Private industry to raise 15 percent of WSUV lab cost
Washington State University Vancouver could soon become the home of the Washington Center for Semiconductor Research and Innovation, a premier public-private venture to drive Southwest Washington’s burgeoning high-tech industry and educate much-needed engineers.
The project is the brain child of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, Washington State University Vancouver, the Clark County High-Tech Council, the Washington Technology Center and Clark College.
The $54.5 million project has been brewing for the last few years, spurred by the need and desire to develop an innovative research institution to support the semiconductor industry, said Lee Cheatham, executive director of the Washington Technology Center.
A new building would be constructed on the WSUV campus to include a 10,000-square-foot microfabrication laboratory, which would be open to the private high-tech industry for use in testing new products and the fabrication and characterization of small devices like microoptics and microfluidics devices.
The goal is for the private sector to put forth 15 percent of the cost of the lab, said Bart Phillips, president of the CREDC. The group is asking the state legislature this session for $39 million, likely to be added to WSUV’s budget.
Along with the building, WSUV would gain an electrical engineering program to add to its mechanical engineering and computer science degree programs.
It also would define WSUV as a research university, as well as put it in a position to feed the local workforce.
"The conversation swirling around the need for electrical engineering here predates this proposal," said Bruce Romanish, vice chancellor of academic affairs at WSUV. "The growing needs for those kinds of degree programs here has been recognized here for quite some time, and WSU Vancouver has sought to be responsive to those needs."
The CREDC expects successful operation of the center will result in advances in semiconductor materials and device technology, research support for regional high-tech businesses, the startup of new semiconductor- and tech-related businesses, productivity increases for those businesses and upgraded skills in the local workforce.
While the project timeline relies entirely on funding, projections have the degree program launching in 2009.
