for his career exploration already, as he’s narrowed down that he wants to be an engineer in microelectronics as opposed to a technician
The program “made it to where I’m looking at what fields I should look at in terms of what makes the most profits and what’s most enjoyable,” Goodwin said.
But giving kids exposure to highly technical jobs like microelectronics, bioscience and advanced manufacturing is more difficult than most work-based learning endeavors. Specialized equipment is expensive, and finding trained instructors can be a challenge, especially in rural areas.
Rogers applauded ROI’s unique microelectronics academy but wondered if similar programs will be viable in other parts of the state.
“I think what ROI is doing is something really interesting, because they’re providing transportation to get the students to the facility … which is not that long a distance,” Rogers said. “Do other parts of the state have a Crane that’s nearby? No, so I think being there physically to take the training is going to be an obstacle for many school corporations.”
But Peterson said programs like the microelectronics academy are replicable if employers, universities and nonprofits work together. The Defense Department grant was expressly meant to build a pipeline program that could serve as a model for rural communities across the country.
“These are three very rural school systems that are participating in the work at the training hub, and they have found a way to make this work,” Peterson said. “It may not look the same for every sector or for every student, but our experience is that it’s certainly worth working towards. Because what we see from those young people that have been participating in those work-based learning opportunities—it’s impressive.”
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