Crane and local schools joining forces for SCALE curriculum

Mar. 20—CRANE — Crane Naval Weapons Center, Purdue University and four area schools are teaming up to create a new technology curriculum.

The pilot program, called SCALE (Scalable Asymmetric Life-cycle Engagement) will be developed in association with Washington, Washington Catholic, Loogootee and Holy Trinity schools starting this spring.

The idea, which is being directed by Crane from the Department of Defense, is to increase interest and capabilities in working with microelectronics.

Dr. Matt Kay, trusted and assured microelectronics program manager, which falls under the OUSD Office of the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Critical Technologies, is one of the organizers for the program. He says it is designed to try and fill a growing gap in the ability to work in technology sectors in the defense department.

"Under this program that is run out of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., we are making investments for our next generation workforce as it relates to microelectronics. This effort is run out of Purdue University. The intent is to develop a microelectronics workforce pipeline for the U.S. defense industrial base," said Kay. "We need a workforce that is scalable. We have major deficits across the department and the industrial base as it relates to the engineering availability in our workforce. This is something the Department of Commerce has reported on. They have reported there are 90,000 jobs that are not filled."

Officials say they are targeting U.S. school students for the project in hopes they will become part of a long-term solution to the shortage of tech workers.

"We do not want to educate our adversaries. We want to direct this at U.S. citizens that can support our needs. We deal in a lot of sensitive information and the department cannot have foreign nationals working certain programs. We are targeting U.S. citizens for these investments," said Kay. "We believe the end-solution needs to be something that supports the entire life cycle of someone's career. If I had the ability, I would put semiconductor physics in the baby bottle and have an army or semiconductor physicists to support our needs in developing microelectronics. Since we can't do that, the implementation has some challenges but I think we can get there."

SCALE has been in place for the past couple of years and directed toward college students. Now, officials are looking to reach high school, junior high and even elementary students with more microelectronics education.

Dr. Kara Perry, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Trusted and Assured Microelectronics Workforce Development Co-Lead and program manager for SCALE, says the program will get started before school lets out for summer.

"This year we are going to be creating curriculum and teaching modules for middle school and eventually even have some modules for elementary school. We are trying to get them interested early and then provide additional content for them as they go through elementary and middle school and high school and then get them into the colleges that have SCALE programs. That is the goal," said Perry. "The program is starting here in Indiana. It is going to be a pilot program. Our funding comes from trusted and assured microelectronics. We need to figure out how to do the projects. The people at Purdue have experience in doing projects like this in the past and we are just modifying it to microelectronics."

Officials say the pilot program is a combination of expertise, geography and experience involving education and microelectronics. The project will also include some resources from the state of Indiana.

"We are starting in Indiana. Purdue University is the lead of the consortium for SCALE. Indiana was a good pilot for this project and Crane is the biggest employer in the state in microelectronics so it makes sense to choose school systems that are close to Crane to get those students interested," said Perry. "Those students can then get their further education around the state and then return to the Crane area to work."

Crane has a history of working with area schools on technical education. The new curriculum will be one that is developed collaboratively between teachers and engineers.

"We have found that the teachers are the best ones to present this information to the students and not necessarily engineers," said Perry. "We are going to have a workshop this summer where all of the teachers to participate. They will be involved in creating the curriculum they are going to take back to their schools to teach. In those workshops we will have subject matter experts in microelectronics to help them create relevant material. The teachers will be able to know the level their students can understand so we will have the collaboration between the experts and the teachers to create the appropriate material for each of the grades. We will have teachers from all of these different school districts working together and then they will take it back to their school districts and start teaching it."

While there is talk of using the SCALE program to help develop more engineers, leaders point out that microelectronics is a field that is heavily dependent on skilled and trained technicians. The hope of organizers is to use exposure to those technologies as a springboard for the students.

"Workforce is a key element to everything we do," said Kay. "Until the machines take over, we need smart men and women to support the warfighter, the department of defense and the industrial base."

"If we can get students, before they leave high school, involved in microelectronics there will be several career opportunities available to them," said Perry. "One will be to go get a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree. There will also be opportunities for technicians so they may be able to attend a tech college or a certificate program or something like that. There are going to be a lot of workers needed in microelectronics that won't require a degree but that will be one of the choices."

Crane leaders have long praised the work force they have been able to attract and develop in southern Indiana. The SCALE project they hope will let them tap into that historically strong workforce to fill the challenges of a growing technical need.

"Right now, there is just a general lack of people to take on microelectronics work. What we are trying to do is to get them to engage in trade pathways so students can see the tremendous opportunities that exist in this industry and pursue a job in this field," said Kay, who also sees the project as a step toward helping families stay together in the long run. "I think parents here want to see their kids move out of the house but they don't want to see them necessarily move to the east or the west coast. We are trying to message back to the high schools in southern Indiana that students don't need to go to the east or west coast to work with cutting edge technology. There is an opportunity here in southern Indiana to work at the most complicated, complex technologies and drive national security and that economic imperative, the innovation ecosystem that keeps America out front."

Besides the schools in southern Indiana officials are in the process of adding some schools in the Lafayette area to the pilot project.

Once the curriculum is established Perry says it will be made available to all schools in Indiana.