Austin Community College received a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department to expand its semiconductor workforce training programs, the college announced Thursday.
The University of Texas and its Texas Institute for Electronics, a consortium of institutions and partners supported by UT and the Texas Legislature, distributed the funds to ACC. The money comes from an $840 million grant awarded to UT and the Texas Institute for Electronics by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a federal group that invests in innovative technology for national security to develop a national research and prototype facility.
More:UT’s Texas Institute for Electronics secures $840M to develop semiconductor microsystems
Alyssa Reinhart, the workforce development director at the Texas Institute for Electronics, said ACC partnered with the group on the DARPA application and that the college has established itself as a strong partner to address industry needs. ACC is the only community college involved out of the 18 academic partners, the college said.
“ACC is fantastic, having them in our backyard to be able to support this,” Reinhart said.
Semiconductors are chips that enable technologies like smartphones and computers to function. National and state lawmakers have pushed for greater investments in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and workforce training to ensure the United States can internally meet the rising chip demand required for national security and technology developments instead of outsourcing those industry demands.
ACC has been working with industry partners for 10 years and has been recognized as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visiting the community college twice in a little more than a year to offer her department’s support. ACC also launched a curriculum last fall designed to train workers to become manufacturing technicians as they work, and it has connections with multiple industry partners.
With the $7.5 million award, ACC will expand its existing semiconductor workforce programs to support UT’s work with the DARPA grant and train workers who can run the new facilities and equipment.
“As UT is doing a broader research-based facility, they’re going to need their technicians to also do the same thing,” said Laura Marmolejo, ACC’s dean of advanced manufacturing. “We can support that by providing that training and customizing the training to fit their needs as they define them.”
Marmolejo said this award is an example of productive regional collaboration that could serve as a national model for meeting semiconductor industry needs.
Reinhart said the DARPA grant and the partnerships that support it historically have launched transformative innovation.
“The iPhone came out of DARPA,” she said. “This is (from) where the most cutting-edge research” comes.
In March, UT, ACC and the institute announced they were creating a new Semiconductor Training Center to jointly support workforce development ― UT bringing the research expertise and ACC providing the workforce training for technicians and manufacturers. This new grant represents another step in their partnership to grow training opportunities, educational programs and work experiences.
Reinhart said the semiconductor industry is a rare uniting cause in “a catalyzing, energizing moment in history.”
“The last time federal investments and state investments came to one core target was the space race,” Reinhart said. “The industry (has) already had a gap and a risk of not having enough qualified workers, and so it’s tapping that and expanding the pipeline at all levels, all areas to be able to fill that.”
More:How UT and Austin Community College are helping tackle semiconductor workforce needs
Marmolejo said ACC is working on expanding its manufacturing presence in North, Central and South Austin to better serve local industry and local students.
“More students realize that all the great things that they love, their gadgets, we are still very dependent on international production. The more we can do here, the less we’re at risk for not having access to the technology that we need and we like,” Marmolejo said. “It’s a great pathway for people to have a career, no matter what their interest is.”
