The (NRT) awarded a five-year, $3 million funding grant to the 91社区 (USF) for the development and implementation of a comprehensive and experiential learning-based education, research, training and skills development program in semiconductor design, manufacturing and packaging for graduate students. The NRT is a prestigious, national program that supports annual cohorts of trainees in developing the skills, knowledge and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. 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.
Principal Investigator, (Mechanical Engineering), along with Co-Principal Investigators, Professor Srinivas Katkoori (Computer Science & Engineering), Associate Professor Albert Kim (Medical Engineering), (Electrical Engineering), and Professor Norma Alcantar (Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering) were awarded the grant for a project entitled 鈥淣RT: Science, Technology, Engineering, Program for Upward Partnership (STEP-UP) for Advancing Microelectronics Education and Training.鈥� This grant will provide approximately 23 graduate (15 doctoral and 8 master) student fellowships to advance research in the much-needed field of semiconductor technologies.
鈥淢uch-publicized semiconductor chips shortage has impacted several critical industries. A skilled and diverse pipeline of workers is critical to building a sustainable domestic semiconductor industry and to achieving the CHIPS Act economic and national security goals. This NRT grant will provide to better prepare master鈥檚 and doctoral students for the interdisciplinary talents required in semiconductor chip development,鈥� said Ashok Kumar, the principal investigator of the NSF NRT project.
鈥淯SF鈥檚 STEP-UP NRT program is a unique cutting-edge training program that not only trains a graduate student in interdisciplinary technical skills and novel convergent approaches but also emphasizes on all-round trainee development in terms of communication, teamwork, project management, ethics and leadership to create tomorrow鈥檚 world leaders in the semiconductor field.鈥� said Srinivas Katkoori, Co-investigator of the NRT project.
鈥淪emiconductor industries are very reluctant to hire students without having any hands-on experience in semiconductor standard clean room facilities,鈥� said Senior Personnel Robert Tufts and Rich Everly from the Nanotechnology Research and Education Center (NREC). They will be involved in providing the basic semiconductor fundamentals, processing, and design concept in fabrication of functional semiconductor devices in class 1000 clean room facilities at NREC.
Senior personnel Steve Kozlowski (Psychology Department), Grandon Gill (Muma College of Business), Sudeep Sarkar (Computer Science & Engineering Department) and Joanna Burchfield (College of Engineering) will be involved in comprehensive education and training activities for NRT Fellows in leadership, communication, teamwork, ethics, entrepreneurship skills, etc.
鈥淭his NSF-funded NRT program will be a model for a future interdisciplinary graduate program at USF and it brings significant benefit to our institution. It forges a convergent and innovative program to train graduates in Semiconductor Technology,鈥� said Ruth Bahr, Dean of Graduate Studies, USF (Tampa Campus).
鈥淯SF鈥檚 ability to provide advanced semiconductor training to graduate students in a teaching clean room will strengthen the U.S. technical workforce. USF will increase capacity-building of skilled graduate scholars through strategic public-private collaborations and partnerships with government agencies, national laboratories, and academia.鈥� said Sylvia Thomas, USF Vice President of Research and Innovation.
鈥淭he NSF Research Traineeship Award will significantly impact the quality of graduate education at USF and will bring a wide range of benefits to the research scholars we serve,鈥� said Prasant Mohapatra, Provost and Executive Vice President. 鈥淎t USF, we believe highly integrative graduate research training equips students with the skills and knowledge to tackle complex, real-world challenges. These programs foster critical thinking, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, which are vital for addressing the pressing issues of our time