core sector communique

Agilent Technologies and Indium Corporation Provide Real-World Training for UC Davis Students

Agilent Technologies and Indium Corporation recently teamed together with UC Davis College of Engineering at the University of California to provide real world experiences for UC Davis students enrolled in a dual degree program for a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering.

The curriculum was designed to give students first-hand experience solving a materials science problem that had not yet been resolved, in this case performing wafer bonding using NanoFoil^®. The purpose of this program was to allow students the opportunity to appreciate the problems and issues that businesses experience from imperfect situations. The program designers included Mike Powers, Materials & Engineering Scientist at Agilent Technologies; Jacques Matteau, Global Sales Manager for NanoFoil and NanoBond® at Indium Corporation, and Professor Sabyasachi Sen from UC Davis.

Students were able to use equipment and facilities at the Agilent plant in Santa Clara, CA, supplemented with Indium Corporation’s new NanoFoil materials, to learn how to solve an actual materials science issue. This allowed UC Davis professors to teach theoretical principals and also give their students practical experience in a business environment. In addition to the hands-on experience and the classroom activities, Mike Powers and Jacques Matteau were available to provide information and answer questions to help the students work through their assignment.

“Indium Corporation was very excited to be a part of this project and I was most impressed with the enthusiasm that this group showed in trying to resolve the issue that Sabyasachi, Mike, and I laid out for them,” said Jacques Matteau.

Indium Corporation is a premier materials manufacturer and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, solar, thin-film and thermal management markets. Products include solders, preforms, and fluxes; brazes; sputter targets; indium, gallium, and germanium metals and inorganic compounds; and ReactiveNanoFoil. Founded in 1934, Indium has global technical support and factories located in China, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the USA.

As the world’s premier measurement company, Agilent offers the broadest range of innovative measurement solutions in the industry. The company’s four businesses – Chemical Analysis, Life Sciences, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Electronic Measurement – provide customers with products and services that make a real difference in the lives of people everywhere. Agilent Research Laboratoriesconducts research that anticipates customer needs and produces breakthroughs that power growth.

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has a community of more than 32,000 students, 2,500faculty and 21,000 staff; and is supported by an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate studies and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.