The program is part of an ongoing effort by the Osceola County School District to expand its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum. To create the new initiative, the School District has partnered with the SEMI Foundation, a California-based nonprofit organization that supports education and career awareness in the electronics and high-tech fields.

The result of the partnership is Osceola’s SEMI High Tech University, a three-day workshop for high school students who want to know more about technology careers. Students work directly with industry experts and participate in hands-on workshops. Osceola is the first school district in Florida to adopt the internationally acclaimed program.

BRIDG and the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ will take center stage when the first group of rising 11th graders come together June 13-15.

BRIDG is an industry-led consortium focused on the manufacturing development of advanced smart sensors, imagers and microchips. BRIDG, which was founded with support from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, held a ribbon-cutting in April to celebrate the opening of one of the most advanced fabrication labs in the world at NeoCity, located across from Osceola Heritage Park.

“It’s all about creating sustainable economic prosperity for our region and state,” BRIDG CEO Chester Kennedy said. “A critical component of economic transformation is creating job opportunities and having the skilled talent necessary for these jobs. This program is a way to help build the future workforce and spark interest in STEM-based careers early on.”

The NanoScience Technology Center in Central Florida Research Park houses university faculty members who conduct groundbreaking nanotech research in energy, electronics, medicine and other fields.

Students will tour both to investigate how high-tech STEM solutions are used to solve real-world problems, to enhance students’ perceptions about STEM, and to generate excitement for world-class, high-tech jobs in the area. A related program for teachers on June 7-8 is designed to connect the classroom experience to careers in technology for educators.

The program will be available to qualified students and teachers at no cost to them and serve as the pilot program for the Central Florida region.

The project, led by Kris Davis, a research engineer at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Florida Solar Energy Center, will largely take place at the university’s International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research in Osceola County where the tool will be among the first to be installed when the building opens in spring 2017.

Making the research manufacturable was critical to getting the federal funding and having the state-of-the-art facility in Osceola County where process engineers will be on staff to manage the equipment was also imperative, Davis said.

“This is the future,” he said of the process his team will use to ultimately produce thousands of solar cells an hour in and without the costly and cumbersome vacuum-based deposition processes typically used to convert silicon wafers into solar cells.

The partnership is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Sunshot Initiative and includes expertise provided by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and U.S.-based manufacturer, Suniva.

The Sunshot initiative is making solar energy systems cost-competitive with other forms of energy and has a goal of driving down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06 per kilowatt hour by 2020.  In many applications, like residential rooftops, solar power in in the United States is still two to three times that price point.

Davis says the challenge can only be met by both increasing efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs.  His team plans to increase efficiency by incorporating metal oxide materials into silicon solar cells. The materials will result in less energy loss when the cells are created. Lower costs will be achieved by using a manufacturing process called atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) to deposit the metal oxide films.

“The ACPVD tool offers an inexpensive way to deposit metal oxide films that can make solar cells much more efficient,” Davis said.   Essentially the tool eliminates the need to use expensive vacuum-based deposition equipment during the production process, instead relying on Nitrogen “gas curtains” to keep the substances separated until they combine at the silicon wafer surface, where they react to form the desired film.

Davis worked in Germany with SCHMID Group for two years developing APCVD processes and integrating APCVD films into silicon solar cells as optical coatings, passivation layers, and dopant sources. The APCVD tool is manufactured in the U.S. by SCHMID Thermal Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of SCHMID Group.

In this project, the team will use APCVD to form metal oxide materials that can act as contacts for silicon solar cells, eliminating the energy losses that can occur where metal and silicon interface. Fraunhofer ISE has demonstrated the effectiveness of these metal oxides on solar cells in a laboratory setting, and Davis said he is eager to work with Fraunhofer ISE to translate these metal oxide materials to large-scale manufacturing using APCVD.  Suniva, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of silicon solar cells and modules, will also support the effort by providing insight into the transition from lab-scale cells to high-volume manufacturing.

In three years, the team plans to have demonstrated the capability of manufacturing with the ACPVD metal oxides, setting the path for achieving the Sunshot goal.

Winston Schoenfeld, the Director of the Solar Technologies Research Division of the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) at the Florida Solar Energy Center and a co-investigator on the project, said the new manufacturing methods they will demonstrate will have application across industries.

“We are focused on solar but many, many other applications could benefit. At ICAMR we will have exposure to markets we don’t even know about,” he said.

Chester Kennedy, ICAMR CEO, said the project is an example of the type of federal funding ICAMR was established to attract.

“Having this facility in Osceola makes the Central Florida region competitive in ways we could only have imagined before,” he said.

