A governor?s office report claims New Hampshire has the second highest concentration of high tech workers in the country.The report also boasts more miles of fiber optic cables than California, New York and Massachusetts. But what didn?t make it into the executive report was a little known computer lab at the University of New Hampshire. As NHPR?s Dan Gorenstein reports, the only people who seem to know about the Inter-Operability Lab are those who depend on it?..the telecommunications industry.
Florida. Nebraska. Michigan. Big schools. Big names. Great places to find the next up and coming blue chip football prospects. But where do you go to find the next blue chip computer engineers and technicians? MIT? Caltech? Stanford? How ?bout the University of New Hampshire. More specifically, the University of New Hampshire?s Interoperability Lab. While the name isn?t familiar, managing director of the IOL, Scott Valcourt says if you mention UNH to companies in telecommunication or data communication ears perk up.
Track 14
:19 It?s like the old EF Hutton commercial, when EF Hutton talks, people listen.? And in some sense people start listening when they hear the words UNH, b/c they know in that technical sense, there is a lot of very current relevant research work, and they are interested in what is happening next.
This lab tests emerging technologies. Imagine your company has just invented a thing-a-ma-bob and you want to see if it works with the standard industry widget. These folks do the test. And they also look for bugs that may keep your thing-a-ma-bob from doing its job.
These tests are just one part of the lab?s mission. The other says Valcourt is to educate students.
Track 2
We are here to give students the opportunity to do a lot of cutting edge applied research in the area of telecommunications and datacommunications?Almost in the style of an apprenticeship program. Just as you think of the age-old days of colonial times, of the blacksmith or the carpenter would bring on an apprentice and teach the trade to them. Much the same thing happens here but in a high tech sense.
But students don?t need a lot of high-tech sense to get into the program. Neal Starr is a senior at University of New Hampshire and has worked at the lab since the spring of ?97.
1:39 before I started working here I knew nothing about pcs, and now I can build a pc in my sleep. That?s one of the side benefits, there is all kinds of equipment to play with all the time.
SFX: Fans
Just like a pig farmer who walks by his barn door and smells money, Valcourt hears money in the form of a whole lot of white noise.
That noise comes from millions of dollars of equipment, much of it donated by the very companies that pay for the lab?s services. Which means the lab is on the cutting edge of high-tech research. Chris McGugan is a senior manager for Cisco, and one of the lab?s clients.
3:37 when I supply equipment to them?I also provide them equipment to leave on site. What that provides is real time, all the time testing that students are able to do. Not only do they run structured tests, they will also proactively work on your equipment with other vendors.
When the vendors are happy, the IOL is too. 98% of their funding comes from the industry. Valcourt admits that funding means industry can call the tunes and the lab has to play them.
But Cisco?s McGugan doesn?t think that is such a bad thing.
13:30 I have seen the students involve themselves in the direction that the industry is taking. Those students are actively involved, and seeing what is happening in the industry?they have a great understanding of what is going on,, and very unique ideas into where standards and specifications go. They are plugged into the heart of the industry and in some instances are able to push it.
At the same time, since students are not on the industry?s payroll, they don?t answer to a corporate CEO. But IOL grads like Lance Hartford do get a taste of what the industry was like. He made a little money.
6:00 if you found a bug in equipment or software, and that bug was identified by the vendor, than the lab paid the student $25 dollars. And it was a nice incentive to try to hunt down these bugs. It was a pretty neat program.
The five or six times Hartford found bugs he was practical with the extra income: books and pizza. But the IOL provided more than just the college necessities. The real world experience of working at the lab landed Hartford some job interviews.
And Valcourt says Hartford is no exception.
Track 24
1:16 I don?t give them a guarantee, but the reality of it is every student we have had graduate moves into doing exactly what they want to do.
Some students find work even before they graduate. Or at least receives offers.
Track 31
2:07 As soon as it is made clear there is a student who is in the room who is not employed by the university, who is now in essence fresh meat, it?s like sharks at feeding time. And they just gravitate to that student, and they are passing business cards, and trying to get to know what the student?s interests are. Whenever I bring a student to a technical meeting, I try to warn them in advance, you are going to get attacked by lots of people trying to recruit you, and work for their company. They are going to tell you numbers, all kinds of wonderful things, it?s going to be enticing to go.
To Chris McGugan from Cisco, it makes sense why IOL students are such a hot commodity.
4:37 if you look at the talent coming out of UNH, these guys are hitting the ground running?above and beyond what other colleges are able to provide.
Senior Neal Starr is one of them. He admits no one?s offered him a permanent job, but he says he wouldn?t really want one, right now.
10:27 most of us are like, you have to finish school. The monetary offer is nice, but you can?t go far without that?if you don?t have that degree, you are shooting your self in the foot. It?s too high of a gamble.
But Starr has had his chances. Sort of.
7:13 I was sitting over at one of the stations doing testing for the vendor. It never comes up like ?wow, we could use you. It is more like a joke saying wow, I wish we had you guys back at the lab. And I would joke back, well I am graduating at such and such a date. And they are like well send me your resume when you are done.
Scott Valcourt says sometimes the hardest decision students make when fielding job offers where do they want to live. Practical, real world experience from the IOL, coupled with the textbook learning often means students who graduate from the IOL can start earning their salary on day 2.
Scott Valcourt.
Track 35
:26 and we know where they are going and that is sort of exciting b/c in the back of our minds on the side we are going, ?hmm, what kind of benefit package, where are they going, and we always look at it and say wow, this student is walking away with a salary that is higher than mine, and I?ve had an advanced degree for ten years. SO it makes you go why are we doing this again.
According to Valcourt, many staff members at the lab are former students. Particularly those who receive advanced degrees. And recent tough times even have senior Neal Starr thinking about sticking around.
11:38 the problem for me, I?m graduating in December, should I graduate and get a job now, or should I stay and go to grad school and keep working here. At unh you can stay here. It doesn?t pay industry level, but when you are done, you can increase your salary base that much more. I haven?t made up my mind as to what I am going to do.
Starr says one company has offered him a six-month contract in Germany. But he doesn?t know if he?s going to take it. For NHPR News, I?m DG
