About 36 hours after the University of Arizona began accepting applications from Chandler Unified School District freshmen to attend its semiconductor camp, the leader of the program was worried.
“Stop, stop!” said Liesl Folks, the vice president of semiconductor strategy for the university. “We got 96 applicants for 40 slots in about the first 36 hours.”
The demand was high — but so is the need.
Folks said there is a shortage of workers in the semiconductor sector.
“We need 6,000 new workers in the semiconductor sector next year, just to give you a sense of the scope,” Folks said.
The University of Arizona wanted to figure out a way to help train the workers those companies will need in the future.
So it will start a career and technical education course in semiconductor manufacturing for CUSD in the 2025-26 school year at Hamilton High School.
To get students interested in it, school officials decided to hold a one-week camp this month. The students who could enroll will be juniors when the first CTE class begins next year.
That class will only be open to juniors. A senior class will be added the following year, giving CUSD students the opportunity to earn a two-year education in semiconductor manufacturing.
It is similar to how the university started a cybersecurity program at Basha High School.
Campers spent most of the week this month touring semiconductor businesses in Chandler. That included a rare visit inside a clean room.
“Companies don’t let people into their fabs very often,” Folks said. “They put on a full clean-room garb, which took like 27 minutes because they had to figure it all out. It’s really hard when you first do it.”
Folks said semiconductor businesses are hiring from all over the country.
“Everywhere we go, companies tell us it’s really hard to hire,” she said. “They can’t find STEM-educated workers fast enough to fill the need.
“We need to do more to prepare Arizona students for those jobs, and Chandler Unified has had a really tight focus on boosting STEM education, and that’s why they’re a great partner for us.”
Folks said the CTE course, offered as part of the East Valley Institute of Technology, will be the first in the nation for semiconductor manufacturing.
She said students who take it but decide they want to enter another field will have skills that are in demand.
“If they choose to do this program, but then go into autonomous vehicles development, the skills that they’re going to develop will still be very transferable to other technology sectors. But we do want them to think about the semiconductor sector.”
Folks said the camp is a great way to spark the interest that will hopefully translate to more students being interested in semiconductor careers.
“Nothing inspires students as much as being able to actually talk to people who work in the field and to see the cool equipment and do hands-on experiments with bits of equipment,” she said. “I am the proud product of having gone to the science camp as a 16-year-old and seeing big bits of equipment and deciding, ‘OK, I want to study physics.’
“Kids have to see it, and they have to meet people in the field and hear about their careers and what they do in order to make a decision about this is what they want to do.”
