Two New York–based programs will use federal funding of more than $3.2 million to prepare New York high school and college students for careers in the semiconductor industry.
The awards include more than $1.7 million for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) announced Wednesday. AFT will use the funding to expand a program that prepares teachers in school districts across the state to help students get ready for careers in the semiconductor industry.
The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will also use about $1.48 million to implement a new online certificate program to train students across microelectronics-related educational tracks.
The AFT and RIT are two of just seven award recipients in the nation, and the AFT is the only recipient whose project focuses on K-12 students, per Schumer’s office. The federal funding comes from the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC)’s Workforce Partner Alliance program, which is funded by Schumer’s CHIPS & Science Law.
Schumer personally called and wrote to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Natcast CEO Deirdre Hanford for both programs to be awarded this funding.
“AFT’s program will provide training to teachers across New York and beyond so that hundreds of students at school districts throughout NY can develop the skills they need to thrive in the growing domestic semiconductor industry, and RIT’s program will provide training to hundreds of college students so that they can succeed in the thousands upon thousands of new jobs being created in New York in the semiconductor industry,” Schumer said in the announcement. “This will prepare our students for good-paying jobs at companies like Micron, GlobalFoundries, Corning, Edwards Vacuum, and more as we see the chip industry expand” in upstate New York.