UCLA Joins NNME Southwest Regional Node in Five-State Semiconductor Workforce Consortium

UCLA is joining a new regional initiative to support the semiconductor and microelectronics workforce pipeline across the Southwest. The Arizona Commerce Authority, in partnership with the National Network for Microelectronics Education, SEMI Foundation and National Science Foundation, announced the designation of NNME Southwest as an official NNME Regional Node, serving as one of the nation’s anchor hubs for semiconductor workforce development.

The regional node at UCLA will be co-led by the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. The five-state consortium includes 47 partners across Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Southern California. It will expand industry-aligned education, hands-on training and career pathways in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics.

Within the Southern California network of NNME Southwest, UCLA will coordinate industry-aligned curriculum and hands-on laboratory training for community college students and continuing education learners preparing for careers in semiconductor manufacturing. The effort will be led by C.K. Ken Yang, the Tatsuo Itoh Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCLA Samueli.

“UCLA is looking forward to contributing to NNME Southwest and coordinating the hands-on training of semiconductor manufacturing for industr...