Onondaga Community College on Thursday unveiled renderings for their new clean room simulation lab, made possible, in part, by Micron. It gave students a close look at the semiconductor manufacturing process that's coming to Central New York.

Micron officials, Onondaga Community College leaders, County Executive Ryan McMahon and representatives from across the community scoped out the conceptual depictions of the 5,000-square-foot space, revealed for the first time.

Michael Grieb, who leads the applied technology program at OCC, said the clean room simulation lab will be a game-changer for students.

“Semiconductors are down at a scale that’s so small, that we can’t really see those with our eyes,” he said. “So it takes a while for students to really become aware of what the skill set needs, and this room will allow us to have that.”

Micron officials said it’s part of their efforts to invest in the area's education system and create a pipeline from the classroom to the workplace.

“OCC is going to allow us to reach and broaden the pipeline, and we need to maximize the pipeline, whether it’s Ph.D, four-year engineering degrees, two-year degrees,” said Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of global operations for Micron.

One student hoping to take advantage of that pipeline through one of two Micron-related programs at OCC is Allison Wilcox.

Opening in 2025, she said seeing the plans for the 5,000-square-foot space funded by separate $5 million contributions from Micron, Onondaga County and the state had her looking forward to the future.

“Personally, I’m grateful for the experience and the opportunity,” she said. “I haven’t even seen the facility, so to see it unveiled is like ‘wow, it’s really happening.’”

The college says while the clean room won’t be exactly the same as a fully operational clean room, it will allow some margin for error, being able to get as close as possible to the real process will be invaluable to students.