Comprehensive Semiconductors and Microelectronics Program
"Developing the next generation of semiconductor talent is a national imperative - one that demands deep collaboration between industry and academia. At GlobalFoundries, we're proud to partner with leading institutions like Purdue to meet this challenge head-on. Together, we've built a strong foundation for workforce development, and now we're expanding into joint research that will drive the next wave of innovation. Semiconductors power our daily lives, and as the industry continues to grow exponentially, this new generation of engineers will be key to ushering in the innovations of tomorrow."
Thomas Caulfield
Industry Endorsements
What's Trending
THE 2025 INSPIRE ENGINEERING GIFT GUIDE
November 13, 2025
Sparking Curiosity Through Engineering and Play Purdue University's 2025 Engineering Gift Guide, released November 10, 2025, celebrates the power of play to inspire the next generation of innovators. This year's edition showcases 10 microelectronics-themed gifts designed to help children and teens explore how tiny technologies drive big discoveries.
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Purdue's innovative semiconductor research powers future impact of Birck Nanotechnology Center
October 24, 2025
Purdue's innovative investment 20 years ago into a research facility for the emerging science of nanotechnology has led to the university being one of the world's leaders in semiconductor and microelectronics research today - and into the future. Panel discussions with former and current Purdue faculty and leadership, as well as semiconductor industry leaders, celebrated the past and looked into the future of research at Birck Nanotechnology Center as part of the facility's 20th anniversary celebration Monday (Oct. 20).
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Purdue surpasses $1B in total research expenditures for the first time
October 10, 2025
Purdue University set a new research benchmark for fiscal year 2025, receiving resources that were spent on a record of over $1 billion on research, underscoring the university’s growing role as a national leader in critical fields such as life sciences, computing technologies, advanced manufacturing and AI.
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Birck Nanotechnology Center: 20th anniversary
October 7, 2025
Getting bigger and getting smaller Nanotechnology is a rapidly developing field today, but it was still in its nascent stage 20 years ago when the Birck Nanotechnology Center was launched on October 8, 2005. Defined as the manipulation of matter at the nano scale, nanotechnology has burgeoned into a thriving domain, where the unique phenomena exhibited at its scale of between 1 and 100 nanometers have given rise to a host of applications across numerous economic sectors, particularly semiconductors, with the constant push to pack more processing punch into smaller footprints.
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Cutting-edge imaging, AI research seeks out minuscule defects in chips
October 6, 2025
A defect in a semiconductor chip may be smaller than a human hair but can create big problems in your everyday life, from crippling your car’s steering to making your laptop more susceptible to hackers. Nikhilesh Chawla, a Purdue University engineer, is working with university colleagues and scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory on high-resolution imaging to better spot defects and speed up the existing inspection process during chip manufacturing.
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Purdue University awarded $1.99 million NSF grant to strengthen microelectronics integration within K-12 schools
September 30, 2025
A research team led by ENE's Greg Strimel along with Tamara Moore, Morgan Hynes, and S. Selcen Guzey are continuing SCALE K-12 efforts to bring advanced knowledge of microelectronics into classrooms and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. Over the next five years, the team will recruit and prepare 15 practicing teachers as Microelectronics Master Teacher Fellows to serve high-need districts.
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