This executive, 2 half-day course, hosted at the Institute, will explore the recent groundbreaking CHIPS legislation.  It will briefly review the various sections of the bill along with the motivations behind it.  The primary focus will be unraveling the execution options available for the various sections including the Incentives, R&D and Workforce aspects.   The goal is to have the students better understand this legislation and how their organization might best contribute to the CHIPS mission. 

The course will be led by an esteemed set of instructors with considerable experience in this field. They will help participants understand the big picture of CHIPS and how it might be executed to meet the needs of the US economy and National Security.  Each instructor will present a briefing on a particular aspect followed by an interactive dialog between participants and instructors. This latter part is a key aspect of this course to help students gain maximal understanding of this complex and critically important legislation. 

John Behnke has 35 years of semiconductor industry experience including: logic and memory manufacturing, technology/product development and fab operational excellence.  As the GM of Final Phase Systems an INFICON Product Line, Behnke leads a team that develops and deploys SMART software solutions that enable fabs to improve their manufacturing efficiency.  

Dr. Michael Fritze is a Senior Fellow and former Vice President at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies responsible for the Microelectronics Policy portfolio. His activities include USG trusted access strategies, support of needed legacy technologies. DOD innovation policy and outreach to Industry and strengthening the U.S. Microelectronics Industrial Base. He is also the Director of the VITAL Center (Vital Infrastructure Technology and Logistics) at Potomac.   

Dr. Mark Lewis is the Executive Director of NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute (NDIA ETI). Prior to this position, Dr. Lewis was the Director of Defense Research & Engineering in the Department of Defense (DoD), overseeing technology modernization for all Services and DoD Agencies, as well as the acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering. He is the author of more than 320 publications.

The Honorable Alan R. Shaffer is a member of the Board of Regents at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. He served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) from January 2019 to January 20, 2021. From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Shaffer served as the Director, NATO Collaboration Support Office in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.  

Brian Shirley is a senior executive and advisor with over 34 years of broad-based experience in the semiconductor industry, including fourteen years as an executive officer of Micron Technology, a US-based Fortune 500 leader in semiconductor memory, as well as several years of senior consulting to the US Government on topics related to the Semiconductor Industry and US National Security.