NRT: Science, Technology, Engineering, Program for Upward Partnership (STEP-UP) for Advancing Microelectronics Education and Training

Semiconductor chips are essential components to everyday living, and unpredictability in the global supply chain has implications across a wide range of industries and applications. The future of semiconductor manufacturing requires a convergence approach to design and deploy diverse new technologies in materials, chemical and materials processes, devices, and architectures through the development of application-driven systems.

Semiconductor microfabrication technology cuts across traditional science and engineering disciplines and represents an opportunity to bring students together from diverse disciplines to learn in a stimulating and interdisciplinary environment. A skilled and diverse pipeline of workers is critical to building a sustainable domestic semiconductor industry and to achieving national economic and security goals.

This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of South Florida will develop and implement a comprehensive and experiential learning based education, research, training, and skills development program in semiconductor design, manufacturing, and packaging. The project anticipates training 75 Ph.D. and 133 M.S. students, including 15 Ph.D. and 8 M.S. funded trainees from: Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering; Computer Science Engineering; Electrical Engineering; Industrial and Management Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; and Medical Engineering disciplines.

The NRT project will develop and implement a new interdisciplinary curriculum and will feature novel courses in fundamentals of materials, processing, metrology, and device fabrication with specific applications to semi-conductor technology development. This project includes the combination of convergent research and educational experiences to support trainees in achieving several learning outcomes: a) foster systemic change in graduate curricula with the potential to fundamentally enrich knowledge and research in semiconductor manufacturing, and b) infuse science and engineering principles as well as cutting-edge technology into the graduate curriculum.

The technical focus has three major research efforts: (a) Processing/Metrology/Applications of Semiconductors, (b) Circuit System/Hardware, Artificial Intelligence of Semiconductors, and (c) Heterogeneous Packaging Semiconductors. The program will enable trainees to: i) work with faculty and semiconductor partner mentors to define research problems using a convergence approach to design and develop application-driven semiconductor systems and devices, ii) carry out semiconductor-based research projects, and iii) develop interdisciplinary expertise and global competency skills in areas such as communication, teamwork, project management, ethics, and leadership.

Trainees with entrepreneurial interest will have the opportunity to complete the University of South Florida’s NSF Innovation Corps (I-CorpsTM) site training.

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.