The Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been strategically building partnerships with companies throughout the United States and globally to create a wide array of opportunities for students to pursue as part of The Arch at Rensselaer.

During The Arch, all students must spend a fall or spring semester of their junior year participating in an off-campus experiential learning opportunity, which could take the form of an internship or co-op at one of the leading companies partnered with CCPD.

A notable and well-established employer partner is GlobalFoundries, an American semiconductor foundry with corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley. With approximately 16,000 employees spanning three continents across 14 locations, GlobalFoundries has over 250 clients worldwide, including many of world’s largest semiconductor companies. GlobalFoundries’ manufacturing portfolio includes five 200mm wafer fabrication plants and five 300mm fabs, with locations in Burlington, Vermont; Singapore; East Fishkill and Malta, New York; and Dresden, Germany.

GlobalFoundries’ motto, “We Make,” results in a variety of opportunities for students at Rensselaer majoring in science and engineering, including, but not limited to, chemical, mechanical, electrical, computer, and materials engineering, computer science, physics, and chemistry. Operating on the cutting edge of the semiconductor manufacturing business, GlobalFoundries accepts client requests that range from small projects that are nanometer in size to extremely large projects that are handled out of the large manufacturing facility in Malta, New York.

When asked about the pool of talent at Rensselaer, Alex Martin, global ambassador for GlobalFoundries, said, “RPI has a very strong technical curriculum which challenges and pushes students to develop a deep understanding of the topics they are studying. Students who arrive from RPI are very well prepared to meet the challenges of the fast-paced semiconductor business.”

In addition to being a diverse, global team, GlobalFoundries attracts top talent who are passionate about creating solutions to improve and power the world.

“We look for motivated, self-starting individuals who do not wait to be told what to do but rather can identify what needs to be done and can assemble an appropriate response to successfully accomplish the mission,” Martin said. “These are the thoughts and the behaviors that are ingrained into RPI students.”

The CCPD’s Employer Relations team at Rensselaer has worked with several hundred top national and global companies to create over a thousand new career development opportunities for juniors that align with their interests including academic major, professional goals, and geographic location.