Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1104607
40 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2019 so that speakers need only show up. Speak- ers can share information about their company while enlightening students on the meaningful work being done in the industry. This type of opportunity gives member companies recogni- tion while they help improve student percep- tion of the industry. SEMI will also offer networking events to our members in late 2019 that will provide di- rect access to the students we are engaging in our programs. Look for these opportunities at our Workforce Development Pavilion at SEMI- CON West and in late 2019. These are just the first set of initiatives that we've started to tackle. We're in phase one, but there are a lot of different things that we can do as an industry to help with that reten- tion once we get that talent there. Johnson: How many universities are you work- ing with? Sandoval: We have partnerships with approxi- mately 50 universities and are working towards building a portfolio of over 100 universities by the end of 2019. We built a scorecard weigh- ing factors such as programs offered, student population, location, and other key features to ensure we are partnering with the right univer- sities. To increase and diversify our talent pool, we created a tiered approach. Our defined tiers dictate the level of en- gagement with different universities. The score- card determines the ti- er of each school, but we will still offer virtual (webinar) offerings to all of our partner universi- ties in addition to other resources. Both programs are relatively new, and we are open to ideas and suggestions as we build out our offerings, so feel free to reach out to me [csandoval@semi.org]. Our mentoring program launched in July of 2018, and the university program launched in November, but we are growing rapidly. Johnson: So, you're working to help the stu- dents put together soft skills. And at the same time, you're looking for speakers from our in-