President Joe Biden is making his second trip to Syracuse in less than two years on Thursday. This comes after the recent announcement that Micron will receive $6.1 billion in federal funding through the CHIPS and Science Act.

The last time Biden visited Syracuse, he came to Onondaga Community College (OCC). A professor discussed the memory chips Micron will produce, and how OCC is growing a pipeline of workers to build them.

“They’re everywhere," said Michael Grieb, an engineering associate professor at OCC. "They’re probably thousands of them in your phone alone.”

Everything that is electronic basically has this semiconductor technology within it, Grieb said. We use it every day in phones, computers and cars.

But what exactly does it do?

"It can be used to store information, very small bits of information, literally ones and zeroes," he said. "And it can help us to make the computer make decisions and store that information for later use while it's processing and doing complicated calculations of how to display your video, how to create audio signals, anything that we need it to do."

The market for them is huge. That’s why some state and federal leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are boosting Micron's arrival in Central New York.

With the company comes thousands of jobs in a rapidly growing industry, making a pipeline of talent a necessity. That’s where Onondaga Community College comes into play. 

"We developed an electromechanical technology program," Grieb said. "These are heavily focused on both automation and manufacturing. So how to make the chips and how that equipment is maintained to perform that function."

Launched last fall, there are now 60 students in the program with more than 70 expected to be enrolled next fall. The hands-on experience is vital. 

“So a lot of them include some activity that they get to actually build something, or wire something, connect something, see how motion and automation works," he said. "Some people, it feels more approachable if you can actually get your hands on something and see it interacting, you know, how does the electricity connect those wires together? How does that impact the system? So learning by doing is a really powerful tool.”

The way we use technology will continue to evolve.

“What we're seeing is the use of technology is saving energy," said Grieb. "It’s making us more efficient. It's allowing us more time to do things that we like to do. So I think you're going to see that we really are going to expand that over the next 20 years and for the foreseeable future.”

OCC is also constructing a Micron clean room simulation lab. That’s expected to be completed next year.