NORDTECH Supports Cornell NanoScale Facility VR Training to Expand the Microchip Workforce

Interns at Cornell NanoScale Facility use the virtual reality youth outreach module, designed to prepare the next generation of students in cutting-edge microchip fabrication, at Duffield Hall. From left, Elyas Talda, Scott Coonrod ’28, Porter Rowbotham and Nikolas Wheeler. (image provided by David Syracuse/ Cornell NanoScale Facility)

As the U.S. faces a shortage of skilled semiconductor workers, Cornell University is helping bridge the gap with an innovative virtual reality (VR) training program, supported in part by NORDTECH.

An article published in the Cornell Chronicle dives into how this VR program, developed by the Cornell NanoScale Facility (CNF) and Cornell's Center for Teaching Innovation, provides immersive VR modules that bring students inside a real 17,000-square-foot cleanroom environment to explore chip fabrication processes from anywhere in the world, no lab access required.

By funding accessible, scalable workforce development tools like this, NORDTECH is helping to grow and diversify the talent pipeline for national defense and microelectronics innovation, a key goal of the CHIPS and Science Act and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Read the full article here: Nanoscale Facility Thinks Big on Developing Microchip Workforce.