Academic-Industrial Connections

An important step has been made in the collaboration between Intel and the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. The huge Intel Corporation – the American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer – has donated to the faculty an advanced characterization device that will help train undergraduate students as leading engineers and scientists.

The new device, called Atomic Force Probe (AFP), makes it possible to perform complex electrical measurements in nanotechnology devices. It came directly from the company’s research and development labs where it was used to develop innovative chips. The device will be available to the students in the faculty’s advanced laboratory courses, to characterize the electrical properties of nanometer structures that they create themselves.

L-R: Dr. Sigal Ben Zvi, director of Intel-Technion relations; Mariana Waxman, director of Intel Israel’s academic relations; Merav Chetrit, responsible for human capital planning for Intel Israel’s production centers; Prof. Gitti Frey, dean of the Technion’s Faculty of Science and Materials Engineering; Estee Gazit, academic relations coordinator at Intel Israel; and Prof. Yachin Ivry, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering

On behalf of the Technion, the initiative was led by Prof. Yachin Ivry. “The close and ongoing collaboration with Intel expresses our mutual commitment to training the future generation and helps us maintain the Technion’s status as a leading place for training materials engineers,” he asserted. “The device for electrical measurements that Intel is donating will allow students to characterize materials they produce in the laboratory courses in a way that reflects the material taught in the theoretical courses, while using current and relevant tools in an industry that is expected to absorb them after graduation.”

According to faculty dean Prof. Gitti Frey, “We attach great importance to the advanced lab courses, where the theoretical knowledge of the students is combined with the practical work on the research and engineering equipment that they will use outside the academics as well. The new equipment will allow us to expand and deepen this important experience during their undergraduate studies.”

Mariana Waksman, director of academic relations for Intel Israel. said: “Intel and the Technion have cooperated since the establishment of Intel Israel in 1974. It is important to us and will continue to be true in the future. The donated device will mean that not only the students from the faculty will benefit from it but also Israel’s semiconductor industry. We are committed to promoting academic teaching in the field and will continue to strengthen the Israeli academy through support and strategic collaborations with the various universities.”