FAQ's
For Students
SCALE is the preeminent U.S. program for semiconductor workforce development in the defense sector. Led by Purdue University, funded by the Department of Defense and managed by NSWC Crane, SCALE facilitates a different approach to training highly-skilled U.S. microelectronics engineers, hardware designers, and manufacturing experts, ensuring U.S. leadership in this important area.
The position information is intended only for SCALE students.
Please visit the main SCALE website’s application page here.
There will be a mixture of microelectronics internship positions for Summer 2024 and full-time positions in the near future, posted by SCALE partner organizations. These will be primarily government agencies and defense industrial base companies.
Once you are accepted as a SCALE student, you will be added to the database of authorized users. From the main site, you’ll enter your email and receive a confirmation code to login.
You can either look at the list of partner organizations to consider your options for applying for jobs, or you can look at the specific positions list for more details of specific opportunities. We’d recommend not trying to apply to every position but narrow down based on what’s the best fit for your interests
Please visit this landing page on nanoHUB for a series of talks on how to position yourself effectively.
For employers
The current list of SCALE partners is here.
The first step is to confirm the eligibility of the applicant company – please email SCALE@purdue.edu with such a request. Second, we’ll schedule a SCALE PI to brief you on the goals of the program. Third, if your organization is amenable to the intent and goals of the program, then you will be added to this website to enter your position information. Fourth, we ask our DoD program manager to approve your participation.
It means that your organization is part of the defense microelectronics sector, interested in providing paid internship and/or full-time microelectronics specialist positions to SCALE students. There are no requirements for funding of any SCALE universities.
You can either post general information on your organization to advertise your organization to SCALE students, and point them to youroverall jobs board / application information, or you can list specific positions (internships and/or full-time) where you’re looking for current or graduating students in microelectronics.
There are currently 378 students across 19 universities from coast-to-coast in the United States. All SCALE students are US citizens and eligible and interested in pursuing defense microelectronics topics.
In addition to the financial benefits of your positions, it can be helpful to emphasize positive societal perception of roles at your organizations, provisions for value and safety in your workplace, and the sense of personal achievement that current employees experience.
Generally, we aim to collect initial information on Summer 2024 internships by the end of November. However, updates can be provided at any time.
If you follow the recommended timeline, you may start hearing back within 1-2 weeks. However, during the summer and holidays, it may take significantly longer to start receiving requests.