Educating under-represented minority students in electronics packaging for the 21st century

In response to the changing ethnicity of the U.S. work force and the dearth of individuals from under-represented groups pursuing careers in technical fields, the Georgia Tech Summer Undergraduate Packaging Research and Engineering Experience for Minorities (GT-SUPREEM) has been developed to attract qualified minority students to pursue graduate degrees in electronics packaging-related disciplines. The program is conducted under the auspices of the Georgia Tech Engineering Research Center in Low-Cost Electronic Packaging, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. In the GT-SUPREEM program, junior and senior level undergraduate students are selected on a nationwide basis and paired with a faculty advisor to undertake research projects in the Packaging Research Center. The students are housed on campus and provided with a $3,000 stipend and a travel allowance. At the conclusion of the program, the students present both oral and written project summaries. It has been shown that this experience is extremely successful in motivating these students to attend graduate school, with 89% of the participants opting to do so. This paper will provide an overview of the GT-SUPREEM program, including student research activities, success stories, lessons learned, and overall program outlook.