Beginnings: Workforce Innovation and Inclusion in Semiconductors and Emerging Research Areas

企业领导人和美国政策制定者都认识到，对受过教育的STEM劳动力的需求日益迫切，特别是在半导体行业。预计到2030年，全球对该部门工人的需求将增长到每年10万人，以满足生产需求。这个项目，半导体和新兴研究领域的劳动力创新和包容性(WIISER)旨在让本科生在中学教育开始时参与行业实习。STEM劳动力的多样化对于提升美国作为全球技术领先者的角色至关重要。由于所有人都可能产生创新想法，该项目将致力于吸引来自不同背景的学生，包括转学学生、女性和代表不足的少数族裔、符合佩尔助学金条件的学生和第一代大学生。该项目将利用与半导体设计和制造领域领先的行业和研究创新生态系统的深度合作伙伴关系，为加州大学(UC)伯克利分校、戴维斯分校、默塞德分校和圣克鲁斯分校的学生创造变革性的学习体验。WIISER将通过提供两个途径的体验式学习和专业发展计划，扩大和多样化半导体行业的可用劳动力。一组学生将在伯克利Marvell纳米制造实验室工作一学年和整个暑假(纳米实验室研究员)。另一组将被安排在半导体公司进行为期8周的带薪暑期实习(夏季研究员)。工作计划将在加州大学和主办公司之间的合作中确定范围，以确保学生获得有意义的体验，并确保东道主获得实质性的工作成果。所有研究员都将在暑期参加每周工作坊，以提高他们的就业准备技能，并克服潜在的挑战，如冒名顶替者综合症。学生将被指派一名导师，他将在学生进入半导体行业的实习和职业道路上提供专业知识和指导。评估计划将测试我们的项目在学生保持和发展专业认同感和自我效能感方面的有效性。我们的项目旨在培育可转移到其他新兴技术领域的区域学习生态系统。该项目与由NSF TIP和EDU董事资助的NSF ExLENT计划保持一致，因为它寻求支持来自不同专业和教育背景的个人的体验式学习机会，以增加他们对新兴技术领域的兴趣和获得职业道路的机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The increasingly urgent need for an educated STEM workforce, especially in the semiconductor industry, is recognized by corporate leaders and U.S. policymakers alike. The global demand for workers in this sector is projected to grow to 100,000 per year until 2030 to meet production needs. This project, Workforce Innovation and Inclusion in Semiconductors and Emerging Research Areas (WIISER) seeks to engage undergraduate students in industry internships near the beginning of their secondary education. Diversifying the STEM workforce will be essential to advancing the role of the U.S. as a global technology leader. Because innovative ideas may arise from all individuals, the project will aim to involve students from diverse backgrounds including transfer students, women and underrepresented minorities, Pell-grant eligible and first-generation college students. The project will leverage deep partnerships with a leading industry and research innovation ecosystem in semiconductor design and manufacturing to create transformative learning experiences for students from the University of California (UC) campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz. WIISER will expand and diversify the available workforce for the semiconductor industry through offering two tracks of experiential learning and professional development programs. One group of students will work in the Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Lab over the course of an academic year and through the summer (NanoLab Fellows). Another group will be placed in 8-week paid summer internships with semiconductor companies (Summer Fellows). Work plans will be scoped in collaboration between UC and the host company to ensure both meaningful experiences for students and substantive work outcomes for hosts. All Fellows will participate in weekly workshops during the summer to boost their job-readiness skills and overcome latent challenges, such as imposter syndrome. Students will be assigned a mentor who will provide expertise and guidance as the students navigate their internship and career pathways into the semiconductor industry. The evaluation plan will test the effectiveness of our project on student retention and growth of professional identity and sense of self-efficacy. Our project aims to foster regional learning ecosystems transferrable to other emerging technology fields. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, funded by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.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.