SRP hosts "High Tech U" workshops for students
As the solar industry continues to explode across the country, corporations are looking for college graduates to possess the skill and knowledge needed to keep up with the growth of the renewable energy industry. Despite the fact that California has the third-highest demand for solar energy in the world, more of these high-tech jobs are headed to other countries.
To address the need for high-tech graduates, Salt River Project (SRP) partnered with Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC) to introduce students at Tolleson High School to the science and career opportunities of solar, nanotechnology and biofuels industry through a program called SEMI High Tech U. High Tech U is administered by the SEMI Foundation.
SRP sponsored three sessions of the hands-on program during school year 2008-2009. Sessions were held in Scottsdale with Coronado High School, at Glendale Community College with Tolleson's University High School, and at Chandler-Gilbert Community College Williams Campus with Apache Junction High School. Students in the various sessions had the opportunity to learn about SRP's electrical system, make biofuel, experiment with solar technology as one of the region's growing technology sectors, and visit the Mesa Cessna Citation Maintenance Facility to experience the East Valley's growing aerospace industry. A session with Scottsdale schools is in the planning stages for September 2009 at SkySong.
The three-day program included hands-on experiments that introduced renewable resource concepts and explained energy generation, as well as sessions on educational pathways and career planning.
Two $1,000 college scholarships were given out for students that showed promise in the future of Arizona's high-tech workforce.
The SEMI High Tech U is a collaboration that includes SEMI, Salt River Project and MATEC. Industry volunteers serve as instructors, exposing students to the technology used to create chips that power virtually every electronic device made today.
In 2005, a study commissioned by SRP and the Maricopa County Community College District projected double-digit growth in regional high-tech manufacturing jobs over the next few years, but a dwindling pipeline of locally available technical talent. SRP's involvement with High Tech U was an outgrowth of these findings.
High Tech U was created by San Jose, Calif.-based SEMI as a way of getting more students interested in science and math and high-tech careers. Since 2001, the Foundation has delivered 80 High Tech U programs that have reached approximately 2,200 students directly. An additional 41,000 students have been reached through the 476 teachers who have participated in High Tech U Teacher Edition programs. These teachers have returned to the classroom, sharing with their students many elements of the High Tech U curriculum, including indispensible career counseling information.
SRP sponsored three Arizona teachers to attend the High Tech U Teacher Edition Conference in Austin, Texas on July 28-30, 2008. Our high school teachers had the unique opportunity to participate in a two and one-half day, hands-on program to learn about and better understand the microelectronics industries, including nanotechnology, biotechnology, and microelectromechanical systems.
Curriculum focused on science, math, and technology, including student hands-on activities. Teachers will toured a world-class, state-of-the-art semiconductor facility.
