Agilent Technologies and Indium Corporation recently teamed together with UC Davis College of Engineering at the University of California to provide real world experiences for UC Davis students enrolled in a dual degree program for a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering.

The curriculum was designed to give students first-hand experience solving a materials science problem that had not yet been resolved, in this case performing wafer bonding using NanoFoil. The purpose of this program was to allow students the opportunity to appreciate the problems and issues that businesses experience from imperfect situations. The program designers included Mike Powers, Materials & Engineering Scientist at Agilent Technologies; Jacques Matteau, Global Sales Manager for NanoFoil and NanoBond at Indium Corporation, and Professor Sabyasachi Sen from UC Davis.

Students were able to use equipment and facilities at the Agilent plant in Santa Clara, California supplemented with Indium Corporation's new NanoFoil materials, to learn how to solve an actual materials science issue. This allowed UC Davis professors to teach theoretical principals and also give their students practical experience in a business environment. In addition to the hands-on experience and the classroom activities, Mike Powers and Jacques Matteau were available to provide information and answer questions to help the students work through their assignment.

"Indium Corporation was very excited to be a part of this project and I was most impressed with the enthusiasm that this group showed in trying to resolve the issue that Sabyasachi, Mike, and I laid out for them," said Matteau.