NRT: Convergent Graduate Research Training for CMOS+X Semiconductor Technologies

Advanced semiconductor technologies are essential for fast-growing needs in industry and U.S. national security in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, electric vehicles, high-performance computing, augmented reality and virtual reality, and quantum technology. Despite the urgent national need for advances in this field, there is a substantial shortage in semiconductor talent, especially at the graduate level.

This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will develop an innovative convergent graduate research training program in the area of next-generation complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) + X (X = AI, biomedical, chemical, optoelectronic, photonic, nanoelectronic, quantum, and packaging). The project anticipates training 170 graduate students including 20 funded Ph.D.s, 75 unfunded Ph.D.s, and 75 unfunded M.S. students from Microsystems Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Microelectronic Engineering, Material Science, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID).

RIT’s CMOS+X Semiconductor Technologies NRT aims to adchieve three goals. First, to advance interdisciplinary and inclusive semiconductor research. Four research tracks led by the NRT faculty team will address a range of themes from fundamental physics and material science to micro- and nanoelectronics, optoelectronics & photonics, and integrated circuits and packaging.

Second, to equip diversified NRT cohorts with enhanced technical and professional skills. Third, to establish and sustain this convergent graduate training model to serve as a pipeline for much needed domestic interdisciplinary semiconductor workforce for industry, government, and academia. RIT’s convergent NRT program will be one of the first to offer a transformative and dedicated semiconductor graduate education training model with strong technical, professional, and broadening participation components to prepare more than 170 next-generation engineers and scientists to help close the workforce gap and strengthen the nation’s semiconductor technology leadership.

Considering the extensive and wide-ranging applications of semiconductor CMOS+X technologies in AI, vehicle electrification, high-performance computing, and quantum science and engineering, as well as the importance of these technologies to U.S. national security, this project will contribute to: 1) understanding how to train diverse cohorts of semiconductor talent and 2) supplying the expertise and leadership needed for a competitive U.S. workforce.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.