Consumer electronics that we use daily – smartphones, computers, televisions, home appliances and medical devices, as well as electronics in cars – all require printed circuit boards, or PCBs, to function. 

These non-conductive boards are printed or etched with copper lines for mounting and connecting electronic components together to form a working circuit or assembly. As world demand continues to grow, the global market for PCBs reached $86.18 billion in 2023, and is expected to hit nearly $141 billion by 2032, according to Precedence Research.

To help train students and industry workers in the design and fabrication of PCBs, UMass Lowell is establishing the Massachusetts Electronics Manufacturing Evolution (MEME) Laboratory on North Campus. The project is supported with a $500,000 Massachusetts Skills Capital Grant for purchasing equipment for the facility. The grant program is offered by the Massachusetts Workforce Skills Cabinet and funded by the state through its capital budget.

Currently, there are more than 2,400 unfilled jobs in electronics manufacturing in Massachusetts,” says Mingels. “The MEME Lab will help address this critical and growing shortage of talent by developing a workforce skilled in electronics hardware preproduction, process development and inspection.”

The grant will fund the procurement of equipment for fabricating multilayered circuit boards, component pick-and-place equipment and solder reflow ovens for finishing boards. UML’s collaboration partners, which include LPKF, Nano Dimension and Essemtec, are also donating a portion of the equipment, together with associated software and technical support.