Beginnings: Growing the Undergraduate Spectrum Workshop into an Undergraduate Spectrum Workforce Development Program

About This Grant

With the continuing emerging need for new technologies, policies, and approaches to sharing the wireless spectrum, a nationwide wireless spectrum workforce development effort is needed. This workforce development effort builds upon a foundation of previously run undergraduate spectrum workshops, organized by national Spectrum Innovation Center SMART Hub, and held between 2023 and 2025. In this project, we expand the summer workshop with academic year, cohort-based mentoring program that is crafted around the summer workshop experiences to develop a spectrum workforce pipeline, and to launch knowledgeable students into wireless spectrum careers. This “Spectrum Sizzle” program includes a progression of undergraduate workshops, connected by career mentoring, internships, and ultimately career placement, that will span a student’s college experience. The goals of the project are the following: (1) Develop and execute different levels of summer Spectrum Sizzle undergraduate spectrum workshops (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) to be held at SMART Hub university campuses across the United States, designed for three summers within the college experience; (2) develop a Spectrum Sizzle mentorship program whereby clinicians and career development experts are put in regular contact with student workshop participants to mentor them toward wireless spectrum careers, and to connect students with internship and career opportunities; and (3) follow up with Spectrum Sizzle participants after their placement into the spectrum workforce and investigate gaps in training, using this knowledge for continuous improvement of the program. Summer hands-on, residential workshops will spark interest and provide intensive contact with spectrum science, engineering, and policy for participants. Building from the workshop experiences, a cohort-based curriculum will be developed to foster career development through the college experiences of program participants. Students will be mentored throughout the year by industry, government, and academic professionals, and will gain assistance with internship and career placement within the spectrum metadiscipline. This program will usher participating students from their first exposure to spectrum all the way through placement into a fruitful spectrum career, and will build the nation’s future spectrum workforce. The ExLENT Program, supported by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals to increase their interest in and access to career pathways in emerging technology fields. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.