Weekendschool Nijmegen visits CITC again
March 31, 2023 – On Sunday March 26, CITC received very special visitors on their site: 28 students from Weekendschool Nijmegen. For the second consecutive year, we provided a guest lecture within the theme ‘New Technology’ for the Weekendschool first-year students.
Many questions
The program consisted of a mix of a lecture on chip packaging, a tour of the laboratories and working on a practical assignment: making so called vibrating robot animals – in Dutch: bibberbeestjes. During the lecture, CITC’s business development manager Marco Koelink hardly had enough time to answer all the questions. Some of the students (aged 10-11 years) wanted to know all ins and outs, it was obvious that they already had a previous lecture about chips at NXP.
Touring the labs
The tour of the laboratories always starts with a changeover moment: the students were required to dress up in lab coats. After that, they were all set to see in real life all the equipment they just learned about in the lecture. Lab manager Martien Kengen had prepared several samples to show them the processes of die placing and wire bonding. As always, the microscope was a big hit. The students were amazed at the level of detail they could see from the tiny chip. Weekendschool Nijmegen location manager Sarah van Dronkelaar noticed how eager her students were: “I heard one of my students say: I actually wanted to study architecture, but I like chips much more!”
Perseverance
The students also worked on a practical assignment and with the help of tools as screw drivers and cutting pliers, they managed to create a nice variety of bibberbeestjes. When all groups had their bibberbeestjes ready, it was time for an actual race. This resulted in spinning robot animals, excited children, and a lot of laughter. Unfortunately, not a single bibberbeestje managed to reach the finish line. In his closing remarks, CITC’s program manager education Nathan van den Dool drew a nice parallel with science in practice: “In research, not everything succeeds the first time. You have to persevere. Very often, you have to further refine or adjust a design so that it eventually does what you want it to do.”
Access to education
Providing access to education is one of CITC’s core activities. By enthusing children at a young age about technology in general, and perhaps a technical education and profession in particular, we want to contribute to the future of the semiconductor industry in Europe.
Please feel free to Nathan van den Dool if your school is also interested in a CITC guest lecture or company visit.