MOMENTUM: Indiana Uplands Microelectronics Workforce Development is the name for ROI’s portfolio of regional ME programs, including the ME Training Hub, ME Academy, soldering training, and curriculum development.
Read the IBJ’s full story, Building momentum, building talent, to learn about the High School ME Academy and the ME Training Hub at WestGate@Crane, where students are gaining hands-on experience, dual credits, and industry-aligned training in one of the nation’s fastest-growing fields. Built in partnership with local schools, higher education institutions, and regional employers, the Academy provides real-world skills and meaningful exposure to defense-sector careers that are shaping the future of the Indiana Uplands.
New hub and academy align ME training opportunities with defense and industry workforce needs
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Industry leaders, defense partners, educators, students, families, and local officials joined together on September 29 to celebrate the opening of the Indiana Uplands Microelectronics (ME) Training Hub at the WestGate@Crane Technology Park, a milestone in building the region’s advanced ME workforce pipeline.
Hosted by Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) and Reliable MicroSystems (Rel-Micro), the event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the state-of-the-art hub and lab facilities.
ROI’s Indiana Uplands ME Training Hub features a dedicated classroom and lab space designed to immerse students in hands-on learning experiences. Inside, students have access to advanced workstations, electronic testing and design equipment, a training cleanroom, and specialized software used across the microelectronics industry. The facility is outfitted for dual-enrollment coursework, technical training, and applied projects that mirror real-world defense and industry needs. By co-locating the Hub within Rel-Micro, students are also exposed to a professional engineering environment where research, design, and prototyping are actively underway.
Attendees toured both ROI’s new Indiana Uplands ME Training Hub and Rel-Micro’s facility, gaining firsthand insight into how K–12 schools, post-secondary schools, industry, and defense partners are collaborating to prepare the next generation of microelectronics talent.
Prior to the ribbon-cutting, a student signing ceremony marked the inaugural cohort of the Indiana Uplands ME Academy. Students from Bloomfield, Loogootee, and Washington High Schools signed on as the first cohort, committing to a multi-year experience that will provide hands-on training, dual-enrollment coursework, industry-recognized credentials, paid job experiences, and career exploration in the high-tech, high-demand field of microelectronics.
As part of the event, ROI also introduced “MOMENTUM: Indiana Uplands Microelectronics Workforce Development,” the new name for its portfolio of workforce projects aligned with local ME career opportunities specific to the Uplands region. MOMENTUM reflects the region’s accelerating collaboration with K–12 schools, post-secondary institutions, industry, and defense partners to build a vertically aligned talent pipeline in one of America’s most critical technology sectors.
“The ME Hub is a cornerstone in ROI’s portfolio of ME projects and it represents a powerful collaboration to ensure that students and adults in the Indiana Uplands have exposure and pathways into one of the most critical industries of our time,” said Tina Peterson, ROI’s President and CEO. “With the launch of MOMENTUM, we’re uniting education, workforce, and national security priorities under one banner that signals our commitment to sustained progress while positioning our region and our young people for long-term success.”
Rel-Micro emphasized the importance of connecting education with industry needs. “We are proud to host the ME Training Hub within our facility and partner with ROI to give students direct access to the tools, expertise, and environment where innovation happens every day,” said Julia Buckley, Chief Operating Officer of Reliable MicroSystems. “This partnership will help to ensure that our regional’s workforce begins developing the skills and experiences required for America’s microelectronics industry right here in the Indiana Uplands.”
Collectively, the ME Training Hub, ME Academy, and the MOMENTUM brand build upon ROI’s multi-year ME program introduced in September 2024. Supported by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, ROI is undertaking a comprehensive set of ME workforce development programs to:
- Promote microelectronics-related careers in the Indiana Uplands
- Accelerate students and workers through training pipelines
- Inspire the next generation of skilled professionals critical to U.S. competitiveness
The Indiana Uplands is uniquely positioned to lead in microelectronics workforce development because of its strong defense presence. The region is home to Naval Support Activity Crane (NSA Crane), the third-largest naval installation in the world and the 11th-largest single-site employer in Indiana. Through its tenants — Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) and Crane Army Ammunition Activity (CAAA) — NSA Crane anchors a defense ecosystem that generates more than $3 billion in annual economic impact. For every ten jobs at NSA Crane, another six exist in defense-related industries and activities throughout the region.
