Presidential Visit To Push High-Tech Jobs, RIT Students Prepare
By: Caroline Tucker
Updated: May 18, 2012
When President Obama makes a stop in the Capitol region on Tuesday, Globalfoundries will serve as host.
The multi-billion dollar Rochester, New York company builds the circuits that go in everything from laptops to cell phones.
The President is talking about creating high-tech jobs, but in Rochester, students at RIT have a head-start.
RIT started teaching students about this circuit technology 30 years ago with the first undergraduate microelectronic engineering program in the country.
Graduates typically had to find jobs outside of New York State, but with high-tech companies like Globalfoundries, they now have jobs in New York.
Globalfoundries has a $7 billion dollar facility north of Albany.
Companies turn to it to create computer chips for products.
At RIT, students do similar work on a smaller scale.
They make silicon wafers that hold many copies of an integrated circuit.
For these students, Globalfoundries has become a destination of employment in the semi-conductor industry.
Dr. Robert Pearson hopes that more high-tech jobs come to New York to keep graduates in the state.
"There is already a high tech state sponsored facility in the Batavia area that would love the next Globalfoundries semiconductor company located at that facility. And then we can send students there too," said Dr. Robert Pearson, Director of Microelectronic Engineering Programs at RIT.
While, Globalfoundries is hosting the President's visit, the meeting will take place at SUNY Albany's College of Nano-scale Science and Engineering.
News 8 will be there for the visit and will have updates all day on News 8 and rochesterhomepage.net
