Our Applied Physics MS option in semiconductor physics, which includes semiconductor industry internships, has continued to be successful in the second and third years of its existence. This program was described in the last Newsletter. Students in this program are sponsored for internships by Intel (Albuquerque), Motorola (Austin), Cypress Semiconductor (Austin), and Texas Instruments (Houston). In the Fall of 1998 we were pleased to include Advanced Micro Devices (Austin) in this sponsor list. A tremendous boost to our efforts to launch this program has been our National Science Foundation (NSF) grant ($478,000, for 1997- 2000). Most of this grant goes to paying on-campus stipends; the companies support the students while they are on internship. We have also been able to use this grant, along with TTU matching funds, to purchase equipment to enhance our laboratory training capabilities as well.

Degree programs which include internships are common in engineering. However, for physics departments, programs such as ours are very uncommon. A primary objective of our program is thus to develop the internship as a national prototype for physics departments. The idea is that similar programs could be developed in other physics subareas, provided that there is a "critical mass" of faculty with expertise which meshes with the needs of regional industry. Among presentations about this program at national meetings have been participation by Mark Holtz in an invited symposium at the 1998 March National APS Meeting in Los Angeles and an invited presentation by Charley Myles to the NSF sponsored National Workshop on Graduate Education in the Sciences, held at the U. of Nebraska in 1997.

An objective of this program is to provide the students with a quality education, with hands on training, in an area which promises better job prospects than do some traditional areas. There is a shortage of qualified people for the jobs which are available in the semiconductor industry. Thus, our program fills an industrial need by providing the regional semiconductor industry with qualified people to fill such jobs. Since its inception, 18 students have graduated and have been placed in permanent jobs in the semiconductor industry.

Continued success of this program relies on a persistent supply of excellent students. We have in place guaranteed admission agreements for students with a Physics BS (who meet all other requirements for admission to our graduate program) from Angelo State, Sam Houston State, and Abilene Christian Universities. We hope to expand this list. It is also vital to this program's success to have "champions" in industry. Program needs are continuing internship positions and donated instrumentation.

Please contact the department if you would like to help! The program co-Directors are Mark W. Holtz, Associate Professor (email: g9mwh@ttacs.ttu.edu), and Roger L. Lichti, Professor (email: xbrll@ttacs.ttu.edu).

This page was last modified on December 21, 1999