MassTech Awards $5M to Boost Optics Production in Western Massachusetts

Leaders from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) awarded a $5 million state grant to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) to help create an open-access additive manufacturing and design/testing facility on campus.

The grant, from the Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant Program, will augment UMass’ capabilities in the advanced manufacturing space and increase its collaboration with universities across Massachusetts around R&D for advanced optical technologies, which have applications in biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental monitoring, and general electronics.

This comes in the wake of the state’s recent award of $19.7 million in funding through the federal CHIPS and Science Act to expand production of microelectronics in the Northeast.

The facility will be the first publicly accessible facility of its kind in the country and will support testing, research, and production of advanced optical technologies. Through the project, UMass will collaborate with Electro Magnetic Applications Inc. (EMA), among others. EMA specializes in the testing and design of materials used in space and operates out of the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC) in Pittsfield, Mass. Other industry partners in this collaboration include Northeastern University, Springfield Technical Community College, and Berkshire Community College.

Pat Larkin, director of the Innovation Institute at MassTech. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

The BIC will act as a bridge between industry, academia, and government to help develop an additive manufacturing talent pipeline by providing workforce development opportunities for students and young professionals.

UMass will also use the grant to fund a full wafer imprint tool, which is a low-cost, high-resolution nano-imprinting lithography device that generates patterns for various applications, a technology not currently available in any U.S. public facility. This investment will provide a singular opportunity for research and collaboration for companies and institutions in Massachusetts.

University of Massachusetts-Amherst chancellor Javier Reyes. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Pat Larkin, the director of the Innovation Institute at MassTech, which manages the Collaborative R&D Matching Grant Program, has stated the importance of the expansion of collaboration and partnership within the optical technologies industry, pointing to an increased engagement between research institutions and private industry as the goal of this facility. Likewise, UMass chancellor Javier Reyes said that the collaboration will help “celebrate advancements in precision optics, coatings, and metalens technologies in Western Massachusetts.”