High Performance Microchip Supply - Under Secretary of Defense ...

___________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATIONS
The military service research arms have also contributed major
research support to U.S. universities and research laboratories. Their
support has been for projects more aligned with DOD needs.
Support for microelectronics at Air Force Office of Scientific Research
(AFOSR), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Army Research Office
(ARO), however has dwindled over the past decade. These levels of
funding should be increased commensurate with the increases
planned for NSF.
As a result of recommendations by the Semiconductor
Technology Council chaired by Dr. Craig Barrett, President and CEO
of Intel, the Focus Center Research Program was instituted in 1999.
This effort is focused on long-range research with emphasis on
discovery in areas where evolutionary R&D may not find solutions.
Five focus centers have been established with 30 universities
participating. 37 To date, industry has provided the majority of the
support of the program, with the DOD contributing additional
funding and providing program management expertise through
DARPA. DOD funding needs to keep pace with industry
contributions. NIST is best positioned to focus research on many of
the metrology challenges identified in the International Technology
Roadmap for Semiconductors. When it was established in 1994, the
NIST Office of Microelectronics Programs was to start at $12 million
in annual funding and grow to $25 million. This level was not
achieved, but this task force considers this activity an important
contribution to the national microelectronics supply issue.
The United States must ensure that the American workforce is the
most competitive in the world. Recent initiatives begun in math,
science, and engineering education at both the K-12 and university
levels included in the NSF Authorization Act must be adequately
funded if the United States is to increase the number of citizens
pursuing math, science, and engineering degrees. The “No Child
Left Behind” Act must be adequately funded if the accountability and
standards goals are to be achieved. Foreign-born students who attain
37. The Center for Design and Test is located at the University of California Berkeley; The
Interconnection Center at Georgia Tech; Nanoscale materials at MIT; Circuits,
Systems, and Software at Carnegie Mellon; and Nanoelectronic Devices at UCLA.
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