One scorecard finds that the top states for quality of life aren’t necessarily the top states to live in, but three northeastern states make the top 10 in both.
Brief reports deliver updates on American Battery Technology’s plans in a county along the Savannah River; Reckitt Benckiser’s life sciences project east of Raleigh; and a massive $10 billion AI data center project from Blackstone in Northumberland, England, in a coastal town known for its industry and its fish and chips.
Holtec and Rolls-Royce (whose SMR concept is pictured here) were among four finalists announced last week in the UK government’s competition to build the next generation of nuclear reactors.
Rendering courtesy of Rolls-Royce
The past two weeks have seen reports about Microsoft wanting to power its AI by reopening the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and Holtec establishing a small modular reactor (SMR) plant and learning academy in the United Kingdom for the next generation of nuclear power. It seems Joe Hines’ piece in our July issue on the potential for hyperscale data center operators to deploy nuclear power remains on point.
Nuclear power remains part of the picture in the new British government’s Great British Energy plan, which will headquarter the newly created publicly owned company in Aberdeen, Scotland, with smaller sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
An illustration depicts the interface between the semimetal bismuth and the 2D semiconductor molybdenum disulfide.
Rendering courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NSF
Multiple programs from the private and public spheres continue to address the need for trained talent in the semiconductor industry. In early September, the National Science Foundation and Micron announced four projects to advance STEM education training to be held at Nazareth College of Rochester (New York); Millersville University (Pennsylvania); Eastern Washington University and Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. A week later the NSF partnered with Intel, Micron, Samsung and Ericsson to announce $42.4 million in semiconductor research grants awarded to schools across the country. And last Friday saw the NSF and Department of Commerce announce a $30 million funding opportunity to establish the Network Coordination Hub that will manage the National Network for Microelectronics Education (NNME) and lead its national strategy to train skilled workers. Proposers interested in operating the Network Coordination Hub must apply by Oct. 28, 2024, at 4 p.m. EDT.
Last week saw the launch of the National Semiconductor Technology Center’s (NSTC) Workforce Center of Excellence with $11.5 million in grants going to a first cohort of awardees that includes the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation (working with Micron in high schools across New York, Michigan, and Minnesota); the Idaho Technology Council; Maricopa County Community College District; Rochester Institute of Technology; Texas A&M University; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Editor in Chief Adam Bruns made this photo eight days ago during a rainy Sunday spent entirely at the Art Institute of Chicago (if you don’t count Miller’s Pub on Wabash afterward). The Triton Fountain in McKinlock Court was completed in 1931 by Swedish-American sculptor Carl Milles and is a replica of his original work in Copenhagen completed in 1926.
