SWT/AMD cooperative

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Southwest Texas State University and Advanced Micro Devices Thursday will announce an innovative partnership aimed at giving SWT students state-of-the-art workforce training while providing AMD with technical services and university resources.

SWT and AMD have shared the more than $300,000 cost of a Bede D1 X-ray diffractometer, a machine used to analyze the properties of materials used in microchip manufacturing. The Bede D1 can be used to analyze materials currently in use in the chip manufacturing process as well as new materials being developed at SWT, at AMD and at other locations.

Media are invited at attend a demonstration of the Bede D1 at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, on the first floor of the Science Building at SWT. SWT physics students will conduct the demonstration, and representatives of the SWT Physics Department faculty and AMD will be present to discuss the university-industry partnership.

The demonstration will take place following the Greater Austin @ Work High Tech Mini-Summit scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in SWT’s LBJ Student Center. The Mini-Summit is co-hosted by Greater Austin @ Work, the city of San Marcos and SWT. Participants will discuss a variety of education and workforce issues during the course of the summit. Media coverage of the summit is also encouraged.

Media and summit participants will also be invited to view the construction site of SWT’s new $42 million Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Art, Technology and Physics Complex immediately adjacent to the Science Building. The five-story, 240,000 square-foot complex is scheduled for completion in 2003.

For further information, please contact Mark Hendricks in SWT Media Relations & Publications at (512) 245-2180.