HBCU CHIPS Network: A National Resource for Semiconductor Innovation and Workforce Development

The HBCU CHIPS Network is a collaborative effort involving Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), government agencies, academia, and industry, that will serve as a national resource for semiconductor research and education. This initiative aims to cultivate a diverse and skilled workforce for the national semiconductor industry, support student research, and develop specialized curricula in semiconductor design, fabrication, and related fields, along with internship and research opportunities in collaboration with industry partners.

Introduction

The HBCU CHIPS Network represents a transformative approach to microelectronics research and workforce development. By leveraging the unique strengths and capabilities of HBCUs, this network seeks to address critical challenges facing the semiconductor industry, including talent shortages, disparities in research infrastructure, and the need for greater diversity and inclusion.

Vision and Mission

The HBCU CHIPS Network is envisioned as a research and education consortium that serves as the nexus of collaboration and cooperation between HBCUs, government agencies, academia, and industry. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the Network will facilitate fulfilling talent pipelines to grow the workforce of the future, research innovations, resolving longstanding disparities in facilities, building out domestic capacity, and providing shared accessibility across the Network stakeholders.

The Network objective is to advance leadership in microelectronics technology by leveraging the collective research expertise, capabilities, infrastructure, and core competencies of HBCUs.

Strategic Direction and Governance Model

The HBCU CHIPS Network established its strategic direction and governance model during a pivotal meeting in Atlanta on June 3-4, 2024, at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s campus. The consortium of historically Black educational institutions and other stakeholders convened to establish the organization’s strategic direction and governance model. Attendees included representatives from HBCUs, historically Black community colleges (HBCCs), nonprofit organizations, and industry experts. Dietra Trent, Executive Director for the White House Initiative on HBCUs, attended the first day, underscoring the event's national significance.

The group also established the Network’s governance and operational model, including its leadership and organizational structure.

Key Activities and Research Areas

Activities address the design and fabrication of chips at various HBCU institutions, including:

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor field-effect transistors and optoelectronic devices (Jackson State University and North Carolina A&T State University).
High-efficiency thermoelectric materials and integrated devices for the application of power generation and solid-state cooling (Alabama A&M State University).
2D-3D material development and their integration (Delaware State University).
Semiconductor packaging using composite materials of polymer and boron nitride nanotube composites (Norfolk State University).
The integration of underfill and heat spreader materials for heterogeneous packaging applications (North Carolina A&T State University).
The packaging of HBCU chips into systems (Georgia Institute of Technology).

Regional Structure and Membership

Nationally, the network comprises five regions: the Southeast, the mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Each region will have representation commensurate with their competencies and capacities in microelectronics. Selected board members within each region will constitute the leadership structure. The Network will have affiliate members that include nonprofit organizations and academic institutions like Georgia Tech.

Committees and Working Groups

Further, the Network identified several committees and working groups, including technical advisory, education and workforce, innovation and entrepreneurship, contracting, facilities access, communication and tech transfer, and assessment and evaluation. These committees will convene regularly to drive progress within their respective areas and report outcomes to the broader Network.

Workforce Development and Education

To cultivate a diverse and skilled workforce for the national semiconductor industry, the Network supports student research and the development of specialized curricula in semiconductor design, fabrication, and related fields, along with internship and research opportunities in collaboration with industry partners. Additionally, the Network will provide outreach to community colleges, veterans, and k-12 students, empowering a diverse and inclusive workforce that leverages research innovations, including experiential learning opportunities across all stakeholder groups.

Collaboration with Tech Hubs

Aligning emerging technology and workforce development will be essential to achieving the CHIPS Act's including global leadership and staving off competition from China, increasing productivity through technological innovation, promoting inclusive growth, and spurring job creation in underserved or overlooked communities.

If Tech Hubs are to be successful in growing inclusive innovation ecosystems that look more like the nation than Silicon Valley and the high-tech sector do today, they’ll need to engage a broad coalition of diverse education and training providers to broaden pathways to good jobs in the innovation economy.

HBCUs also have a key role in achieving TechHubs' multi-prong mission. In addition to a deep bench of community college partners, Tech Hubs include several HBCU partners.

Tech Hubs aren't the only part of CHIPS that has emphasized HBCU partnerships.

Beyond the workforce mission, Tech Hubs and HBCUs likely have collaboration potential across the other three mission pillars of the program, including supporting high-potential entrepreneurs, research, and technology development efforts.

Read also: Top HBCU Bands

NSF Funding and Support

In addition to creating programs like TechHubs, the CHIPS Act also enabled the NSF to undergo a notable evolution that is especially timely.

CHIPS created the first new arm at the agency in over thirty years - the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate - which is responsible for supporting technology development, economic growth, and workforce development around emerging technology areas synergistic to Tech Hubs.

NSF funding programs to support HBCUs in innovation ecosystems include but are not limited to:

Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT): Supports partnerships that provide hands-on or work-based learning opportunities for students focused on emerging technology fields. Florida A&M University is using NSF ExLENT funding to expand immersive learning opportunities for students in digital agriculture and plant phenotyping technologies.
Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC): Provides capacity-building funding for partnerships around emerging technology-related research or innovation ecosystems. Tuskegee University won an NSF EPIIC grant to partner with community colleges to improve employer partnerships and workforce training relating to emerging technologies.
Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED): Funds efforts to build research capacity at minority-serving institutions. Virginia State University won an NSF GRANTED award to enhance its research infrastructure, including streamlining administrative procedures and fortifying a strategic plan to enhance research policies and systems upgrades. GRANTED also supports regional convenings that support place-based capacity-building.
NSF’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP): Funds improvements for undergraduate STEM education and research opportunities at HBCUs.

This project is funded by the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative to advance the goals of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This project is also funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs.

Industry Sponsorship and Engagement

The success of the initiative is underpinned by sponsorship from key industry players including ASML, Micron, Microsoft, and Synopsis, demonstrating broad support for fostering diversity and innovation within the semiconductor industry.

Future Outlook

Looking ahead, the HBCU CHIPS Network plans to host an annual conference that will showcase research outcomes from participating HBCUs and HBCCs, as well as provide a platform for industry engagement through student-focused career fairs. This initiative aims not only to elevate the profile of HBCUs in microelectronics research but also to facilitate meaningful connections between academia, industry, and government.

According to George White, senior director for Strategic Partnerships at Georgia Tech and an HBCU graduate, “The outcome from this workshop has the potential to transform HBCU research collaboration and innovation well beyond the CHIPS Act.

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