SRP sponsors "High Tech U" workshops for students
As the high-tech industry continues to explode across the country, corporations are looking for college graduates who possess the skill and knowledge needed to keep up with the growth of these changing industries. Despite the economic downturn, high-tech and aerospace industries are taking the long-term view to make sure that when the economy turns around, there will be a supply of young women and men who are prepared to enter their workforce.
To address the need for high-tech graduates, SRP has partnered with Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC) to introduce students across the Valley to the science and career opportunities in industries such as solar, nanotechnology and aerospace through a program called SEMI High Tech U. High Tech U is administered by the SEMI Foundation.
SRP has sponsored seven sessions of the hands-on program since April 2007. Sessions were held in Scottsdale with Coronado and Arcadia High Schools, at Glendale Community College with Tolleson's University High School, and at Chandler-Gilbert Community College Williams Campus and ASU Polytechnic with Apache Junction and Mesa Skyline High Schools. 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. Another session with Tolleson's University High School is in the planning stages for March 2010.
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, SRP 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 95 High Tech U programs that have reached approximately 2,510 students directly. An additional 41,000 students have been reached through the 571 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.
