Semiconductors@Purdue faculty look to 2025 and beyond

Mark Lundstrom
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University semiconductor faculty leaders recently conducted a mini retreat with President Mung Chiang and Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, to discuss immediate next steps and long-term plans for Semiconductors@Purdue. Based on the foundation laid with the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, Purdue is forging pathways to the future with successful new partnerships and initiatives that will support a growing semiconductor ecosystem at Purdue and across Indiana.
Mark Lundstrom, the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been leading the charge as the university’s chief semiconductor officer, working closely with Purdue faculty; university and College of Engineering leadership; and colleagues at Purdue Research Foundation, Indiana Economic Development Corp. and the Purdue Applied Research Institute.
Over the past 2 1/2 years, this team has launched ambitious workforce development programs; brought leading semiconductor companies like MediaTek and SK hynix to West Lafayette; forged research partnerships with imec, Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, and the Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins (SMART) USA Institute; and established global partnerships with countries including India and Japan.
Beginning Jan. 1, Lundstrom stepped into a more strategic and advisory role for Purdue semiconductors, with the goal of building on the established successes and establishing Purdue and Indiana as a major semiconductor cluster in the U.S.
“Our semiconductor team has done an amazing job of positioning Purdue as an emerging, new center of semiconductor manufacturing, design, education and R&D,” Chiang said. “I’m confident that what’s been accomplished to date will be carried to new levels of excellence by our faculty and staff.”
Lundstrom served as acting dean for the College of Engineering in 2020 and as interim dean from July 2022 to April 2023. He joined the university faculty upon completing his doctorate on the West Lafayette campus in 1980. Before attending Purdue, he worked at Hewlett-Packard on n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) process development and manufacturing.
“What our team has accomplished is really remarkable and has set the stage for even bigger things,” Lundstrom said. “We now have an opportunity to create by the end of the decade a new, thriving, vibrant and growing semiconductor cluster right here in the nation’s heartland. I am excited to be part of that.”
Lundstrom recently was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash, one of the state’s highest honors, by former Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb in recognition of his contributions to the semiconductor industry. From 2021-22, Lundstrom served as principal advisor on microelectronics to the executive vice president for strategic initiatives. As chief semiconductor officer since 2023, Lundstrom has been instrumental in establishing the university as a front-runner in semiconductor education.
“I am truly grateful to Mark for his pivotal role as acting and interim dean of the college, for his leadership in research, teaching, and mentorship, and for helping put us on the global map for nanoelectronics and semiconductors,” Raman said. “It is an incredible honor for me to lead this college with colleagues and mentors like Mark.”
With 2025 underway, Purdue already is focused on competing for new research funding under the CHIPS and Science Act and continuing the university’s role as a leader in semiconductor research and workforce development.
“The university is eager to contribute our leading-edge R&D and training expertise,” said Karen Plaut, Purdue’s executive vice president for research. “The coming year holds promise for new semiconductor innovations from our faculty.”
Several important projects in 2025 will cement Purdue’s place as a leader in semiconductor research:
- Kaushik Roy, the Edward G. Tiedemann, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is one of four faculty members leading an AI chip project — funded by the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub — that will pursue the lab-to-fab transition of pioneering research performed at Purdue for more than a decade.
“This work project represents a game-changing leap in microelectronics as we enter the new year,” Roy said. “We are tackling critical challenges of energy efficiency and latency in AI hardware, and this initiative underscores our commitment to paving the way for transformative improvements in AI system performance and efficiency.”
- The recently announced SMART USA Institute is the largest CHIPS R&D award to Purdue to date. The Semiconductor Research Corporation-led institute will guide the development of digital twin technologies that will transform semiconductor manufacturing, research and education — leveraging Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center and Semiconductor Degrees Program to accelerate the pace of innovation and create hands-on opportunities for training the next generation of the domestic semiconductor workforce.
“Purdue’s computational modeling strength and fabrication facilities at the Birck Nanotechnology Center were critical elements that contributed to this success,” said Ganesh Subbarayan, Purdue’s founding executive committee member of the SMART USA Institute. “We will serve as the leading academic node of the SMART USA Institute to develop the digital twins and play a leadership role in training of the workforce.”
- Subbarayan, director of the Atalla Institute for Advanced System Integration and Packaging and the James G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering, said the past year highlighted university strengths in advanced packaging.
“We were thrilled that SK hynix chose West Lafayette for its advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility,” he said. “Purdue was an important partner on the Texas Institute for Electronics team that won the $840 million DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing award, and Purdue is a member of the Absolics team that was one of three selected in the first round of NAPMP (National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program) awards by the CHIPS R&D program.”
- Zhihong Chen, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of Birck Nanotechnology Center, said the focus for 2025 and beyond is toward making the center a national facility. Birck is home to Purdue semiconductor research and includes the 25,000-square-foot Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory cleanroom — among the nation’s largest academic cleanrooms.
“We are committed to transforming Birck into a national facility that provides state-of-the-art resources to Purdue researchers, peer academic institutions, startup innovators and industry research partners,” said Chen, a Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Our vision is to lead innovation in developing AI, autonomous experimentation and digital twin-enhanced intelligent facilities, enabling transformative research capabilities that will shape the future of semiconductor and quantum research.”
- David Janes, co-director of Purdue’s Semiconductor Degrees Program and professor of electrical and computer engineering, said the top concern of semiconductor CEOs is the industry workforce. Purdue’s workforce development leadership is advancing the next generation of semiconductor researchers.
“Purdue’s efforts to attract students into semiconductor fields and prepare them for careers in multiple segments of the industry are bearing fruit,” Janes said. “We have over 500 students in formal semiconductor programs and almost 3,000 enrolled in semiconductor-related courses.”
- Peter Bermel, an Elmore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Kerrie Douglas, an associate professor of engineering education, are co-directors of Purdue’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) program. They stressed the special challenges of the defense microelectronics workforce.
“SCALE provides opportunities for more students,” Bermel said. “As the need for defense microelectronics continue to grow in the United States, it has been a challenge for critical employers to find enough highly qualified candidates.”
“Adding to that is the speed at which the workforce is pivoting in microelectronics and the creation of job categories that weren’t in the U.S. just a few years ago,” Douglas said. “Thus, SCALE is quite literally preparing students for essential positions that don’t exist today.”
- Anand Raghunathan, the Silicon Valley Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said the recently announced Institute of Chips and AI is focused on next-generation chip design and AI-driven innovation in the coming year. Raghunathan is co-director of the institute with the director, Roy.
“The Institute of Chips and AI is a first-of-its-kind initiative to drive the virtuous cycle between semiconductor chips and AI,” Raghunathan said. “The institute will pursue research on hardware to enable future AI workloads and AI-driven design of complex chips, in addition to education and workforce development at the intersection of these critical technologies.”
About Purdue University
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Media contact: Brian Huchel, bhuchel@purdue.edu