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BOARD # 445: SFS Microelectronics Supplement: Igniting High School Students' Interest in Semiconductors Through a Chip Camp

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Conference

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publication Date

June 22, 2025

Start Date

June 22, 2025

End Date

August 15, 2025

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session II

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

4

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/55825

Download Count

1

Paper Authors

biography

Wei Zhang University of Louisville

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Dr. Wei Zhang is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Louisville. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2003. Dr. Zhang served as an assistant/associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) from 2003 to 2010 and as an associate and full professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) from 2010 to 2019. His research interests include computer architecture, compilers, real-time computing, and hardware security. Dr. Zhang has published over 170 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. His research work has received support from various government and industry grants, including 10 grants from the NSF for which he serves as the principal investigator. He was honored with the 2016 Engineer of the Year Award from the Richmond Joint Engineer Council, the 2009 SIUC Excellence through Commitment Outstanding Scholar Award for the College of Engineering, and the 2007 IBM Real-time Innovation Award.

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Abstract

This paper introduces a work-in- progress of our recent project in offering a chip camp to local high school students, which was funded by NSF SFS through a supplemental grant. The camp was held during the fall break of the local student district, making it convenient for high school students to attend. The camp introduces the full lifecycle of semiconductor chip design and microfabrication with short lectures, hands-on exercises, demos and videos. We also offer a tour to a class 100/1000 cleanroom facility at the Micro/Nano Technology Center. Student survey results show that the camp has increased students’ interest in studying and pursuing career in semiconductor or related field.

Zhang, W. (2025, June), BOARD # 445: SFS Microelectronics Supplement: Igniting High School Students' Interest in Semiconductors Through a Chip Camp Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55825

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