On May 15th and 16th, 2024, the California DREAMS hub held a two-day strategy meeting at USC’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina Del Rey, bringing together over 100 hub members from across Southern California to collaborate in-person for the first time.

“The meetings went very well,” Steve Crago, DREAMS director, said. “They brought together the institutions of our hub in person to plan our work over the next several months. We formed several groups or committees that will develop and carry out our plans for technical roadmapping, project and Option Year 1 planning, and MOSIS 2.0 activities.”

Photo Credit: ISI

On the first day, meetings were split into two groups. The hub’s Technical Steering Committee delved into crucial topics that will shape the future of the hub, including strategy for IP management, workforce development and the membership model. The group also planned for the upcoming Call for Topics and the second year of the hub.

In another room, the MOSIS 2.0 team, which is building out a customer-facing service to accelerate compound semiconductor prototyping, discussed current work and capabilities, including their progress on “pipe cleaner” projects, the building blocks of MOSIS 2.0. 

The pipe cleaner projects covered a wide range of topics, each targeting specific areas for improvement in the semiconductor fabrication process, ranging from cutting-edge techniques such as atomic layer etching to the application of artificial intelligence in predictive equipment maintenance.

“This was an end of the year moment where everyone saw what was going on at each institution,” Damon McCaskill, MOSIS 2.0 Senior Project Manager, said. “It was an opportunity to consider collaboration, refocus on ways to improve output and efficiency, and think about future efforts.”

Mike Haney, MOSIS 2.0 Director, added, “It was a hard but useful day. This is a great team.”

Photo Credit: ISI

On the second day, the focus shifted to hub operations. The USC Program Management Team shared the results of the prior day’s discussions with leaders from various DREAMS institutions. As the meeting concluded, the group had a solid action plan for how to support the next phase of the DREAMS initiative, and a renewed sense of purpose and collaboration filled the room.  

“We moved the needle,” Steve Zamek, a hub representative from PDF Solutions, said to a member of the USC ISI team. 

Published on May 21st, 2024

Last updated on May 21st, 2024