The University of Oregon has used ETIC funds as one-time investments to build a unique public-private partnership with Oregon industry clusters, creating the UO’s Graduate Internship Program, attracting outstanding young faculty to Oregon, and building outreach programs to the K-12 and community college communities.
Created with ETIC funding in 1998, this program has grown to 50+ students/year, over 98% of which get 9-month internships and over 90% of which get permanent job offers from their internship company, helping expand Oregon’s high-end skilled workforce. In the following brief summaries, young Oregonians describe the internship and career opportunities created by the unique education and mentoring provided by the Graduate Internship Program.
The most important impact of the ETIC investments have been providing opportunities to students and thus the skills available to Oregon employers.
| Matti Alemayehu | Thomas Allen | Lucia Battaglia |
|---|---|---|
| Zach Blatz | Holly Edmundson | Abigail White |
Thomas Allen, a staff engineer with Voxtell, got his job after completing the Master's Industrial Internship Program at the University of Oregon. The Beaverton-based start-up company specializes in the development of photonic devices and systems. As is typical with most graduates of the program, his internship turned into a full-time job that enabled him to stay in Oregon as part of the growing tech industry here.“This allowed me to stay in a town I love and maintain a high standard of living,” says Allen, who now spends his days engineering nanoscale materials for more efficient solar cells. He works in Voxtell’s new underground facility, housed in the UO’s $16 million Lorey Lokey Laboratories.
Allen sees the MSI program as the beginning of something much bigger than himself. As Oregon’s high tech economy continues to grow, we need skilled technicians to keep it alive. “I see this program as a training ground for a workforce that will be available when these new technological breakthroughs happen,” he says.
Abigail White was the first member of her family to go to college. She graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering and then started the Industrial Masters Program at the University of Oregon right after she graduated. After completing the lecture and lab portion of the program, she began her internship with ON Semiconductor in October of 2010.
Holly Edmundson was a Faculty Lecturer at Humbolt State University when she heard about the Optics track at the Materials Science Institute. Before teaching at Humbolt State, she received an undergraduate degree in Applied Physics and felt this program would be the right path for her long-term career.
Holly is now living and working in Beaverton for Nanometrics, a global firm that produces optical solutions for the Semiconductor industry. Although headquartered in California, Nanometrics has crucial operations in Bend and the Portland area and has committed to a long-term partnership with the Industrial Masters Program.
Only seven years ago Matti Alemayehu fled Ethiopia with her family during a time of political unrest. She didn’t speak a word of English. Seven years later she has completed an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Illinois Institute of Technology and is completing her internship requirement for a Masters of Chemistry through the Materials Science Institute’s Industrial Masters program. She is living and working in the Eugene/Springfield area for Arclin. She plans to stay in the area at the end of her internship. Additionally, Matti works very closely with the program in the recruitment of potential students.
Although Zach Blatz completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry in Indiana, he knew he wanted to attend MSI’s Industrial Masters Program and he knew he wanted to remain in Oregon when he completed the program.
Once Zach completed his extensive course and lab work through the program, he accepted an internship with AVI Biopharma in Corvallis. In first review, his supervisor indicated that he has become the one everyone turns to for information on the status and availability of the deliverables for his assigned area. She also stated that he is definitely an asset to them. AVI Biopharma as since approached MSI to see if they can get current employees admitted into the program.
Although Lucia had undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering from a university in Mexico and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Portland State combined with professional experience with major international firms, including Procter & Gamble, she decided she wanted a graduate degree and applied to the Industrial Master’s Program. She has completed her coursework in the semiconductor track and has just accepted a full time opportunity with Intel in Hillsboro.
Besides increasing the number of graduates with applied sciences backgrounds valued by Oregon industry, ETIC investments have also helped recruit top faculty talent to Oregon. One-time investments in start-up funds have enabled the UO’s Material Science Institute (MSI) to attract top faculty, who successfully compete for research grants, contracts and national awards. All new MSI faculty members in the last decade have received prestigious NSF CAREER awards. MSI faculty members also create intellectual property that has been used to create new products, form new companies and attract high-paying jobs to Oregon.
A one-time investment of ETIC funds provided competitive start-up funds, enabling MSI to successfully recruit Associate Professor Darren Johnson from UC Berkeley. Since coming to the UO in 2003, Darren has attracted over $3,000,000 in research funding, has been granted 4 patents, has received an NSF CAREER award and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar award, has graduated 7 Ph.D.’s and mentored over 75 students conducting research in his group.
A one-time investment of ETIC funds applied to a start-up package enabled MSI to successfully recruit Assistant Professor Shih-Yuan Liu in 2006 from MIT. Since coming to the UO, Shih-Yuan has attracted over $3,000,000 in research funding, has turned down an NSF CAREER award for a better opportunity with NIH, has been granted two patents, filed a provisional patent and co-founded a company, Quintessence Chemicals, LCC. He has mentored over 40 students conducting research in his group.
One-time ETIC seed funding was used to create outreach programs to the broader educational community in Oregon that have successfully competed for federal funding. MSI’s NSF funded GK-12 program improves K-8 science education in the State of Oregon by providing embedded professional development in inquiry-based science education for over 175 K-8 teachers in 19 schools, reaching over 5,000 students in Umatilla and Morrow counties. Improved science and math instruction leads to improved performance by K-8 students, a key requirement for future careers in Oregon’s innovation economy. This program partners with the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District, which runs a science kit restocking facility, reducing the cost of refurbishing kits and allow each kit to be used in multiple schools each academic year.
Initial ETIC seed funding also enabled MSI faculty and staff members to obtain an NSF STEP award. This program, called UCORE - Undergraduate Catalytic Outreach and Research Experiences, brings 20-30 students from Oregon community colleges to the UO's Materials Science Institute each summer to experience being a research scientist. Each student is placed in a UO research group in physics, chemistry, or geosciences where they gain skills, confidence, and a basis for making informed decisions in their own academic and career paths. Participants return to their home community college in the new role of science ambassador and peer tutors, assisting in lab classes sharing their new perspective and catalyzing fellow students' science/math interest and confidence. To date, 98 students have participated in UCORE; our fifth cohort of 30 students will join us in June 2011. All members of the original cohort have transferred to universities and subsequent cohorts are on track to do the same -- despite the fact that half of all participants are first-generation college students.