Over the past year, more than 20 students from Onondaga Community College have stepped inside one of North America’s most advanced semiconductor facilities through a unique internship program with NY CREATES, creating an experience that reshapes how students see their future in technology.
At the heart of the program is access to NY CREATES’ 300mm silicon wafer fabrication facility in Albany, the only non-commercial facility of its kind in North America. Inside the 1.65 million square-foot complex - which is home to more than 750 engineers, technicians, and support staff - students are introduced to the scale, precision, and pace of modern semiconductor manufacturing.
The paid internships can range in length from as short as 3 days, to as long as 8-12 weeks. Several OCC students recently took advantage of a highly concentrated, 3-day option.
“It was pretty intense. It was fast-paced,” said Kate Ebersbach, an Electromechanical Technology major. “They packed a lot into three days. It was very valuable.”
Students rotated through a combination of augmented reality learning sessions, cleanroom tours, and hands-on lab experiences designed to build both technical understanding and awareness of career pathways. For some, the biggest impact came from seeing classroom concepts come to life. “We saw a lab there with pneumatics and hydraulic systems that was a direct application of what we are doing in the classroom here,” said Arun Regmi.
Others pointed to the immersive nature of the cleanroom itself. “I really enjoyed the cleanroom experience,” Ebersbach said. “We also did a vacuum lab, which was pretty cool.”
For Maria Maloof, the opportunity was as much about exploration as it was about specialization. “One of the reasons I decided to go is I like keeping my options open and being informed,” she said. “We got a taste of different parts of it.”
That exposure extended beyond the cleanroom floor. Students learned about the wide range of roles that support semiconductor manufacturing - from facilities operations and water treatment systems to the technicians who maintain and service highly specialized equipment. “There are the ancillary roles,” Maloof said. “The people who make the machines and service the machines. It was very valuable because it wasn’t just working in the fab.”
Alice Dove said the hands-on exposure offered a perspective that can’t be replicated in a classroom. “It is such a different experience to hear about it and experience it - being in a bunny suit, boots on the ground,” she said. “Getting to see the exacting nature of standards was really impressive.”
At the same time, the experience helped her refine her own career goals. “I couldn’t work in a bunny suit for 10 hours,” Dove admitted. “But I learned about so many other jobs outside of the cleanroom. There’s so much outside the cleanroom that is worth experiencing.”
The NY CREATES internship experience has made a noticeable difference in students' perspectives - and in what faculty members see in those students. "When these students returned, they were fired up in a way I hadn't seen before," said Professor Colleen Stevens, who teaches Electromechanical Technology at OCC. "NY CREATES did a good job getting students hands-on activities that relate to what students are learning here. The tie-in was perfect."
Understanding both the opportunities and the realities of the field is exactly what program organizers hope students take away. By combining short-term immersion with longer-term placements, the partnership between OCC and NY CREATES is designed not only to build technical skills, but to help students envision where they might fit within a rapidly growing industry.
