The office, headed by a new SU vice president, will bring together students, faculty, and private companies — including Micron — to conduct joint research, train students for the tech marketplace and be a one-stop shop for companies looking to tap into SU’s expertise and laboratories.
“We’re going to build a team not just in support of Micron, but SRC and Lockheed and TTM and Lotte Biologics and SAAB,” said Mike Haynie, the university’s vice chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation. “It’s exciting what is emerging in Central New York in terms of the opportunity for economic growth and prosperity.”
Syracuse is interviewing candidates now to run the office, which would engage in research and academic partnerships to help the region grow. The university could work with Micron to develop curriculum for students who want to work in the semiconductor industry. Faculty and students could conduct research with Micron and suppliers on semiconductor manufacturing. And SU could be a player in recruiting other businesses to the region to capitalize on Micron-fueled growth.
This is SU’s first formal community economic development effort, but many of its peers have been doing it for decades. Last year, Haynie and SU Chancellor Kent Syverud visited Clemson University, which has been using its economic development arm to connect the school with private businesses for three decades.
Like SU would with Micron, Clemson has one big partner: BMW, which operates an 8-million-square-foot automotive manufacturing plant nearby.
BMW runs a research center on campus, and many students do internships with the automaker, said David Clayton, Clemson’s associate vice president external affairs and economic development. BMW helps design Clemson curriculum and works directly with students, Clayton said.
“They will sponsor projects in the classroom or experiential education through, for instance, building a prototype vehicle with our automotive engineering students,” he said.
Graduate and Ph.D. students conduct joint research projects with the company, and Clemson works with BMW and a German automotive institute to refine ways to manufacture cars and improve quality inspections, Clayton said.
Micron plans to start construction in November on what could be a $100 billion chipmaking complex in the town of Clay. Micron says it could employ 9,000 people when the complex is finished in 20 years. More than 40,000 indirect jobs would be created at everything from Micron suppliers to restaurants, according to a state-sponsored study.
Like BMW in South Carolina, Micron in New York would be a factory rather than a design center. SU’s new Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing zeroes in on that distinction, Haynie said.
“We’d be focused not on the R&D around how chips themselves are designed, but instead how they’re manufactured using robotics and AI and cutting edge processes,” he said. “There’s countless universities and countless dollars that are focused on the actual design of the chip, but there’s less focus from an academic perspective on the manufacturer.”
Large research universities like Clemson and Purdue have long had economic development offices that link industry, academics and community, Haynie said.
“They have teams whose job it is to work with the community as well as private sector partners to support economic development in those regions,” he said. “Those universities are research and development partners, workforce partners, manufacturing partners.”
Clemson’s economic development office also provides a single contact for companies wanting to work with the university, whether that’s automotive development or sports marketing or philanthropy, Clayton said.
“Syracuse could do something similar with with Micron, and it does add a lot of value,” Clayton said.
At Micron’s global headquarters in Boise, Idaho, the company has worked closely with Boise State University for decades, said Roger Brown, the college’s economic development director.
That relationship with Micron takes many forms, Brown said. That can be Micron working with a specific professor who has equipment or expertise Micron can use, he said.
Micron has conducted research and development in Boise since the company was founded in 1978, but it’s now building a manufacturing plant similar to the ones it plans to eventually build in Clay. The Boise fabrication plant, or fab, could employ 2,000 people, and that’s a challenge for Boise State and its community college partner, College of Western Idaho.
“Not all of the 2,000 people require the same education or the same experience,” Brown said. “We’re trying to be more nimble about how we can supplement professional credentialing and training. The College of Western Idaho has been really aggressive about building out specific training programs.”
Facing a parallel challenge are SU and Onondaga Community College. SU is expanding its engineering department by 50 percent to grant more four-year degrees and is also launching new certificate programs aimed at the semiconductor industry. OCC has developed new courses and curriculum to train people to become technicians in a semiconductor plant.
SU last month held its first Micron Day, which featured top company executives talking about the company’s plans for Central New York.
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