This robust cluster includes federal missions reinforced by a growing network of private-sector contractors and innovators focused on advanced technologies such as microelectronics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and hypersonics. By situating the ME Training Hub at WestGate@Crane, ROI and Rel-Micro are directly aligning education and workforce development with these regional strengths, ensuring the Indiana Uplands continues to serve as a national leader in defense and advanced technology.
“The ME Training Hub at WestGate@Crane is a critical addition to strengthening the workforce pipeline that supports NSWC Crane and the broader defense industrial base,” said Dr. Angela Lewis, Technical Director at NSWC Crane. “By equipping students with skills aligned to the needs of our installations and industry partners, this initiative ensures the Indiana Uplands is not only preparing young people for high-value careers but also advancing national security through a resilient and ready talent pool.”
“For rural students, the Indiana Uplands ME High School Academy is a game-changer,” said Dr. Shelley Christmas, Assistant Superintendent of Loogootee Community Schools. “It opens doors to exciting, high-tech careers that they may not have never considered possible. By connecting students with career exploration, skill development, and internships in microelectronics, we are helping them identify a clear, attainable path to meaningful work here in southern Indiana. This program inspires our students to dream big while also showing them they don’t have to leave the region to achieve success. With these kinds of opportunities, students are more likely to stay and contribute to the prosperity of their home communities.”
For more information on ROI’s MOMENTUM program, visit: https://regionalopportunityinc.org/microelectronics/.
About Regional Opportunity Initiatives
Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance economic and community prosperity in the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands (Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington counties). ROI is growing potential and possibility in the Uplands through a focus on advanced industry sectors, regionalism, transformative school and workforce redesign, and placemaking strategies.
About Reliable MicroSystems
Reliable MicroSystems (Rel-Micro) assists the Department of Defense, and its Defense Industrial Base (DIB) partners, with affordable and rapid access to radiation-hardened digital engineering capabilities for emerging microelectronic technologies. Rel-Micro’s capabilities include modeling of electronic circuit resiliency, simulation tools for microelectronic risk assessment, design of high-reliability integrated circuits, and implementation of fault-tolerant techniques. More information can be found at https://reliablemicrosystems.com/.
Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) has been awarded a three-year contract for $9,577,447 million for its multi-layered microelectronics (ME) workforce initiative. The project, funded through the Department of Defense (DoD)’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, supports the National Defense Industrial Strategy’s priorities of enhancing Supply Chain Resilience and Workforce Readiness. ROI’s multi-year approach may extend the project for two additional years for a five-year contract value of $15,017,577.
Over the life of the award, ROI will collaborate with K-12 schools, postsecondary colleges and universities, employer partners, and other institutions to develop and enhance the region’s ME ecosystem and expertise through a Rural Indiana Workforce Development for Microelectronics project.
Through vertically aligned and integrated activities, ROI and its partners will promote microelectronics-related careers, accelerate students and workers into and through training and development pipelines, and inspire the next generation of industrial skilled professionals. Examples of deployed activities across the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands will include K-12 microelectronics education and career awareness outreach, Ivy Tech postsecondary certifications, youth apprenticeship programming with ME industry partners, and the development of an ME regional education and training hub.
ROI’s IBAS award supports the goals of the National Imperative for Industrial Skills (NIIS) initiative to promote the prestige of manufacturing and industrial careers, accelerate training development pipelines, and elevate U.S. manufacturing to world-leading status. Since its launch in 2020, DoD has supported more than 50 public-private NIIS projects across the country to reignite U.S. industrial modernization, boost manufacturing and engineering skills and workforce development, and strengthen economic, defense, and national security capabilities.
ROI’s ME education and workforce initiative builds on the region’s growing leadership and prominence in microelectronics. Since 2021, the Indiana Uplands has seen significant investments to enhance the region’s ecosystem as a national leader for ME research, development, testing, and packaging, including:
- Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, a premier federal laboratory, continues to add DoD-wide contract authority, attracting significant talent and interest in partnerships with industry to provide science, technology, research, and comprehensive support for complex military systems. Today, 65% percent of NSWC Crane’s 3,900 employees and 2,500 contractors are scientists, engineers, and technicians, with a 60% growth in PhDs over the last five years.
