Sen. Sherrod Brown gets tour of LCCC semiconductor training lab

ELYRIA — Peering into microscopes, first-year students practiced soldering tiny resistors and capacitors Monday morning in the otherworldly lighting of a clean room at Lorain County Community College. Professor Johnny Vanderford walked up and down a row of workstations, checking craftsmanship. "Think about how much better this looks compared to the first time we did this, folks," he said. "This looks really good." Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, walked into the sterile laboratory a few minutes later, wearing a white coat and hair net. He circled the room, asking students how the program works and what they plan to do with LCCC's certifications and new four-year degree in microelectronics manufacturing. Brown was fascinated by 16-year-old Mason Moreck, an Avon High School student. When he graduates in 2024, Moreck will be the first to earn a bachelor's degree from the college at the same time he earns a high school diploma. LCCC President Marcia Ballinger said more than 100 students earned associate degrees this year in tandem with their high school diplomas, but Moreck is on a whole other level. He said he wants to completely understand how semiconductors are built and operate before moving into the business side of the industry. "I'd rather instruct people how to do it and find ways to make things really efficient," he said. "So this is just the start." Kurtis Jeffries, 29, of South Amherst, graduated from the LCCC microelectronics program earlier this year and works at Dan-Mar in Norwalk. The company specializes in design, development and manufacturing of electronic products. He said companies like Dan-Mar and Intel are desperate for workers who have the kind of training LCCC provides. "This is really beneficial for a company like Intel, to get people who are used to gowning-up procedures, used to electrostatic discharge policies," he said. Intel's $20 billion production plant in Licking County is scheduled to come online in 2025. Brown said it will need 5,000 skilled tradespeople — electricians, carpenters, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, operators and laborers — in addition to those who know how to make semiconductors. "So we're going to scale up these trades jobs. These are all really strong, solid middle-class jobs, and they'll last for 10 or 15 or 20 years," he said. Gregory Vance, an engineer at Rockwell Automation in Mayfield Heights, said his company also needs skilled machine operators, solderers and repair technicians to build control systems for companies like General Motors, Toyota, General Mills and Anheuser-Busch. He has about 45 openings right now, starting at $18 per hour, but filling those jobs has been tremendously difficult. "These skills lack throughout the state of Ohio and throughout the United States," which is why the microelectronics manufacturing program at LCCC is so valuable. Brown agreed. He wants to replicate the high-tech workforce development effort across the entire state. A more aggressive investment will be needed, though, he said. "The legislature has been skimpy on helping community colleges, frankly," Brown said. "The legislature's more interested in tax cuts for rich people than they are investing in public education. But these community colleges have figured out a way to survive and thrive and will continue to." Under President Joe Biden, there is a renewed emphasis on supporting manufacturing, Brown said. It is a response to shortfalls from outsourcing. Manufacturing jobs were first moved to the South "for cheap labor," he said — then they were sent to Mexico and China. "We're seeing that turn around now, finally, with this new industrial policy," Brown said. Vanderford said demand for training is rising, too. LCCC just doubled its capacity for the program's incoming students this semester, and he believes it needs to expand again. Every class offered at the Desich Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center is designed to get students hired, he told Brown. Ballinger said it's the only facility in Northeast Ohio where students can train in a clean room and practice building semiconductors. Students enrolled there have a 100 percent job placement rate, she said — state funding is based on whether students are hired into jobs. "We don't want to teach you skills that won't get you employed," said. Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.