ETSTE DCL: Creating a skilled technician workforce by establishing the Reinforcing Instructors for Semiconductor Education (RISE) Consortium

Research studies estimate that despite the manufacturing sector accounting for 12.73 million workers in April 2022, the United States has a gap of 2 million jobs that may go unfilled because there are not enough technicians trained to meet the demand. This project will focus on the semiconductor manufacturing industry sector in Ohio as Intel has begun construction of two new leading-edge microchip fabrication facilities (fabs) in Licking County, Ohio, with an initial investment of more than $20 billion, the largest economic development project in the state of Ohio. Yet almost all community colleges in Ohio report difficulties with finding and retaining qualified faculty to teach engineering technologies. The rapidly changing manufacturing economy in the region is compounding the shortage by expanding the need for educational programs in electronic vehicle as well as semiconductor manufacturing. This consortium project will develop a multi- pronged approach to prepare faculty at community colleges and provide them with curricula statewide to teach microprocessor manufacturing. Through public-private partnerships between the institutions and industry partners, this consortium will create a faculty hub to recruit, credential, diversify, and upskill instructors in related disciplines and provide them with the curriculum needed to successfully expand the semiconductor workforce. The model will be designed and piloted, working with faculty, employers, and subject matter experts, and then replicated with community colleges in central Ohio and scaled nationally. Consortium goals include: 1) Establish a collaboration venue to connect existing centers and projects, employers, and educators within the semiconductor industry; 2) Create a professional development hub to recruit, credential, diversify, and upskill the needed instructors in related disciplines and existing technicians; 3) Share workforce needs through labor market data and best practices in equitable outreach and community-building among educational institutions, trade, and regulatory associations, and practicing technicians within the semiconductor ecosystem; 4) Benchmark academic programs and curricular resources across the semiconductor and microelectronics sector to share through MNT-EC Curriculum Team; and 5) Support and create a community of practice for institutions adapting traditional programs or establishing new semiconductor programs. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program and is supported in part by funds from Intel Corporation under the ETSTE DCL. The program focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. 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.