You could be just the fit for one of the 1,000 technicians Micron Technology will need on Day One at the mammoth semiconductor fabrication plant it plans to build in Clay.
And Onondaga Community College plans to offer a new program this fall that could help you land one of those jobs.
The New York Department of Education has given OCC the green light to offer a two-year associate degree and a one-year certificate in electromechanical technology.
Both the associate degree and the certificate program were created based on what Micron says it needs: technicians who can operate and maintain the highly robotic machines that will produce microscopic-size computer chips in large quantities.
“There’s an opportunity here that we all want to rise to,” said OCC President Warren Hilton.
Micron has not said how much technician jobs in Clay will pay, stating only that salaries at the plant will average $100,000 a year. Industry experts say those with four-year or graduate degrees in engineering and other fields could earn substantially more than the average, while those with less than four-year degrees will see starting wages in the $60,000 to $80,000 range.
If fully built out, the plant would be the largest semiconductor fabrication facility in the nation. Boise, Idaho-based Micron said the plant will cost up to $100 billion to build and create up to 9,000 Micron jobs, plus more than 40,000 jobs at related supply chain employers, over 20 years.
Micron has told OCC that it will need 1,000 technicians and 1,000 engineers to operate each of the four semiconductor fabrication facilities, or chip fabs, it plans to build at the 1,400-acre Clay complex. Substantial hiring is expected to start in 2025, with production beginning in 2026.
The engineering jobs will require four-year degrees and up. The technician jobs will not. And those are the jobs that OCC, being a community college, is focusing its training efforts on.
The new program starting this fall is geared toward giving graduates the skills they will need to keep Micron’s machines running and to trouble-shoot any electrical and mechanical issues that arise, college officials said.
Some graduates will work inside the plant’s massive cleanrooms, where temperature, humidity and the purity of the air will be highly controlled to prevent contamination of the computer chips. Workers in the cleanrooms will operate machinery but never touch the chips.
Other technicians — called process technicians — will work outside the cleanrooms monitoring the production process from control rooms.
WHO'S RIGHT FOR THE JOBS?
Professor Mike Grieb, chair of OCC’s School of Computing & Applied Technologies, said the new program is likely to appeal to those who love to take things apart and figure out how they work.
Being a math whiz is not a requirement, he said.
In fact, there are no prerequisites for enrolling in the new courses. Students will be taught what they need to know, and the college will provide tutoring support as needed, OCC officials said.
According to the college, students in the associate degree program will learn how electrical signals are used to communicate and control automated devices in the manufacturing environment, how to interact and program common industrial systems, and how to apply mechanical and hydraulic systems to provide motion and function.
The one-year certificate program will touch on the foundational skills taught in the two-year program and prepare students for entry-level work, the college said. Credits earned in the certificate program can be put toward the two-year degree.
OCC officials emphasize that, while the new classes are being driven by the Micron project, the skills students come away with could help them obtain jobs at any number of advanced manufacturers in Central New York and elsewhere.
But the need for skilled workers to operate Micron’s plant has created an urgency among educational institutions in Central New York to upscale their technology training programs quickly.
Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, for example, is planning to expand its student enrollment by 50 percent over the next three to five years to help Micron meet its need for engineering talent. The Syracuse Surge initiative has begun offering city residents training in the basics of electrical mechanical technology and advanced manufacturing.
RAMPING UP TRAINING AT OCC
OCC obtained state approval for the electromechanical technology program several months faster than usual so it can be offered starting this fall.
College officials said other academic programs that will debut this fall and could help students obtain jobs at Micron or affiliated developments include supply chain management, construction management and architectural design studies.
The college also plans to offer new programs starting next year in welding and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) — both fields that are expected to be in high demand once the Micron project is underway. State approvals will be needed for those programs as well.
OCC officials emphasize that the training will give students the skills sought by many advanced manufacturers, not just Micron.
STUDENTS TO TRAIN IN NEW SIMULATOR
Students in the electromechanical technology program will spend part of their training time in a $10 million cleanroom simulator that OCC plans to build with contributions from Micron.
The college aims to open the simulator where its current bookstore is in the fall of 2024. The prominent location means it will be one of the first things prospective students taking tours of the campus will see.
In addition to teaching the basics of working inside a cleanroom, the new facility will include a simulated locker room where students will learn how to put on the cleanroom suits.
Technicians who operate or maintain machinery inside cleanrooms are required to wear the suits their entire shifts. Students will be trained in wearing the garments early in the new programs to make sure working inside a cleanroom is right for them.
“For some people, it’s not something they want to wear 10 hours a day,” said Hilton.
Those who would rather not wear the garments will be encouraged to go into process technician and other jobs that do not require working inside a cleanroom.
PAID APPRENTICESHIPS IN THE WORKS
Anastasia Urtz, provost and senior vice president at OCC, said students who obtain the two-year associate degree will have opportunities to obtain job promotions more quickly than someone with only the certificate. However, she said people with the certificate could start earning money on the job while continuing their studies to obtain the associate degree, she said.
“They can get paid while training,” she said.
Urtz said Micron is holding discussions with OCC about creating apprenticeships for people who want to work at the chip fab while taking classes at the college.
The apprenticeships might be especially appealing for veterans whose military training has already given them some of the skills they would need to work as technicians at the plant, she said.
Other skills learned will include safety, blueprint reading, hand tools, precision measurement tools, statistical process control and programmable logic controller programming.
A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
OCC is one of many colleges, universities and other educational institutions in Upstate New York gearing up to help Micron meet its workforce needs. But the community college has developed a particularly close relationship with the company.
President Joe Biden and Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra visited the college Oct. 27 to celebrate the company’s selection of the Clay site for its plant. Urtz said OCC officials speak with Micron representatives weekly and meet with them during their frequent trips to Syracuse.
“A lot will be happening right here because we’re the closest community college to Clay,” Hilton said.
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