One of the perks of this job is that I get to work on EU-backed government projects. In addition to the great meals, fabulous cities, and interesting new people I'm privileged to encounter, I get to talk to folks from all over the EU about their MEMS programs and how they are deploying the technology in education.
While I won't get into comparisons regarding education quality or student mindsets, there is a clear difference in level of infrastructure available to students. Quite frankly, the U.S. falls short in any comparison.
The particular project in which we are currently involved, STIMESI, is a perfect example(
http://www.stimesi.org). The STIMESI project has one goal: stimulate growth of MEMS in the EU by offering fundamentals courses for free. The tactics are to reach out to students all over the EU and provide FREE training on the 5-6 Multi Project Wafer(MPW) services that exist for MEMS today. This training is not the rushed, do-it-all-in-one-day type either. The courses are 3-4 days, with at least half of that time dedicated to hands-on design exercises and practice of actually designing a multi-layered MEMS device. The students received detailed instruction on MEMS design and fabrication, both from the custom and standard process perspectives. We even show them how to smartly leverage the standard process in a custom approach, how to intelligently approach MEMS development with a standard process pathway, and how to effectively work with foundries. We show them real examples from students just like themselves.
I remember similar short courses[that were not free!] 5-6 years ago offered by the old Cronos/JDSU outfit where we'd regularly sell out but attendance waned so much that we discontinued the offerings by 2002.
The result is that every student is qualified and prepared to create and submit a design for prototyping within 3-6 months after taking the course. Many of the students had never designed a MEMS device before taking the course but after three days of instructions and a few months of homework and study, they are ready to pump out a design.
Why doesn't this happen in the U.S.? Are we too focused on the one killer device that will make a good IPO or a strong case for a military contract, rather than instilling the basic fundamentals? Do we rely too much on professors to provide this level of instruction? Has the government blurred its vision as to what's important from an engineering fundamental standpoint?
Based on the experience we're having in the EU, it's clear to me that something as basic as this has a lot of value to students.
Suppose you could go to a local 3-day MUMPs training course for free[where even lunch and coffee were included!], is that something you might be interested in? [Sorry, shameless exploitation of an Entourage quote].
I'm interested to know your opinion so please leave a comment.
By the way, last week's course took place in Barcelona[an amazing city!] where every seat was taken by students from all over including Belgium, U.K., Saudi Arabia, France, and Spain! Next up: Ankara, Turkey and Glasgow, Scotland.
Anyone want to volunteer as a teaching assistant?
