Blog

Jasmine Beckford

Meet Jasmine who will begin her final year as a materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate at Norfolk State University. This summer, she joined our Deposition product group (DPG) in Tualatin, Oregon, U.S., working in the DPG Materials Engineering team. Jasmine studied the surface roughness of novel materials to advance the technical capabilities for Lam’s customers. Her project will assist with the development of products throughout Lam’s deposition portfolio and extend the lifespan of our tools.

“Even in a short time, I’ve contributed to projects in a meaningful way,” says Jasmine. “I’ve been able to find my place here at Lam and my manager has made me feel like I’m an asset to the team. Working here and alongside my manager has not only made me more knowledgeable but has also made me a better person and has helped me find my voice.”

What’s next for her? Jasmine will return to Norfolk, Virginia to complete her Ph.D. with hopes of going back to school to pursue an M.B.A.

Magdalena Molnar

Magdalena joined our operations in Villach, Austria supporting our Supply Chain and Engineering teams as an intern in the Material Program Management group. Throughout the summer, she worked with our portfolio of suppliers to identify how our downstream partners can provide the right support and the right parts at the right time.

“Suppliers often suffer from the same challenges we do, especially during a global chip shortage, so managing delivery delays, especially when I wanted to finish a project on time was difficult. But I had great colleagues who trusted in my work and gave me the independence to complete tasks, while also supporting me when I needed guidance,” says Magdalena.

Her biggest takeaway from the internship is how to manage and structure big projects.

To future Lam interns, her advice is to “collect insight into many different areas of the company and to make use of all the opportunities Lam offers.”

What’s next for her? Magdalena will begin her last year at the University of Technology in Vienna to complete her degree in mechanical and industrial engineering.

Aaron Perez

Aaron recently graduated from the University of Houston with his master’s degree in chemical engineering and data science.

But that wasn’t exactly the career path he laid out for himself as a child. “Growing up, I really wanted to be like the lead singer of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong.” But with a natural inclination toward math and chemistry, he pursued chemical engineering.

“I’m not a punk rocker but a chemical engineer, and I would now argue, it’s kind of the equivalent.”

Interestingly, Aaron didn’t choose Lam – the opposite happened. As a fellow with the National GEM Consortium (GEM), a premier organization for the best and brightest underrepresented minority STEM talent in the country, he had access to dozens of top engineering and science firms. And as a partner, Lam can connect with a wide network of diverse technical talent to intern and sponsor their graduate studies. “Lam chose me to intern but that’s not to say I didn’t want Lam. Lam was one of my top choices.”

This summer, Aaron joined us in our Etch business unit at our headquarters in Fremont, CA, U.S., and has been working on enabling methods to optimize chamber operation using machine learning and physics-based high-fidelity modeling and simulation.

“Since the beginning, my manager has given me a lot of freedom to explore the project by myself. He’s been very supportive not just with the project but has also provided me with career advice and has helped me develop my presentation skills.”

Aaron has received an extension to continue his internship with Lam beyond this summer. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. beginning in the spring of 2023 through GEM, with Lam sponsoring his studies.

“This has been one of the best internships I’ve had, and I’m not just saying that because I’m being interviewed,” he jokes.

Shu Rui Tew

Meet Shu Rui who’s begun her final year at the National University of Singapore as a data science and analytics major. In June, she joined us at our offices in Singapore supporting the Equipment Intelligence team in collecting, collating, and analyzing data from Sense.i®, Lam’s industry-leading plasma etch technology and system solution.

With hundreds of sensors generating terabytes of data, Shu Rui had a big project this summer – to build a machine learning model that predicts tool failure. If done correctly, this model would alert engineers when corrective action on the tool’s systems was needed, ultimately reducing downtime.

“This was a much different project from what I had worked on at university where data is already structured,” says Shu Rui. “I was lucky to work alongside a supervisor and colleagues who provided helpful guidance.”

She plans to bring her experience at Lam with her in her final year at university. “The biggest takeaway from my internship is learning to pick out which data is most relevant in an unstructured data set – a practice that I didn’t have much experience with at university.”