Boise State is one of 11 institutes of higher education pioneering the University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research and Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) for the Future program.
This partnership was launched in 2023 by Micron Technology, Inc. to empower collaboration between industry and higher education across Japan and the U.S., and cultivate a highly skilled workforce in the semiconductor and STEM.
UPWARDS for the Future is an international semiconductor program that is funded by Micron, Tokyo Electron and the National Science Foundation.
The UPWARDS program seeks to advance women in semiconductors, industry relevant curriculum design and implementation, experiential learning, student and faculty exchanges and lastly semiconductor and memory centric research (non-IP). Boise State University joins a team of five universities in Japan and five other universities in the United States.
The Japanese universities are Hiroshima University, Kyushu University, Nagoya University, Tohoku University and Tokyo Institute of Technology. The U.S. universities are Boise State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Virginia Tech and Purdue University.
Semiconductor Research at Boise State
Boise State leadership visits Upwards colleagues in Japan
In April 2024, Boise State faculty and research staff members arrived in Japan just in time to experience both blooming cherry blossoms and snowfall. They visited five universities and industry members of the UPWARDS for the Future program.
During this visit, Boise State’s personnel attended special tours of UPWARDS partner universities, namely Tohoku University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya University, Kyushu University and Hiroshima University. The group also visited industry partner sites,