Project Overview
The North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium (NTxS-WDC) is a regional workforce development initiative led by the University of Texas at Dallas and designed to strengthen the technician pipeline for the semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries. At UTA, my team leads external evaluation and research activities for this grant-funded line of work.
The first phase of this work brought together five community college partners, university collaborators, industry partners, and the SEMI Foundation to expand awareness of semiconductor careers, increase enrollment in semiconductor-related technical programs, support student persistence and credential completion, and improve alignment between education and regional workforce needs. During Phase 1, this included collecting and analyzing student-level institutional data from participating community colleges; administering consortium member surveys; conducting interviews with faculty, administrators, industry representatives, and project leaders; analyzing project documents and meeting materials; and examining patterns of collaboration among consortium members. Across Phase 1, the consortium served more than 1,600 student credential records and developed a strong regional partnership network focused on recruitment, student success, program capacity, industry engagement, and evidence-informed improvement.
The work is now extending into a second phase, also led by UTD, that includes two related strands. The first strand expands the workforce development initiative through NNME-related efforts across Texas and the broader region, with attention to NNME-influenced programs and trainees, industry-recognized credentials, student placement, new training programs, K–12 outreach, employer satisfaction, and engagement with workforce-facing platforms such as SEMIsphere and Node ChipPath. This strand builds on the Phase 1 evaluation infrastructure while broadening the scope of data collection and reporting across a larger workforce development ecosystem. The second strand focuses on expanding the student database developed during Phase 1 and conducting additional analyses to support more robust claims about recruitment, retention, credential completion, and long-term placement of students served through semiconductor-related pathways. Together, these strands position the work to move beyond documenting program participation and completion alone toward a more comprehensive understanding of how regional education–workforce partnerships can support student progress, industry alignment, and long-term workforce outcomes in semiconductor and advanced manufacturing fields.
Liu, J., Hoover, K. S., Mostacedo-Marasovic, S. J., Suravarjhula, S., Linga, S., Forbes, C.T., & Moise, T. (2026). Investigating the longitudinal impact of a regional semiconductor consortium: A mixed-methods study of members’ perspectives and students’ enrollment trends. Journal of Workplace Learning, 38(2), 145–161.
Hoover, K., Suravarjhula, S., Forbes, C.T., Liu, J., & Mostacedo Marasovic, S.J. (2026, July). Building the Semiconductor Workforce: A Multi-Case Study of Consortium-Driven Community College Initiatives to Expand Program Enrollment. Poster presented at the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC), Austin, TX
Mostacedo Marasovic, S. J., Hoover, K., Liu, J., Suravarjhula, S., & Forbes, C. T. (2026, April). Advancing the semiconductor workforce: Shifts in engagement and influence across institutions in a regional consortium. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA.
Hobbs, J., Forbes, C.T., & Moise, T. (2024, November). Strategic orchestration of a multistakeholder partnership for semiconductor workforce development: A case study of the North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium (NTxS-WDC). AAC&U Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference, Arlington, VA.