SAN DIEGO, May 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to
reach beyond the more than 12,000 students, teachers and parents
who have visited the Qualcomm® Thinkabit Lab™ since its opening in
2014 at the Company's headquarters, Qualcomm Incorporated announced
today the launch of the Thinkabit Lab Toolkit to be offered
free-of-charge to organizations interested in creating sustainable
and scalable STEM programs, such as school districts, libraries,
businesses and universities across the U.S.
By accessing the Toolkit, participating organizations will be
able to create their own STEM lab "Inspired by the Qualcomm
Thinkabit Lab", by following guidelines, materials and teaching
resources based on the successful signature activities
offered at the original Company's lab. The Thinkabit Lab aims to
foster creativity and collaboration among students in a part
maker-space, part lab environment, and provides career exploration
guidelines and resources, as well as engaging, hands-on engineering
activities to inspire and expose participants to future
possibilities and STEM career opportunities.
"At Qualcomm we are constantly thinking of ways to inspire the
next generation of STEM innovators, and to contribute to a better
prepared, and more diverse future workforce," said Susie Armstrong, senior vice president,
engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated, and leader of the Thinkabit
Lab. "Thinkabit Lab has proven to be a successful way to achieve
that, and we are excited to continue expanding beyond San Diego by offering our new Thinkabit Lab
Toolkit and by working with organizations committed to bring STEM
opportunities to students."
According to the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA), out of 71 countries, the U.S. ranks 38th in math
and 24th in science. With programs like the Thinkabit
Lab and the Thinkabit Lab Toolkit, Qualcomm is hoping to influence
interest in STEM by exposing students in a fun and engaging way to
the depth and breadth of the tech industry.
The Thinkabit Lab Toolkit includes two key components of the
program: Qualcomm World of Work (QWOW) content and the engineering
lab experience. QWOW is a set of career and self-exploration
activities based on the work of Qualcomm's Career Explorations team
and the team's experiences with community youth programs. The
engineering lab experience features the highly successful Thinkabit
Lab signature activities that culminate in robo-crafting projects,
which inspire students' collaboration and creativity, and
demystifies engineering.
Over the past three years the Thinkabit Lab in San Diego has provided students from schools
around the county with engaging, day-long, hands-on engineering and
career exploration activities. Exposing students from all cultural
and socioeconomic backgrounds to STEM education and careers, the
Thinkabit Lab has hosted more than 400 classes and camps, promoting
STEM career awareness. Today there are nine "Inspired by Qualcomm
Thinkabit Lab" sites in varying stages of development, including
five middle schools across San Diego
county, a library in Chula Vista,
CA, and two private-sector businesses in San Diego, as well as a space at Virginia Tech
University in Washington D.C.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm's technologies powered the
smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. We
pioneered 3G and 4G – and now we are leading the way to 5G and a
new era of intelligent, connected devices. Our products are
revolutionizing industries, including automotive, computing, IoT,
healthcare and data center, and are allowing millions of devices to
connect with each other in ways never before imagined. Qualcomm
Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast
majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a
subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its
subsidiaries, all of our engineering, research and development
functions, and all of our products and services businesses,
including, our QCT semiconductor business. For more information,
visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in
the United States and other
countries.
Thinkabit Lab is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.
Qualcomm Contacts:
Pete Lancia, Corporate
Communications
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com
John Sinnott, Investor
Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com
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SOURCE Qualcomm Incorporated