ICAMR will use the one-time $10 million appropriation to purchase tools and equipment for manufacturing. The $5 million in continuing funds puts the consortium in a strong strategic position to pursue federal contracts, attract industry, and proceed with plans for a design center that will strengthen consortium’s ability to capitalize on the burgeoning sensor economy for years to come.

ICAMR leaders and partners thanked supporters including the Central Florida legislative delegation, led by Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, Gov. Rick Scott, and the many industry and community leaders who wrote letters and advocated for the project during the past several years.

“We are thankful for all who have so diligently carried the flag for ICAMR and we are looking forward to the returns this investment will bring to the state of Florida,” Chester Kennedy, ICAMR CEO said.

Osceola County, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Enterprise Florida and others have dedicated more than $162 million to develop the center that will be housed in a 109,000-square-foot advanced-manufacturing facility under construction in Osceola County.

Industry will use the facility to develop the tools and processes to manufacture sensors that connect people and their devices to the Internet of Things and enable devices of all kinds to communicate.

“We’ve assembled a great team that not only understands this project but is very capable of sharing that vision and getting decision-makers excited about the significance of what we are going to accomplish,” said Osceola County Manager Don Fisher. “This funding shows that the state is vested in the success of the project. Its commitment will play a key role in our efforts to continue to build our partnerships by bringing in top-flight companies and research organizations from around the world.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ President John C. Hitt also thanked supporters and said ICAMR is “a game changer” poised to give Florida a global competitive advantage in advanced manufacturing.

“Here, in our nation’s fast-growing, third-largest state, our alliance stands to reinvent the future of nano-electronics research and development in this country and beyond,” Hitt said. “We will position Central Florida to be a high-tech magnet for 21st century international industry.”

Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, said: “The corridor connects 23 counties and their tech clusters to our three great universities (Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, USF and UF) and ICAMR promises to exponentially expand this technology economy.”

Last June, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council committed funding and resources to develop the $61 million state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing research center.

Since then the total commitment for the project has grown to $162 million – still shy of the $195 million needed to build, equip and run the 100,000 square-foot facility for the first several years but enough to propel the center to recognition among semiconductor and other advanced manufacturers around the world.

“We started with the goal of being first out of the gate to build the type of facility industry needs to access the Internet of Things,” said Dan Holladay, executive director, operations and technology programs for ICAMR.

“We have made significant progress in technology development discussions with industry leaders and incorporating those requirements into our completed building plans,” he said.

The 20-acre site, located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 192 and Florida’s Turnpike, has been cleared and supplemented with 30 surrounding acres for development of the FARM – a research park that will house users of the facility.

The first phase of the building has been designed and construction is scheduled for completion by early 2017.

In the meantime ICAMR’s leadership staff have set up shop in offices in the Osceola County Courthouse. They spent part of June creating a comprehensive workshop for attendees of the Semicon West semiconductor conference, which begins Monday. The conference attracts more than 650 international exhibitors and ICAMR will lead the section on “Manufacturing Scale-up of Advanced Materials (III-Vs and other novel materials) for Next Generation Devices.”

The center is also making Central Florida a viable contender in federal awards competitions, playing a role in three major grants for a total of $500 million, Holladay said.

Because of the investment in ICAMR, Central Florida is in a stronger position to compete for the jobs of the future, he said.

The smart sensors industry is expected to be worth more than $154 billion by 2020.

Earlier today, Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed nearly $500 million from the state budget. Included in those vetoes were funds for several Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ projects, including Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Downtown.

While we are disappointed, we are not giving up. And we’re thankful for the groundswell of support from local and state leaders who remain confident in our plans to build this campus.

Together with Valencia College and the City of Orlando, we will determine our next steps, then share them in the next several weeks.

With our partners — and the 150-plus members of our Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Downtown Task Force — we have planned a campus that will provide our community access to first-class education, prepare our workforce of tomorrow and invest in the transformational future of our city and the Parramore community.

Today, Gov. Scott also vetoed funding for:

— Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s for sensors in Osceola County, which is a partnership between educational institutions, industry and government;

— and, the Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities, which would provide parents of students with intellectual disabilities with information about programs and opportunities throughout the state.

Despite the veto, our will still begin this fall on our main campus. This program will allow a select number of students to earn meaningful higher education credentials that will prepare them for more employment opportunities and fully participate in college life — living in dorms, joining clubs and making friends with their peers.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ projects approved in the state budget signed by Gov. Scott are:

— nearly $15 million in new funds based on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s academic performance, its students’ graduation and retention rates, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees awarded, among other metrics set by the Florida Board of Governors;

— and, $20 million for the Partnership Complex in the Central Florida Research Park, which will help to permanently house Department of Defense and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ simulation and training organizations, contributing to one of our state’s largest industries.

