U.S.-Japan University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) for the Future

The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law on August 9, 2022, envisions new opportunities in accelerating progress in key technology areas, building the STEM workforce of tomorrow, and fostering partnerships with the private sector to enable this progress. It offers a unique and historic opportunity to expand the nation’s capacity for semiconductor production as well as to prepare the U.S. workforce for jobs in advanced manufacturing and engineering. Recognizing that a skilled and diverse pipeline of workers is vital to building a sustainable semiconductor industry, collaboration between government, academia, and the semiconductor industry is needed to ensure that education and research training programs are aligned with industry needs and that students are well-prepared to fill critical, in-demand roles. The U.S.-Japan University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) for the Future represents a collaboration between six U.S. universities and five Japanese universities, working with industry partners, to provide advanced training and research opportunities to students, faculty, and professionals in an effort to address the demand for a highly trained microelectronics and semiconductor workforce and, as a result, build global and domestic capacity in the semiconductor field. Activities to achieve such goals include targeted student exchange programs, professional certification opportunities, curriculum development, visiting faculty/researcher programs, and focused research projects leveraging the resources and expertise from each partner. Through a shared commitment to training and research, partners will complement and scale current efforts to broaden and support the semiconductor workforce pipeline. 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.