Texas Instruments India launches mentorship program for women engineering students

Texas Instruments India has introduced a new mentorship program called WiSH - Women in Semiconductors and Hardware for women engineering students that aims to bring more women into semiconductors.

Texas Instruments (TI) India has launched WiSH - Women in Semiconductors and Hardware – a mentorship program for female engineering students from across India, in the month of June. Over 40 students from across 18 colleges including IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, BITS, NIT Surathkal, and Delhi Technological University participated in the month-long program which aimed to give the students an exposure to semiconductors and encourage them to pursue a career in this industry.

“Today, 40% of STEM graduates in India are women, but less than half opt for careers in semiconductors and hardware. This is because of several reasons including lack of information on careers in hardware, misplaced belief that hardware is tougher, lack of mentorship opportunities and very few visible engineering role models,” said Shubhra Bhandari, Director of Human Resources at TI. 

“While we need to push multiple levers to bridge this gap, TI’s WiSH program focuses on the critical vectors of mentorship, providing an overview of the innovations driven by semiconductor companies, our impact and different career paths available in this industry. It essentially highlights why semiconductors can be a great place for women engineers who love technology and want to contribute to creating an impact in everyday life,” she added.

About WiSH program

The program was a blend of virtual and in-person mentoring, hands-on experience designing a chip through simulation experiements, lab visits, and technical talks, as well as informal networking sessions with the leaders at TI. 

The final week was spent at the TI campus in Bangalore where participants interacted with other engineers to understand more about how chips are made, the different functions that contribute to making a product, and the opportunities available to them once they step into TI. 

Madhumitha AV, a WiSH program participant from NIT Trichy (Tiruchirappalli) said, “I applied to the program out of curiosity. Most of my friends talk about computer engineering, but I have not had many conversations, particularly with other women engineers, about building a career in hardware. WiSH was an eye-opener. I now know a lot more about the world of semiconductors, the kind of technology challenges we get to work on and the fact that many women engineers have built very successful careers in this industry. While I am still weighing my options, a career in hardware is definitely a possibility.”

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