Texas Instruments’ mentorship program aims to bring more women into semicon

US-based semicon company, Texas Instruments (TI) has conducted new mentorship program in June for women engineering students. The month-long program called WiSH (Women in Semiconductors and Hardware) was aimed at giving students an exposure to semiconductors and encourage them to pursue a career in this industry.

The programme included a mix of virtual and in-person mentoring, hands-on experience designing a chip through simulation experiments, lab visits, and technical talks, as well as informal networking sessions with the leaders at Texas Instruments.

Over 40 students from across 18 colleges, including IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, BITS, NIT Surathkal, and Delhi Technological University participated in the programme, the company said in a statement.

“Today, 40% of STEM graduates in India are women, but less than half opt for careers in semiconductors and hardware. This is because of several reasons including lack of information on careers in hardware, misplaced belief that hardware is tougher, lack of mentorship opportunities and very few visible engineering role models,” said Shubhra Bhandari, Director of Human Resources at TI.

“While we need to push multiple levers to bridge this gap, TI’s WiSH program focuses on the critical vectors of mentorship, providing an overview of the innovations driven by semiconductor companies, our impact and different career paths available in this industry. It essentially highlights why semiconductors can be a great place for women engineers who love technology and want to contribute to creating an impact in everyday life,” she added.

Research has shown that when female engineering students are mentored and trained well, they tend to have more positive academic experiences.