Building up the semiconductor workforce with $30 million partnership – Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech faculty Yang "Cindy" Yi and Luke Lester are taking on the challenge to bring more women into technology and semiconductor industries through UPWARDS, an international partnership between the U.S. and Japan.
8 Mar 2024
According to the 2022 semiconductor gender parity study from the Global Semiconductor Alliance, women make up only 20 to 25 percent of the semiconductor workforce.
Virginia Tech is dedicated to increasing that number through the U.S.-Japan University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors, also known as UPWARDS for the Future. The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is instrumental in the overall effort.
Established in May 2023, UPWARDS is an international partnership between 11 Japanese and United States universities that is funded by a $30 million investment from Micron Technology, Tokyo Electronics, and the National Science Foundation, with a Virginia Tech share of $3.47 million.
In alignment with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, five official pillars were recently identified with each of the universities collaborating in various task forces:
Virginia Tech will lead the Women in Semiconductors focus area, a joint effort with Rochester Institute of Technology, Kyushu University, and Tohoku University.
As the first phase of work for the partnership, the electrical and computer engineering department is launching the UPWARDS Women in Semiconductor Camp. The camp is a collaboration between the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering and the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED). Supported by Kim Lester, director of pre-college programs, it’s modeled after C-Tech2, a computer and technology engineering camp currently run by CEED that is already a successful recruitment tool for the department and the College of Engineering.
“We’ve put in many efforts over the years to recruit women, and it’s been difficult to move the needle,” said Luke Lester, department head, Roanoke Electric Steel Professor, and co-principal investigator for the UPWARDS project. “But with C-Tech2, we have a 45 percent yield of campers who come to Virginia Tech. I’m really excited about our new camp. It could be a game changer for recruiting women students.”
Held over the last two weeks of July, campers will learn a wide variety of engineering skills, including
Campers will also take an overnight trip to Micron Technology in Manassas, which has been in operation since 2002 and recently saw a $3 billion investment to increase memory production.
“This is a very inspiring opportunity,” said Yang "Cindy" Yi, principal investigator and inaugural faculty member at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. “I’m looking forward to sharing how I grew up as a female student and engineer and inspire more students to consider electrical and computer engineering.”
In addition to building the new summer camp, the Virginia Tech team will tackle developing semiconductor innovation in three areas:
"We will explore educational and research prospects of the UPWARDS project within the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in the near future, leveraging MICRON technology manufactured semiconductors," said Yi. "I really hope our UPWARDS research will significantly contribute to the advancement of the semiconductor and chip-related education and research and that it will be a big benefit to the semiconductor program at Virginia Tech.”
Virginia Tech is a founding member of an 11-university network spanning the U.S. and Japan that has partnered with Micron Technology Inc. and the U.S. National Science Foundation to cultivate a more diverse and robust talent pipeline for the semiconductor workforce.
The network will expand and prepare the next generation of talent through a framework centered on collaboration, innovation, and problem solving.
Chelsea Seeber
540-231-2108
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