Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 11 November 7, 1996 - Motorola forms partnership with Engineering

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Motorola forms partnership with Engineering

By Liz Crumbley

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 11 - November 7, 1996

The Virginia Tech College of Engineering is one of four schools nation-wide selected for strategic partnerships with Motorola Semiconductors in Austin, Texas.

The partnerships, also extended to the Rochester Institute of Technology, Texas A&M, and University of Texas at Austin, will include the recruitment of students for internships and cooperative education and post-graduation jobs with Motorola. The company also will consider strategic equipment donations and support of selected research at the engineering schools.

"Motorola will work with these key schools to forward both industry and university goals," said Jim George, vice-president and general manager of Motorola's Imaging and Storage Division in Austin.

George, who will be the executive liaison with Virginia Tech, said the engineering college was chosen for a number of reasons. "Tech is a logical choice as the leading engineering school in Virginia and a leader in the region," he commented. "Our Austin plant employs numerous Tech graduates and we've had good results. Students are getting a good engineering education at Tech."

George cited the engineering college's courses and research in integrated-circuits design and microelectronics as a draw for Motorola, as well as the college's participation in the Virginia Microelectronics Consortium, a research-and-education program that also includes the College of William and Mary, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Also, George said, Virginia is becoming a strategic location for microelectronics investment. The Motorola-Siemans joint-venture semi-conductor plant in Henrico County is under construction, he said, and Motorola has announced plans to build an anchor site for future expansion in Goochland County. In addition, IBM and Toshiba are building a joint-venture semi-conductor plant in Manassas.

Motorola already is involved in several industrial affiliate partnerships with Tech engineering research facilities, George said, including the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group and the Center for Wireless Communications, both in the electrical and computer engineering department.