UCSB, SBCC partner to expand workforce training program
Upskilling the local workforce in each of the tri-counties has been a prolonged effort over the past decade.
Two of the higher-learning institutions in Santa Barbara County decided to be a part of the solution as well by expanding on an already existing program that has achieved success.
On Sept. 9, UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College joined forces to expand a program that provides critical workforce pathways for micro/nanotechnology and semiconductor manufacturing.
Supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education’s Advanced Technological Education program and Intel, the collaboration builds on existing cleanroom training at UCSB’s California NanoSystems Institute to provide SBCC’s students and faculty with access to training and experience to help fill a demonstrated need in the high-tech industry, according to the Sept. 9 press release.
“With increasing investment in semiconductor technologies in the U.S., it’s really important that we also support a talented and diverse semiconductor workforce,” Galan Moody, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at UCSB and a co-PI on the proposal, said in a press release.
“This partnership does exactly that by providing students with hands-on cleanroom training, certification and pathways to industry jobs.”
The program, an expansion of CCPRIME (Central Coast Partnership for Regional Industry-Focused Micro/Nanotechnology Education), will enhance relationships between industry and community college students and faculty.
It will also expand training activities in the cleanroom facility and broaden the community college educational pathway to high-tech manufacturing jobs and expand community engagement outreach and recruitment activities, according to the press release.
“Santa Barbara and Goleta are home to many cutting-edge high-tech semiconductor companies, and with this new NSF-funded program we will be able to provide a pathway for the local population to enter the semiconductor industry,” UCSB nanofab scientist Demis D. John said in a press release.
“Since 2022, NSF has already enabled SBCC students and others to get their foot in the door with our 1-week cleanroom ‘boot camp’, hosted at UCSB. Over the next few years, we’ll now be able to expand that into a full educational program powered by the SBCC curriculum and UCSB’s advanced facilities.”
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