University of Tennessee Receives $1 Million NSF Award to Strengthen Semiconductor Workforce Pipeline
The University of Tennessee has secured a one million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to expand statewide training that prepares high school students and teachers for careers in the fast growing semiconductor industry. The three year initiative, titled Explorations: Tennessee Experiential Learning for Teachers and Students to Empower Pathways into Microelectronics, is funded through NSF’s Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies program.
Led by the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies in partnership with the Tickle College of Engineering’s Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, the project will deliver hands-on workforce development in chip design and manufacturing. The program builds on the university’s previous work through the NSF IUCRC ASTEP program, which introduced students to microelectronics through coursework, internships and experiential learning at UT’s NorDIC Lab.
A major component of the new effort is teacher training. Twenty Career and Technical Education teachers will work alongside UT faculty and graduate students in research labs, gaining the skills needed to teach classroom modules in semiconductor design and fabrication. Teachers will also receive lab kits and year-round instructional support.
The program will engage more than two thousand students each year through lab visits, lectures and paid work-based learning with partners such as Siemens, Texas Instruments and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In addition, UT and regional community colleges will launch Tennessee’s first dual enrollment micro-credential in semiconductor design to give students an industry recognized qualification before graduation.
A statewide train-the-trainer model will help expand the program across Tennessee, strengthening the semiconductor talent pipeline through coordination with district leaders, community colleges and industry partners. University leaders emphasize that the initiative supports both economic growth and national competitiveness in advanced manufacturing.
Vice Provost and Founding Dean of CECS Ozlem Kilic noted that the program equips students and teachers with tools that connect directly to high demand workforce needs. Kilic said the NSF investment recognizes UT’s approach to opening new opportunities for Tennesseans in sectors critical to the nation’s future.
Read more: University of Tennessee secures $1 million NSF grant to build semiconductor workforce pipeline