A dozen University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students depart today on a 7,000-mile trip to Taiwan for a semester-long engineering co-op that will introduce them to the Foxconn Technology Group’s liquid crystal display fabrication technology.
Officials with Foxconn and the university sent off the students with a ceremony Friday morning at Foxconn’s North American Headquarters in downtown Milwaukee.
The engineering and computer science students will spend five weeks at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan, studying Chinese language and culture, followed by 18 weeks at Foxconn subsidiary Innolux Corp. While at Innolux, the students will learn about display technologies, process control, manufacturing operation, project management and applications in the consumer electronics, medical and automotive sectors.
They will also learn about “future solutions and end devices” that could be produced at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park, the university said. The students will return to UWM on July 3.
“Wisconsin’s quality academic institutions are part of what brought us here to the Badger State. UWM’s support of this program is indicative of its steadfast commitment to its students’ academic and professional success,” said Alan Yeung, director of U.S. strategic initiatives for Foxconn, in a news release. “Talented and inspiring individuals like these 12 students are the kind of people that, as professionals, will help improve the quality of life of people worldwide through AI 8K+5G technology. Going forward, it is my hope we can expand this program and in doing so deepen our positive impact for Wisconsin.”
The launch of the program follows a series of reports in late January that raised questions about Foxconn’s plans for a factory in Wisconsin. The company responded to those claims by detailing its construction plans for the next 18 months, which include a liquid crystal module backend packaging plant, a high-precision molding factory, a system integration assembly facility, centers for rapid prototyping, research and development and data, and a town center. The list did not include a thin-film-transistor LCD fabrication facility.
Foxconn and UWM first announced the creation of the program in June 2018. Bringing the program to fruition has “moved at light speed from a university standpoint,” said Brett Peters, dean of UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science. It has also evolved over time, from initial plans of sending five students, to ultimately having 12 participants.
“This is an amazing opportunity for our students,” Peters said. “They will be exposed to the latest technology for LCD fabrication, will begin to see how this technology can be deployed in a range of applications, and will gain first-hand experience working at a global company in an international setting. That experience, coupled with their excellent technical education from UWM, will give them a huge advantage in their future careers.”
UWM civil engineering senior Liam Brodie is among the co-op participants. Brodie, whose studies and work have centered on water resources, said he wants to learn more about the water-intensive LCD manufacturing process.
“I knew I wanted to do this co-op because it will give me experience in the private sector, as well as an opportunity to travel, a very rare combination,” he said. “… At the Innolex plants, I’m curious to see how actual manufacturing industry is is real life and to see how pretty common and everyday materials are made, as well as advanced technology.”
Austin Wesner, a biomedical engineering student at UWM, said he is particularly interested in Foxconn’s planned medical group at the Mount Pleasant campus.
“I want to gain understanding of what engineering is like not only in the real world but with a company that has a remarkable history,” Wesner said.
The co-op is first of its kind offered by Foxconn in Wisconsin.
The Foxconn program is the second international internship/co-op program at the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science. Rockwell Automation established an internship program with the college in 2016 in which engineering students work at its facility in Shanghai, China, in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
