Academic Engagements to Grow Talent Pipeline and Accelerate Innovation

June 30, 2023

Blog

Between secondary education and the start of a career, universities and colleges provide an experience that in large part dictates the pathway of a student’s life for many years to come. Naturally, formal education is a very important element, but so too are other experiences including the opportunity for undergraduates to mix, collaborate with, and learn from individuals with varied backgrounds and to put into practice what they are being taught.

When it comes to STEM, valuable industry experiential learning requires strong links between the worlds of academia and industry. These links provide mutual benefits – universities enrich their curriculums by providing the opportunity to apply what is being learned in the classroom in real-world environments; students gain early exposure to the industry, hands-on experience and mentorship opportunities that are not necessarily available in the academic environment; and businesses gain access to capable individuals that they can support and nurture, creating a potential pipeline of qualified and diverse talent for recruitment into technology roles.

Successful collaborations between the world of education and commerce can take several forms, from internships to active sponsorship of a variety of educational programs.

Engineering Internships

Take, for example, engineering internship programs such as those that Advanced Energy is currently offering at seven partner universities in the United States. Advanced Energy’s year-round program solicits applications from both undergraduate and graduate students. Interns take on full-time roles during the spring, summer or fall semesters, and gain hands-on experience in a lab environment.

For each internship, Advanced Energy provides mentors and sets clear objectives, while the university recommends suitable students and supports those students during the work placement. Students work on a wide range of power conversion, controls, and measurement technologies that are destined for applications ranging from semiconductor fabrication and industrial automation to medical systems and data centers.

The successes of these internships are evident by the number of interns who have been converted to full-time employees as well as the better results students have in their class work given the opportunity to apply their learning in real world conditions.

Scholarships for Underrepresented Students

Another route to supporting STEM in academia is to create, in conjunction with target universities, programs that provide scholarships to minority students underrepresented in STEM. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. STEM workforce is almost 90% white and 72% male. According to the U.S. National Science Foundation 2021 report on Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, only 7% of full time-engineers identify as black or African American, and only 9% of full-time engineers identify as Hispanic or Latino. Compare this to the larger share of total employment across all industries according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (13% for black or African American workers, 18% for Hispanic or Latino workers).

Advanced Energy’s STEM Diversity Scholarship program aims to nurture greater ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in STEM by providing financial support, mentorship, and on-the-job experience to college students as a pathway to future employment with the company.

The aim of the program is to build an innovative, entrepreneurial, and future-ready workforce that reflects the global communities we serve through diversity and inclusion. Since its launch in 2021, the program has provided financial support, mentoring, and hands-on internship experience to nine students from five partner universities excelling in education and research focused on precision power technologies.

Strategic Partnerships

Partnerships also play an important role in helping talented individuals hone the skills that are needed for a STEM-based career. These programs, which are designed to ensure continuous collaboration with universities, can take many forms, ranging from guest lectures to application-specific workshops and certification programs.

In South Korea, Advanced Energy partners with Hanyang University, a leading technical university, where AE technologists give regular talks and technical presentations to students and company experts share their knowledge and promote innovation and technology. AE also recently donated two RF precision power supply units to the university’s plasma electronics lab to aid with their research and collaboration with leaders in the semiconductor manufacturing space.

In the Philippines, Advanced Energy partners with Mapua University, a leading engineering school, to co-develop and run a Diploma in Power Electronics program. The post-graduate certification program is open to electrical and electronics engineering graduates from various colleges in the country. During the pursuit of a diploma, selected candidates undertake six months of lectures and laboratory classes at the university and six months ‘on-the-job’ training at the Advanced Energy design engineering facility in Eastwood, Philippines.

Since its inception in 1997, 358 students have graduated from the program. This has created a steady stream of engineering candidates for recruitment, many of whom have gone on to take full-time roles with the company.

Strategic partnerships also form a core element of Advanced Energy’s educational STEM support in Europe. AE’s Cork, Ireland site developed a robust program designed to cultivate an innovative ecosystem. The program includes top-level engagements with institutions to provide input to engineering curriculum and syllabus, as well as external examination support and presentations to students on the practical aspects of engineering design. The program also encompasses funding for PhDs, Masters, and final-year and semester-based projects. One such project from a PhD student, for example, led to an opportunity for him to present a paper at this year’s prestigious Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC).

In addition, European activities include six-month internships with the opportunity for full-time employment on completion, as well as sponsorship of certain pieces of lab equipment in university departments that cover power electronics.

The Future

Innovative technology developments are essential to capitalize on future opportunities and make the world a better place. Such innovation is only possible by encouraging talented individuals to choose and develop STEM disciplines before, during and after university.

In fast-paced, technology-based sectors, the teaching provided by educational institutions must be supplemented by active support from the industry to enhance the learning process and provide insight into how to apply what is taught in real-life scenarios.

To this end industry/academia engagement – ranging from internships, partnerships, and sponsorship of specific qualifications to knowledge sharing through talks, workshops, and facility visits – is needed to bring new generations of diverse and talented STEM professionals into the global workforce.