I echo President Hitt and many others at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in our sincere appreciation for your support and the efforts of those across Central Florida to advance these projects. We know they are important to students, our economy and the community, and we will continue working on moving them forward.

“Lots of imaging systems need revolutionary design and I hope to carry on that coming to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝,” said Sean Pang, an assistant professor in CREOL, the College of Optics & Photonics.

“The fundamental design for light microscopes hasn’t changed for 400 years, but now we have light sources and sensors with much better performance. There is lots of space for innovational imaging methods.”

His research will focus on developing multidimensional imaging platforms for biological research, medical diagnosis, and industrial-imaging applications in both visible and X-ray regimes.

“For example, how to shrink down medical imaging systems and make them available for everyone – as simple as taking a photo and sending it to a doctor for diagnosis,” he said. “Research in imaging is one of the most important and enabling technologies in our century.”

Pang received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology. Before joining Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, he conducted his postdoctoral research in X-ray imaging at Duke University. He has a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Texas A&M University and a bachelor’s degree in optical engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The lab currently is staffed by Pang and one graduate student. He hopes to add a couple more graduate students next year and expand work on some projects with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s new in Osceola County, the world’s first industry-led smart-sensor development center.

“A lot of our research can be complimentary and we can contribute to the center,” Pang said.

That revolutionary high-tech change will occur at a new state-of-the-art manufacturing development center for the next generation of smart sensors, said Holladay, a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ director of Research and Commercialization.

“These are sensors that will have significantly better functionality and that can sense things we can’t measure today – or measure multiple things and analyze them to provide valuable information,” said Holladay, who is also the executive director of Operations and Technology Programs at the new International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research, the world’s first industry-led smart-sensor consortium.

The enterprise is housed at the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, which was announced last year and is being built on property owned by the county and previously known as Judge Farms near Florida’s Turnpike and U.S. 192. The project is a partnership of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Osceola County, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, University of Florida, University of South Florida, Florida International University and the State of Florida.

The 20-acre site will become the anchor operation for an eventual 350-acre high-tech campus.

Today, most sensors are more basic, he said, such as simply detecting and correcting an upside down image on a cell phone screen.

Smart sensors of the future will have more power and be more resistant to harsh environments, allowing them to redefine appliances, automobiles, agricultural equipment and other industries. They will not only be capable of measuring or sensing a multitude of parameters, but will be able to do self-analysis, self-calibrate or self-identify, and then communicate that information to the necessary source, such as a doctor. The technology is expected to be so sensitive that it can detect things beyond human capabilities and provide health care providers with new tools to fight cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions.

Before coming to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Holladay spent more than three decades in the semiconductor industry, working in both manufacturing and research and development. Now he is leading the charge with the university partners to create what Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ President John C. Hitt said will be an economic game changer for the entire region.

The center is expected to have 250 high-tech jobs when it opens next year, and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission says the facility could attract up to 80,000 high-wage jobs in the years to come.

Osceola has agreed to invest $87 million for construction and equipment,  for a total contribution of nearly $138 million. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ is committed to provide $10 million from non-state and non-tuition sources to help build the center, and another $7 million for faculty hires. The university will lease the center for $1 a year and operate the 100,000-square-foot facility.

Another boost to the center could come later this year in the form of a $220 million federal initiative to build an Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ is leading a team of industry partners and four other universities to create that institute at the Osceola smart-sensor facility should it win the federal bid.

The institute would provide for testing, workforce development, assembly and other functions for the photonics industry. The Department of Defense is expected to award $110 million for the project later this year, to be matched by investment from institutions and industry.

The consortium is one of three selected by the Department of Defense to submit proposals. The other two groups chosen are the Research Foundation for the State University of New York and The University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute.

“Dr. Hitt’s goal is to be the leading industry partner, and this is a perfect linkage to that,” Holladay said. “This will enable a lot of other emerging technologies, and this is going to help mankind in a lot of areas.”

With confirmed interest of more than 55 companies spanning the entire value-chain of integrated photonics, PRISM is seeking additional interested industry partners to participate in the development of an agenda of priority challenges in the evolution of integrated photonics.  PRISM is gearing up to submit a full proposal by March 31.