- Just beyond the gates of Naval Support Activity Crane, along Interstate 69, is WestGate@Crane, a 750-acre research technology park that has grown to 50 tenants spanning from Fortune 500 firms to startups producing cutting-edge technology and research in microelectronics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and hypersonics. Design has also begun for a trusted advanced packaging multi-company ME manufacturing campus at WestGate@Crane, which will speed the re-shoring of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-tech jobs with average salaries of more than $100K/year.
- The Indiana Uplands is home to the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub, one of eight CHIPS and Science Act-funded regional innovation hubs. Led by the Applied Research Institute, SCMC was awarded $32.9 million for microelectronics prototyping and workforce development and is focusing initially on secure edge/IOT computing, 5g/6g technology, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, electromagnetic warfare, and commercial leap-ahead technologies.
- In June, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame established The Indiana Research Consortium, a first-of-its-kind joint research effort to drive innovations and advancements in areas critical to U.S. national security and NSWC Crane, including microelectronics, hypersonics, energetics, and cyber-physical systems.
- In the last year, Indiana University and Purdue University have both announced multi-year ME, AI, and cybersecurity investments in facilities, equipment, faculty and initiatives in collaboration with NSWC Crane. These investments will accelerate innovative solutions to security challenges and boost the growth of the Indiana and U.S. microelectronics industry.
- ROI is facilitating K-12 school district curriculum alignment efforts with Indiana’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) network. Led by Purdue University, funded by the Department of Defense, supported by financial matching from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and managed by NSWC Crane, SCALE is a public-private academic partnership of 22 universities and 48 partners within the defense industry and government to help prepare students for ME careers in the defense sector. The SCALE workforce development program includes unique courses, mentoring, internships, research projects, scholarships, and job placement.
“The Indiana Uplands continues to be laser-focused on growing upon its significant capabilities and capacity as an innovation hub,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson. “The IBAS investment offers additional evidence that this region is positioned to leverage its often-unparalleled expertise in advanced technologies to not only bring opportunity to our region and our state but also to support national imperatives. NSWC Crane’s legacy expertise in microelectronics and semiconductors coupled with that of Indiana’s three research universities has allowed this region and its partners across the state to step forward expeditiously and lead at a time of critical importance.”
Peterson added that ROI is committed to doing its part to ensure that our defense partners have the talent necessary to deliver upon their opportunities and potential. “We are grateful to the DoD for providing the resources through this program to accelerate the development of an ME workforce prepared to succeed in these technical, high-wage professions,” she said. “Both the size of the sector in the region and the scale of its mission requires a continuous and growing focus on talent development, retention, and attraction.”
The Indiana Uplands region is home to Naval Support Activity Crane, the third-largest Naval Installation in the world and the 11th-largest single-site employer in Indiana. For every ten jobs at NSA Crane through its tenants Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane) and Crane Army Ammunition Activities (CAAA), another six jobs exist in defense-related industry and activities throughout the region.
The region’s robust defense cluster represents a multi-faceted private enterprise with activities of the federal government reinforced and supported by an innovation ecosystem of defense contracting companies. The defense sector in Indiana Uplands focuses on engineering, technology, storage, production, and demilitarization services. Building on the strengths of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane), research and development focused on advanced technologies that include microelectronics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and hypersonics.
NSA Crane, NSWC Crane, and regional defense contractors have a combined economic impact of over $3 billion annually for the Uplands region.
“We are thrilled IBAS is investing in the region through this partnership with ROI,” said Jenna Dix, Director of Engagement with NSWC Crane. “This initiative is a great complement to other activities in the state around microelectronics and is exactly what is needed to continue Indiana’s leadership in this critical technology area.”
About Regional Opportunity Initiatives:
ROI advances economic and community prosperity in the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands (Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington counties) and is growing potential and possibility through a focus on advanced industry sectors, regionalism, transformative school and workforce redesign, and placemaking strategies. More information can be found at www.regionalopportunityinc.org and www.inuplands.org.
About NSWC Crane:
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions, and Electromagnetic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s Warfighter. More information can be found at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane/.
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