Jiun-Yu Wu
Southern Methodist University, TX·Education Research
Semiconductors power phones, medical devices and communication systems, and the U.S. needs more skilled workers to design and make them.
- Fields
Education Research
Engineering
Computer Science
- Topics
semiconductor education
STEM education
high school students
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2028
What they work on
- Develop game-based semiconductor learning modules for high-school students, with avatars and peer play, and refine them iteratively through design-based research driven by student feedback.
- Test whether an AI Educator, a generative AI tool that tailors materials to students' interests, strengthens engagement and knowledge, using surveys, interviews and the NASA Task Load Index.
- Measure how summer workshops in Maine and Texas with hands-on activities and semiconductor company field trips affect students' STEM career awareness and interest, using t-tests on attitude and learning data.
- Refine the TPACK framework (Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge) for integrating AI and game technology into semiconductor curricula.
More about the research
High-school students use electronics constantly, yet many have no idea how chips are built. This project asks whether generative AI, games and hands-on experiences can raise teenagers' knowledge of and interest in semiconductor careers.
Why it matters
The semiconductor industry needs a larger skilled workforce. Game-based modules, a personalized AI tutor and industry field trips could give high-school students wider access to semiconductor knowledge and build their interest in STEM careers. The modules will be distributed through industry partners, and the evidence could guide how schools and programs use AI and games in technical education.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Prabuddha Chakraborty
University of Maine, ME·Engineering
Use reinforcement learning, AI that learns by trial and error, to discover new attacks on logic locking, a method that hides a chip's function behind a secret key, and to identify why these attacks succeed.
Danielle Oprean
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO·Education Research
Identify which features of web-based virtual field trips foster active spatial communication and group engagement among students, using thematic analysis of recorded instructor focus groups and design-based research in real courses.
Mimi Recker
Utah State University, UT·Education Research
Evaluate whether courses in programming, technology design and sensor systems, built with local partners, help rural middle and high school students gain computing and STEM knowledge, using student assessments and analysis of student-created work.
The school
Southern Methodist University: 7 labs on PI Pages, $63M a year on research, 136 research doctorates a year.
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