The Department of Defense will award $110 million to the winner of the IP-IMI, which will bridge the gap between basic research and product development. Proposers are required to make an equal investment in the project.  PRISM is anchored by $120 million in investments already committed by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Osceola County, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and Enterprise Florida in a 100,000- square-foot state of the art advanced manufacturing research facility being built in Osceola County. That facility is managed by the International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research (ICAMR), a non-profit industry-led consortium.

PRISM is led by Winston Schoenfeld, who currently serves as director of the crystalline silicon (c-Si) branch of the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), and was responsible for the establishment of the first industry-led domestic manufacturing consortium for c-Si photovoltaics.  He also serves as director of the Solar Technologies Research Division at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s Florida Solar Energy Center, and is an associate professor of optics at CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics. Schoenfeld has a broad background that spans both academia and industry, including high-tech startups, uniquely positioning him to lead this effort across industrial, academic, and government sectors.

The competition seeks to strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base by developing innovations utilizing photonics circuits and identifying and overcoming obstacles in fabrication, packaging, testing and validation.

Osceola County’s more than $61 million investment for design, construction and equipment costs associated with the facility in addition to the land, makes pursuit of the grant more feasible, officials said.

Additional collaborators have the opportunity to help shape PRISM’s response to the federal call to provide national leadership in establishing a robust and vital integrated photonics industry.

Political leaders have embraced the efforts of PRISM and ICAMR and emphasize the potential economic impact such an ambitious project will have in the region.

Congressman Dan Webster, who represents Florida’s 10th district including part of the I-4 corridor, said “The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ College of Optics and Photonics is a recognized leader in photonics-related R&D, and I am excited for the positive impact that this industry cluster will have on Florida’s economic stability. Photonics is a critical aspect to our national security and global competitiveness, and I am in full support of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s new initiative.”

Congressman Alan Grayson, whose district includes Osceola County, expressed excitement for the possibility of manufacturing growth in Central Florida and said Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ has the strengths needed to lead the effort.

“The university is a global leader in the photonics field and it is uniquely positioned to lead this nationwide effort,” Grayson said. “An institute of this kind would be an incredible asset to the Central Florida community, bringing new employment opportunities to the area, increasing higher-wage jobs, and expanding our state’s economy.”

And Sen. Bill Nelson, who has been a consistent supporter of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ and its research efforts, said, “This is yet another feather in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝â€™s cap as the university continues to establish itself as a major research institution.”

Securing federal funding for PRISM would greatly add to the roughly 30,000 photonics-related jobs in the state, said Alex Fong, president of the Florida Photonics Cluster. While a 2009 report by The Corridor and Florida Photonics Cluster put the gross regional product at $3.65 billion and sales of these companies at $7.27 billion, the national impact of the industry rises to more than $3 trillion.

Potential partners are encouraged to contact project lead Michael Macedonia at Michael.Macedonia@ucf.edu or (407) 453-1551.

In the last 30 years, the Internet revolution has completely changed how people communicate, exchange money, and explore the world. Access to the Internet has transitioned from the desktop computer to hand-held and even wearable devices.

By 2020, engineers predict that 20 billion items will be connected to and controlled through the Internet, such as thermostats, cars and even coffee makers.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝-UF partnership is called the MIST (Multi-functional Integrated System Technology) Center, and was selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to play a leading role in researching the next generation of “smart” electronics.

Funded through an NSF program that combines federal money with industry investments in strategic research, the MIST Center will receive $880,000 from the NSF, and about $4 million from industry and government partners.

“The MIST Center will shape what our smart electronics will look like in the near future,” said Jiann-Shiun Yuan, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ MIST director and professor in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝’s Electrical and Computer Engineering division. “Our faculty and students will have the opportunity to perform advanced research driven by industry needs for smart sensors and integrated systems.”

The MIST Center will also feed manufacturing-ready technologies to the newly established International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research (ICAMR) in Osceola County. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝, Osceola, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission and other partners are  building the 100,000 sqaure foot state-of-the-art research center focused on the manufacturing of Smart sensors to target the mega-growth technologies offered by the Internet of Things.

The MIST Center is a collaborative center housed in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ and UF. The team comprises faculty from multiple disciplines, including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science & engineering, biomedical, and chemistry, and the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ College of Optics and Photonics. The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ team is led by Yuan and Hyoung Jin Cho, professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The UF team is led by Toshi Nishida and David Arnold, professors in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“The opportunity to work with NSF, UF and industry on this strategically important research boosts our national and international visibilty and is a win-win for all involved,” said Michael Gerogiopoulos, dean of  College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The MIST Center will host its inaugural meeting with industry and government partners in December 2014.