The UMD DREEM Program is an 8-month cycle which consists of a: winter workshop, semester research project, and a summer internship focused on microelectronics topics at a local company. Each phase of the program provides financial support to students to facilitate participation. Please note that at this time, only 2nd year students from Montgomery College (MD) and the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) are eligible for this program.
Selection: In the November/December timeframe, a cohort (~ 10 individuals) is chosen from the pool of applicants and are notified. Select materials are distributed to the cohort to prepare them for the workshop in January. Advisors from Montgomery College and the College of Southern Maryland begin communicating with their students individually.
Winter Workshop: Our kickoff event occurs at the beginning of January with our two-week intensive technical and professional skills workshop. As it involves students and educators at both the UMD College Park campus and the University System of Maryland at Southern Maryland (USMSM) campus, our activities are a combination of in-person training and virtual content. We have several days where we travel to the other campus to bring the cohort together and to tour the facilities of both locations. The lectures and activities include:
- Electronics Theory (transistors, amplifiers, filtering),
- Neurons (biology, math, circuits),
- Biosensors,
- Statistics of Data Collection,
- Machine Learning,
- Engineering Design Principles,
- Sensors,
- Signal Processing Basics,
- Intro to Power Electronics,
- Intro to RF,
- Instrumentation,
- Soldering,
- Lab Safety,
- Microelectronic Careers,
- Engineering Ethics,
- Team Electronics Build Challenge,
- Intro to SPICE,
- Intro to PCB Design,
- Intro to Connectors/Cables,
- Career Mentoring,
- Resume Prep and Interviewing Skills
Semester Research Project:
By the end of the winter workshop, students are matched with UMD faculty mentors and research projects. The terms of the research experience (hours, location, content, training) are settled upon and the projects begin with UMD’s Spring academic semester. Although the semester is not very long to start a research project and begin producing results, students will experience the basics of how academic research groups operate and what is involved in asking a question and formulating an “experiment” to take data and reach conclusions.
The culmination of the semester research projects is the creation and presentation of posters at a poster session. Family, friends, mentors, and industry partners are welcome to come meet the students and see the projects.
Summer Internships:
Starting from the winter workshop, students are refining their resumes and beginning the process of being matched with our local industrial partners to obtain summer internships. These internships are specifically meant to provide technical experiences that advance the student’s career towards the microelectronics industry. In the summer of 2024, DREEM students worked at: Northrup Grumman, Blue Halo, JF Taylor, N5 Sensors, Weinberg Medical Physics, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), Parraid, and UMD (MATRIX Lab & College Park campus).