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    Robert Geer

    Vice President for Education and Workforce Development
    NY Creates
    Albany, NY, United States

    Robert Geer is the Vice President for Education and Workforce Development at NY CREATES, a global R&D and commercialization hub for the semiconductor industry. He holds a position as Professor of Nanoscale Science & Engineering at the University at Albany, SUNY. He also serves as the Director of Education and Workforce Development for AIM Photonics, a Manufacturing-USA institute with facilities in Rochester and Albany, NY. Dr. Geer received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Minnesota in 1992 and joined the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. as a staff physicist before joining the faculty at the University at Albany, SUNY where he built a research program focused on on-chip interconnect technology. Since 2017 he has focused his efforts on education and workforce development for the U.S. semiconductor industry. At NY CREATES Dr. Geer manages a broad portfolio of programs for education and workforce development for the broader microelectronics manufacturing industry through a variety of partnerships with the National Science Foundation, the DoD’s Manufacturing Technology Program, the Air Force Research Laboratory, NIST and many other organizations. He has led the development of a range of workforce training programs for the semiconductor industry including technician training programs for several chip manufacturers and toolmakers. His team has trained more than 800 technicians and engineers for companies including GlobalFoundries, Tokyo Electron Ltd, and Raytheon (RTX). He likewise has overseen an array of workforce programs impacting several thousand high school, community college, and university student in semiconductor-related disciplines. Professor Geer’s workforce development team founded a DoD SkillBridge training program, the VET Semiconductor Training and Experience Program (VET S.T.E.P.) to provide skills to transitioning U.S. military personnel for semiconductor manufacturing. And most recently, Dr. Geer has founded a cleanroom technician registered apprenticeship program at NY CREATES.

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