Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced a new partnership with Micron Technology, Inc., and GlobalFoundries (GF) to increase access to equitable education and develop the next generation of a diverse, semiconductor-ready science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce.
Technicians in a clean room at the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Northeast Advanced Technological Education Center learn how to operate the equipment used to make semiconductors. Technicians load 300mm front Opening Universal Pods (FOUP) onto a tool at SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s semiconductor fabrication facility.
Image Credit: Daryl Marshke (courtesy of Franko Bayer/University of Michigan/Center for Ultrafast Optical Science), Lloyd DeGrane/ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign/Chicago Quantum Exchange
NSF, together with Micron and GF, will invest in semiconductor workforce development at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) such as historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving Institutions nationwide to diversify the semiconductor workforce and build robust talent pathways through education and career reentry initiatives.
“Partnering with leaders in industry, government and education to meet the needs of a growing semiconductor workforce in the U.S. is an essential part of nurturing the talent necessary to fill key openings in the semiconductor industry,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “We look forward to collaborating with our partners to increase access to equitable education, address student programming and teacher and faculty professional development and strengthen infrastructure through future funding opportunities.”
“Micron’s investments in U.S. expansion are about much more than building fabs. We’re investing in people and in partnerships to expose learners from every background to opportunities they may not otherwise have without support,” said April Arnzen, executive vice president and chief people officer at Micron and president of the Micron Foundation. “We’re honored to see initiatives like Micron’s MSI Semiconductor Network, which are at the forefront of our industry’s efforts to prepare the semiconductor workforce and research ecosystem to meet growing demand for talent, recognized by government leaders in the U.S. and globally.”
“As an industry, we must work together to collectively address the great need for a robust, diverse pipeline of talented individuals who will be tomorrow’s semiconductor innovators and leaders,” said Pradheepa Raman, chief people officer of GlobalFoundries. “Strong public-private partnerships, like our collaboration with Micron and NSF to support Minority Serving Institutions, are critical to continue the work of inspiring and developing the skilled workforce our industry needs to grow.” Today’s announcement is just the latest in a series of NSF programs offering new pathways for individuals from all backgrounds and experiences to gain on-the-job training in technologies critical to the nation’s long-term competitiveness.
Last fall, NSF announced the first Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies investment of $18.8 million to 27 teams at U.S. higher education institutions, including teams led by MSIs and HBCUs. NSF also unveiled 24 research and education projects with a total investment of $45.6 million — including support from Ericsson, IBM, Intel and Samsung — last September that are enabling rapid progress in new semiconductor technologies and manufacturing and workforce development.
Today’s partnership also expands upon other recent NSF investments to train and build a diverse semiconductor manufacturing workforce in the U.S. Since 2022, NSF has announced a partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation, a $10 million funding opportunity with Intel Corporation and several collaborations with Micron, such as this $10 million funding opportunity.
Source: NSF
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First published in this link of The European Times.
