Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing supports workforce pipeline
The university partners with Chandler Unified School District to offer high school students a course in semiconductor manufacturing.
Since 2023, the University of Arizona's Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing has supported the industry with research and workforce developments. At the recent IMPAS show in Phoenix, ECE professor Leisl Folks spoke to PCB007 magazine about how the Center supports education even beyond semiconductors.
"As we developed the center and considered how to coordinate the university's response, we knew we wanted to touch the whole value chain for semiconductor manufacturing because so much of it is important to Arizona," Folks said. "We wanted to support all parts of the sector, from the materials and minerals that need to come into the pipeline for manufacturing to business analytics and distribution systems."
Five U of A colleges are connected to the Center to emphasize interdisciplinary learning: the College of Engineering, the Eller College of Management, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, the College of Science, and the College of Applied Science and Technology.
"Everything we're doing has a strong underpinning of basic science, applied math, and critical reasoning skills, so that even if we are specifically talking about semiconductor manufacturing, students will have a skill set they can take with them into other parts of the economy," Folks said. "We're incorporating an understanding of the entire global ecosystem for semiconductor supply. We want them to understand and be able to interpret the macroeconomic landscape for the environment they'll be working in."