Two state grants totaling $9.3 million will support a training center for adults with developmental disabilities in Cabot and semiconductor projects at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, officials announced Friday.
The Jobs 4 You Cabot Workforce Training Center in Lonoke County will receive $2 million. According to a press release from the governor’s office, UA’s multi-user silicon carbide (MUSiC) manufacturing facility will receive $7.3 million in funding. The money comes from the state’s restricted reserve fund, Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin said.
In a statement, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “These investments support two of my administration’s top priorities: opening career paths for Arkansans, regardless of ability, and ensuring that Arkansans, like communist China, “It will be directed toward confronting foreign enemies.” She announced the release of the funds alongside Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson.
“The MUSiC program is critical to helping our nation bring semiconductor production home and help develop Arkansas’ backyard industry,” Sanders said.
“Beyond the construction of the building, the actual investment will benefit from the job training and advanced research that will take place at both facilities and the contributions they will make to the workforce of the future,” Hudson said. Ta.
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MUSiC facility
University of Arkansas opened up the ground The 18,660-square-foot semiconductor research and manufacturing facility will be completed in August 2023, according to the 2021 report. A $17.87 million National Science Foundation grant is funding construction and operations, according to a 2021 report. UA press release.
The new facility will produce microelectronic chips made from silicon carbide, a material that performs more reliably than regular silicon chips under adverse conditions and high frequencies.
The governor’s press release said the facility “will help advance the development and commercialization of silicon carbide (SiC) power devices for use in military, civilian, industrial, and medical devices.”
By locating research and chip production in Fayetteville, the U.S. can reduce its dependence on imported chips from China, Sanders said.
Alan Mantooth, distinguished professor of electrical engineering and principal investigator of the facility, said in 2023 that the facility will accelerate technological progress while bridging traditional university research and the needs of private industry.
training center
In February, the Arkansas Enterprise for the Developmentally Disabled announced it would spend $7 million to build a training center and two new transition facilities for developmentally disabled adults at risk of homelessness.
The 10,000-square-foot, $3.2 million training center will be built on 3.79 acres in Cabot. leader Reported in February. The facility is expected to open in 2026 and train up to 60 people a year, the paper said.
The center will create 38 new jobs and serve North Pulaski, Faulkner, Lonoke, Prairie and White counties, according to the governor’s press release.
State Rep. Brian Evans (R-Cabot) said the training center will empower adults with developmental disabilities in the area “by providing skills development and meaningful employment opportunities.”
This article was updated at 3:45 p.m. to include the source of the grant.
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