From the phone in your pocket to the car in your driveway, semiconductors power modern life. They are the unseen foundation of artificial intelligence, medical devices, clean energy, and national security. Now, after several years on hiatus, The University of Texas at Austin has revived an elective course designed to give engineering students a front-row seat to one of the world’s most important and competitive industries.
“This course is a fairly broad technical overview of the integrated circuit manufacturing process covering the major unit processes, as well as how to build a complete functioning device,” said William Howard, an associate professor of practice in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering who teaches ChE 323: Chemical Engineering for Micro and Nanofabrication. “As such, it is a great single course to understand the technology behind one of the most important industries in history.”
A Course Reborn
The semiconductor elective was once a fixture in chemical engineering at UT, taught by world-class experts such as Chris Mack and Grant Willson. But around 2016, the class fell dormant. Howard himself had stepped in as a guest lecturer more than a decade ago, long before he was asked to bring it back.
With the federal CHIPS Act pouring billions into domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing, and Austin companies such as Samsung expanding their fabrication facilities, the timing was right for the course’s return.
“The message back to the chemical engineering department was this is the time to revitalize this course,” Howard explained.
The decision has paid off. The first offering in fall 2024 drew 37 students. The enrollment for this fall’s offering has climbed to more than 50.
From Sand to Silicon
Howard said most students arrive in class with only a vague sense of how integrated circuits are made. By the end, they have walked step by step through the process of turning sand into a functioning device holding billions of transistors.
“I often hear answers like 80, 90, 100 percent of a class lecture was new information,” he said. “They say, I had no idea that’s how you go from digging essentially sand out of the ground to making this advanced computer chip. I had no idea those were the processes involved, or how long it took, or how sophisticated that was.”
For Howard, that sense of discovery is the point. “Almost any engineer, regardless of their field, whether it’s civil, mechanical, aerospace, can not only benefit from this course, but they should also find it very interesting, because it’s one of the most fascinating disciplines for an engineer to study,” he said.
Industry Insight
One alumna who can attest to that is Meghali Chopra, CEO of Sandbox Semiconductor in Austin. Chopra earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at UT in 2017, conducting research in the University’s NSF-funded Nanomanufacturing Systems Center known as NASCENT. She founded Sandbox with now Cockrell School Dean and Texas ChE Professor Roger Bonnecaze in 2016.
“The semiconductor industry is incredibly exciting,” Chopra said. “It’s a bit like oil and gas — a long established field with deep roots — but it’s also at the cutting edge of technology. You’ve got decades of legacy infrastructure layered with some of the most advanced scientific research happening today. That combination brings real challenges, but also tremendous opportunities to help accelerate innovation and growth.”
Her company, Sandbox, develops software to help process engineers make decisions during chip fabrication. “It is crazy when you think about it, what process engineers have to do,” she explained. “They all have Ph.D.s in the hard sciences, and they’re tackling the challenge of manufacturing at scales that reach the sub-angstrom level. It’s incredibly complex--they’re making thousands of decisions across physics, materials, and engineering. We help support that effort.”
Why Students Should Care
Chopra sees enormous value in students being able to study semiconductors at UT, no matter their major.
“If you’re any kind of student who enjoys working on problems, this industry is full of really interesting challenges,” Chopra said.
She emphasized that semiconductors are not just for engineers. “There is an opportunity for everyone, just because of the wide variety of roles available,” she noted. For example, Sandbox developed an image processing tool that benefits from visually skilled people, a role that could suit even students trained in the arts.
And the rewards, she added, are real: “It’s a career with great job security and strong compensation. It’s an industry that’s not going anywhere.”
A Strategic Future
For students, the Chemical Engineering for Micro and Nanofabrication elective offers more than technical knowledge. It offers an entry into a career that is lucrative, intellectually challenging and globally significant.
“You can spend your whole career building computer chips and never be bored a day in your life,” Howard said.
Chopra agreed: “If you want to work on a technology with a real, global impact, this is the industry to be in. Semiconductors quite literally touch every sector of the economy — from healthcare to transportation to consumer tech.
WRITTEN BY: Esther Robards-Forbes.
Semiconductor Degrees
In 2025, UT will offer a new Master of Science in Engineering with a major in semiconductor science and engineering. The first of its kind in Texas and one of a select few nationwide, the program will include new coursework designed in partnership with Apple, Cadence, NXP and Silicon Labs to modernize US semiconductor education. A new Minor in Semiconductor Science and Engineering is also offered to undergraduate students.
The Cockrell School and Texas Engineering Executive Education now offer a new graduate certificate focused on continuing education and career advancement.
