Sandia National Labs Academic Programs Collaboration Report

Microelectronics agreement facilitates collaborations

A microelectronics non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed between Sandia and UT Austin opened the pathway for numerous successful partnerships. The NDA executed in March 2022 permits collaboration on a number of joint microelectronics funding opportunities, including funding preparation advisement on the “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors” (CHIPS) Act by the TX Institute of Electronics (TIE), and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Acts. Sandia and UT are also collaborating on a response to the DOE/Semiconductor Microelectronics Hub call for proposals. A key meeting in December 2021 brought UT leadership to visit Sandia’s microelectronics facilities, providing the foundation that built toward this significant microelectronics agreement. The UT leadership team included Director of UT’s Nanomanufacturing Center (NASCENT)

SV Sreenivasan, Cockrell School of Engineering Associate Dean for Research John Ekerdt, Microelectronics Research Center Director Sanjay Banerjee, Director of Space & Geophysics at UT’s Applied Research Labs (ARL) Thomas Gaussiran, and Johnathan York from ARL. Together, they met with Sandia’s Microsystems Engineering, Science and Applications (MESA) and Center for Integrated Nano Technologies (CINT) leadership, the Associate Lab Director for Advanced Science & Technologies and Chief Research Officer Susan Seestrom, Deputy Director for Technology Maturation Kate Helean, and Global Security Associate Labs Director and former UT Austin Campus Executive Justine Johannes. Sandia provided a letter of support for the recent $100M TX Legislature Award and agreed to advise UT Austin on strategy development.

Sandia MESA Director Kate Helean attended the Microelectronics NDA signing between UT Austin and Sandia in March 2022.

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Academic Programs