\u201cWe\u2019re being stretched, as a discipline, to be responsive to the world around us and the CHIPS Act has brought this home in new ways,\u201d says Professor Daniel van der Weide<\/a>, who is involved in several of ECE\u2019s CHIPS-related projects. \u201cAs a faculty, we are confronted with these challenges, and I think it\u2019s our responsibility to respond to them in creative ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In total, ECE has 23 faculty members working in solid-state electronics\/quantum technologies and computer systems\/architecture, including seven new tenure-track and tenured faculty hired in the past three years. Among those are Associate Professor Umit Yusuf Ogras<\/a>, an expert in multi-core computer chip architectures and former research scientist at Intel; Assistant Professors Shubhra Pasayat<\/a> and Chirag Gupta<\/a>, experts in wide-bandgap semiconductor materials and devices; Assistant Professor Ying Wang<\/a>, who is leading advances in two-dimensional semiconductors; Assistant Professor Eric Tervo<\/a> who engineers semiconductor materials and devices for energy conversion and thermal management; Assistant Professor Bobby Jacobberger<\/a> who explores 0, 1 and 2D materials for next-generation semiconductor devices; and Assistant Professor Jinia Roy (joining in summer 2023) who brings industrial expertise in power electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In preparing to take advantage of the CHIPS Act, ECE faculty are aggressively pursuing multiple academic and industry partnerships, the primary funding mechanisms for the act. One is the Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons, a $1.63 billion, five-year program that will fund up to nine regional hubs focused on creating direct pathways to commercialization for U.S. microelectronics researchers and designers, taking projects from \u201clab to fab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ECE faculty are collaborating on proposals and white papers for various projects, with contributions from almost 20 College of Engineering faculty members. They bring a wide breadth of expertise to these efforts, including Lynn H. Matthias Professor and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Zhenqiang \u201cJack\u201d Ma<\/a> who is developing next-generation semiconductor materials and Michael Arnold<\/a>, a materials science and engineering professor with expertise in carbon nanotubes. Assistant Professor Bhuvana Krishnaswamy<\/a> and van der Weide are focusing on 5G and 6G communication applications, with many others lending technical expertise and advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 20 ECE faculty are also participating in the American Semiconductor Innovation Coalition (ASIC), a group of 200 institutions guiding the development of the National Semiconductor Technology Center and The National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, two public-private partnerships established by the CHIPS Act. These centers aim to develop and prototype advanced semiconductors, provide support for startups and small businesses, and develop workforce training programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond those large-scale collaborations, many faculty members are developing new relationships with companies in the chips industry and pursuing research that will advance microelectronics. Van der Weide, for instance, is collaborating with industry partners to develop the Wisconsin Integrated Semiconductor Collaboratory, a cloud-native design that will allow users to collaborate, test and visualize integrated circuits, bringing chip design into the modern era and providing a powerful new educational platform for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Luke Mawst<\/a>, Ma, Pasayat, Gupta and Tervo are collaborating with local semiconductor companies to advance novel III-V and III-nitride semiconductor devices, which could lead to brighter LEDs, high power electronics, new types of lasers and more efficient energy converters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other significant element of the CHIPS Act is its commitment to workforce development, which for ECE means support for new elements of the curriculum and partnerships that give students opportunities to join the high-tech semiconductor industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ECE faculty are part of the planning team for the American Semiconductor Academy (ASA) initiative, a consortium of 200 universities and 1,500 corporations putting together a comprehensive workforce development program designed to close the microelectronics industry’s widening talent gap. Ma, Jack St. Clair Kilby Associate Professor Mikhail Kats<\/a> and Assistant Professor Jennifer Choy<\/a> were part of a team that co-wrote an ASA position paper successfully lobbying for dedicated funds in the CHIPS Act for workforce development. ECE faculty are also positioned to be part of an ASA funding request from the National Science Foundation to establish exemplar courses and modernize curricula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though these initiatives are still in their early stage, ECE is already looking to the future. The department is developing a semiconductor engineering option for both electrical and computer engineering undergrads. And because the industry will have a huge need for all sorts of engineers, including students from chemical, mechanical, materials and industrial engineering, the department is working on an undergraduate certificate in semiconductor engineering for students outside ECE.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMaking an impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A teaching moment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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