Workforce Development
PENN STATE PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE MICROELECTRONICS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ITS MULTIPLE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES, HANDS-ON TRAINING PROGRAMS, AND INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.
These activities are designed and coordinated to attract diverse students and teachers from high schools and community colleges, technicians, master’s level students, and PhD scholars. The training is coordinated with the University’s worldclass shared research instrumentation, innovation, and facilities to provide state-of-the-art resource access to both internal and external researchers, industrial partners, and entrepreneurs through a well-managed scheduling system, standardized use agreements, and federally compliant charge-out rates.
The Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) was created in 1998 to address the needs of Pennsylvania semiconductor industry for skilled workers and, since then, has been dedicated to preparing workers across the full range of microand nanofabrication applications needed to advance the semiconducting manufacturing workforce. In collaboration with Pennsylvania colleges, universities, and industries, the Center offers a two-year program to teach the manufacturing methods used by the semiconductor industry. Presently, about 1,000 of its students have moved on to work in semiconductor companies.
The Center for Nanotechnology Applications and Career Knowledge (NACK) is an advanced educational and workforce development center supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NACK mission is to assist in the continued development of a robust nationwide infrastructure for nanomanufacturing workforce development. The key feature of NACK’s mission is to continue to support the development and sustenance of U.S. nanomanufacturing workforce education by further growing nano-education partnerships nationwide, by enhancing dissemination of nanofabrication educational resources, and by providing key national infrastructure.
PENN STATE VALUES THE INPUT FROM UNIVERSITIES, CORPORATIONS, INDUSTRY, AND GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES ON DRIVING CURRICULUM AND TRANSLATING BASIC SCIENCE DISCOVERIES INTO MARKETABLE PRODUCTS. WE ROUTINELY INVITE KEY PARTNERS TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK AND PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH SYMPOSIUMS, INNOVATION EVENTS, AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES TO FACILITATE CONNECTIONS TO TOP TALENT.
