Apple’s New Silicon Initiative (NSI) aims to prepare students for careers in hardware technology, computer architecture, and silicon chip design. The program’s objective is to address the growing demand in the US for a workforce in IC design and computer architecture areas. The NSI team provides various modes of support to help increase visibility in microelectronic circuits and hardware design. By reintroducing IC design and tapeout-to-silicon courses in the EECS curriculum, the program enables students to take IC design courses and a VLSI path, while gearing them for a career in hardware engineering.
NSI Components- Encourage continued education in VLSI through Scholarship and Fellowship opportunities
- Engage with students through various initiatives: Guest Lectures by Apple subject matter experts; Computer Hardware and VLSI Design Clubs
- Expose students to career opportunities through networking with Apple engineers and Apple internships
- Identify VLSI pathways and curriculum
- Share curriculum across university partners
- Support NSI courses through tapeout class fabrication and bringup, as well as provide additional resources for TA and lab support
Apple CMU-ECE PhD Fellowship in Integrated Systems
Academic year 2025/2026
Integrated circuit design & engineering is more critical than ever. With a slowing of Moore’s law and end of Dennard scaling, challenges abound to deliver ever increasing performance and power efficiency. Apple has long recognized these challenges and develops world-class silicon for its products. Apple's Hardware Technologies (HWT) team is very excited to renew the Integrated Systems PhD fellowship program at CMU. This program recognizes a few top students with expressed interest in IC engineering, SoC design, verification, test, RF, analog, mixed signal circuits or computer architecture. This unique and highly selective program provides both a summer internship at Apple and financial support covering costs* of one year of PhD (tuition and stipend) at CMU. To be eligible, you should already be a currently enrolled ECE PhD student at CMU and ideally have two or more years remaining to receive the full value of the fellowship.
Expectations of an Apple PhD Fellow in Integrated Systems include successful participation in the PhD program, satisfactory completion of internship at Apple HWT for at least one summer, and continued research related to IC engineering / computer architecture.
(*Disbursement of funds will be to CMU)
Timing
Applications can be submitted, and finalists will be interviewed as part of the evaluation process.- Application portal: https://apple-icphd.apply.ece.
cmu.edu - Application open: August 26, 2024
- Application deadline: October 6, 2024
- Typical internship timing is summer of 2025
- To be eligible, you should ideally be between your first and fourth year of PhD
- Finalist interviews: from October 2024 to January 2025
- Decisions back: February/March 2025
Eligibility
- The Fellowships are for students who are enrolled full-time at CMU
- Students who currently hold another industry-sponsored full-fellowship will not be considered
- Students who receive internship from another company during Fellowship funded year are not eligible
- Current Apple employees and household members are not eligible
Requirements
- Student name (first and last), email and PhD year
- Expected internship year and term (Summer, Fall, Spring). Summer preferred.
- Student resume or CV, including links to any publications if appropriate
- Student transcripts graduate and undergraduate (unofficial) with GPA
- Two letters of recommendation (one from current PhD advisor). Student should provide the names and email addresses of two references in their application. It is the responsibility of the student to make sure the letters of recommendation are forwarded by their references to the latest by one week after the application deadline, i.e., October 13, 2024
- Student statement of academic and career interests, and include links to any relevant research
- In 500 words or fewer, please describe why and how you’re interested in IC engineering/SoC design/verification/test/RF/analog/mixed signal circuits, and/or computer architecture
- Include which area(s) and classes of ECE interest you most academically and professionally
- Also describe any work you’ve done up to this point that you think is relevant to future work in ICs
Apple CMU-ECE Master's Scholarship in Integrated Systems (IMB)
Academic year 2025 / 2026
Integrated circuit design & engineering is more critical than ever. With a slowing of Moore’s law and end of Dennard scaling, challenges abound to deliver ever increasing performance and power efficiency. Apple has long recognized these challenges and develops world-class silicon for its products. Apple's Hardware Technologies (HWT) team is very excited to renew the Integrated Systems IMB scholarship program at CMU. This program recognizes a few top students with expressed interest in IC engineering, SoC design, verification, test, RF, analog, mixed signal circuits or computer architecture. This unique and highly selective program provides both a summer internship at Apple and financial support covering tuition costs* of the year-long M.S. degree at CMU as part of IMB program. To be eligible, you should ideally be a currently enrolled CMU undergraduate between 270-315 units.
Expectations of an Apple Masters Scholar in Integrated Systems include successful admission to IMB program, satisfactory completion of paid internship at Apple HWT during the summer, and continued enrollment in courses related to IC engineering / computer architecture. Students will receive up to two-semesters of paid graduate tuition*, based on continuing fulfillment of a sequence in IC engineering/ Computer Architecture courses.
(*Disbursement of tuition funds will be to CMU.)
Timing
Applications can be submitted and finalists will be interviewed during the 2024 Fall semester- Application portal: https://apple-icms.apply.ece.
cmu.edu - Application open: August 26, 2024
- Application deadline: September 29, 2024
- Typical internship timing is summer of 2025
- Typical applications are received fall of senior year. Advanced juniors may apply as well, and potentially be considered for an extra internship, in addition to the normal application cycle.
- Finalist interviews: October/November 2024
- Decisions back: December 2024/January 2025
Eligibility
- The Scholarships are for students who are enrolled full-time at CMU
- Students who currently hold another industry-sponsored full-scholarship will not be considered
- Students who receive internship from another company during Scholarship funded years are not eligible
- Current Apple employees and household members are not eligible
Requirements
- Student name (first and last)
- Year (Junior, Senior, Graduate)
- Expected internship year and term (Summer, Fall, Spring). Summer preferred.
- Upload a current copy of your resume or CV, including links to any publications if appropriate
- Upload a current copy of your unofficial transcript with GPA
- Upload a statement of academic and career interests
- In 500 words or fewer, please describe why and how you’re interested in IC engineering/SoC design/verification/test/RF/analog/mixed signal circuits, and/or computer architecture
- Include which area(s) and classes of ECE interest you most academically and professionally
- Also describe any work you’ve done up to this point that you think is relevant to future work in ICs.
- Name of your masters degree advisor (if applicable)
Scholarship & Fellowship Recipients
Fellows
- AY2020-2021: Nathan Serafin, McKenzie Van Der Hagen
- AY2021-2022: Mohammad Bakhshalipour, Nathan Serafin, Minh Truong, McKenzie Van Der Hagen
- AY2022-2023: Mohammad Bakhshalipour, Siddharth Das, Wei Li, Minh Truong
- AY2023-2024: Siyuan Chen, Deepali Garg, Larry Tang
Scholars
- AY2020-2021: Tarana Laroia, Anna Li, Ryan Oh, Deanyone Su
- AY2021-2022: Heather Baker, Alexander Li, Venkata Vivek Thallam, Joseph Yankel
- AY2022-2023: Christopher Bernard, Alexander Glass, Mae Hoad, Matthew Shen
- AY2023-2024: Joshua Cheng, Gustav Hansen, Michael Nguyen, Christopher Porco, Aditi Raghavan
Hardware Courses and Dependencies
In partnership with CMU ECE faculty, Apple engineers present guest lectures in a wide range of integrated system design courses, including microelectronic circuits, IC design, logic design, verification and testing, and computer architecture. Apple engineers also participate in design reviews for projects in IC design courses (17-725/525 and 18-726) and provide feedback to help students in their IC design for “tapeout” and chip bring up and validation. Select courses, such as 18-500, 18-725/525, and 18-726, are eligible for Apple prizes.
