PSU to launch initiative to diversify semiconductor industry

A $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation is kickstarting a new effort at Portland State University to diversify Oregon’s burgeoning semiconductor workforce.

PSU’s Diverse Internships for Semiconductor Careers program, or DISC, aims to get more Black, Indigenous and other people of color, as well as women and people from other marginalized communities, into well-paying semiconductor-related jobs. The program offers PSU students in math or chemistry tracks a paid internship in the semiconductor industry, mentorship and a slate of other services like career advising workshops and networking opportunities.

DISC is set to launch with its first cohort of 56 students this fall.

PSU chemistry professor Andrea Goforth is leading the DISC program along with two other colleagues. Goforth said many of her students have been yearning for hands-on experiences outside the classroom that connect their education with careers.

“A lot of students would say to me that they feel like they have the degree but they don’t have the experience employers are looking for, ” said Goforth. “I think internships will help fill that gap and help students to see a reason to stick with their science and math coursework.”

DISC students will be paired with a local tech company to get that on-the-job experience through a nine-month internship. Some of Oregon’s biggest players in the semiconductor industry have already signed on to host internships, including Intel and Siemens EDA.

The million dollar grant from NSF will fund the program for three years. Goforth is hoping that by the time money from the grant runs out the DISC program will have laid a strong enough foundation for partners in the semiconductor industry to step up and help sustain it.

Semiconductor jobs are expected to be plentiful in the Beaver State after these students graduate. Oregon’s semiconductor industry is forecast to make big gains in the coming years as the state vies for billions of federal dollars from the federal CHIPS Act. State employment officials estimate companies in Oregon’s “Silicon Forest” will need to fill more than 6,000 semiconductor jobs in the state within a decade.

“There’s momentum for making sure that Oregon can make the most advanced computer chips in the world,” said Goforth. “I want to see students be prepared to take advantage of those high-income, high-tech careers.”

The directors of PSU’s DISC program think these new semiconductor jobs should be filled by people from all walks of life. Jen Lindwall, associate director of PSU’s Center for Internships, Mentoring, and Research said a more diverse workforce drives innovation.

“In 10 years we need to have the trained group of folks we want from diverse backgrounds, representing diverse experiences to continue to innovate, adapt and change in really important ways,” said Lindwall.

A January report from ECONorthwest on how Oregon could close its semiconductor workforce gap also reiterated the need for a diverse workforce saying BIPOC and women are underrepresented in the semiconductor industry.

DISC is modeled after similar established career pathway programs at PSU like Build Exito, a program for students interested in entering the biomedical field.

Vida Echaluse, who is originally from the Micronesian Mariana Islands, was a Build Exito scholar at Portland State. She said mentors, as well as other students in her cohort, helped her fight the imposter syndrome she felt in the heavily white healthcare industry.

“It was like a very different space and there was a lot of learning,” said Echaluse. “The mentorship was really helpful in helping me navigate academia, my career, and my professional and personal goals as well.”

Echaluse said the community the program created was critical to her experience at PSU and at her internship site, OHSU’s Oregon Hearing Research Center.

“I felt a lot better that I was there,” said Echaluse of the Build Exito program. “And I really felt like I could be able to work in this industry. It really increased my confidence.”

Echaluse is now pursuing a graduate biomedical statistics degree at the PSU-OHSU School of Public Health. She also works as a regular employee at her former internship site.

Leaders of the new DISC program hope to have success stories similar to this in the coming years.

“A lot of what students really need to be successful is consistent across disciplines and career pathways,” said Lindwall. “They need support, they need holistic mentoring and they need opportunities for experiential learning.”