Qualcomm Collaborates with Schools, Libraries and Non-Profits to Provide More Students Free, Hands-on STEM Camps this Summer

Building on three years of successful hands-on STEM camps, this summer the Qualcomm® Thinkabit Lab™ continues to grow, with a total of 10 one-week-long camps in San Diego, the DC Metro Area and China. These programs are designed to introduce, inspire and encourage middle school students’ interest in STEM.

Qcamp

The annual summer program from Qualcomm – Qcamp™ – began in 2014 with a collaboration between Qualcomm and the Institute of International Education (IIE) on the Women Enhancing Technology (WeTech) program. Qualcomm has been a lead partner in this initiative since its inception, and it is a part of the Company’s ongoing commitment to increasing and supporting girls and women in STEM. Qcamp is a free-of-charge, intensive summer camp that provides students from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds with hands-on learning and engineering activities in a part maker-space, part lab environment. For more on Qcamp, view the videos here.

Qcamp 2017

This summer, Qualcomm, in collaboration with schools, libraries and non-profits, such as the American Association of University Women (AAUW), hosted a total of 10 camps at a variety of locations. Through these one-week-long camps, Qualcomm provided approximately 250 students with creative and engaging, hands-on STEM learning.

Some of Qualcomm’s Qcamp programs for 2017 included:

• A week-long Qcamp with 28 pre-7th grade girls, hosted at the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab with Chula Vista Elementary School District;

• A week-long Qcamp with 30 pre-6th grade boys and girls, hosted in VIDA’s Inspired by Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab with the Vista Unified School District;

• A week-long Qcamp with 28 pre-7th grade boys and girls, hosted at the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab with Chula Vista Elementary School District;

• A week-long camp with 16 middle school girls from Southern California through the AAUW’s Tech Trek program;

• A week-long camp with over 60 girls and eight science teachers from rural parts of China, hosted in Beijing in collaboration with the Children and Youth Science Center (CYSC) of China Association for Science and Technology;

• Various camp activities, hosted at the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab with Virginia Tech in the National Capital Region, that focused on IoT/smart cities, creative robotics and electronics, and environmental sensors and monitoring.

“As a company of inventors, we care deeply about STEM, education, creativity and careers,” said Susie Armstrong, senior vice president, engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated, leader of the Thinkabit Lab. “With the creation and growth of our Qcamp program, we are dedicated to ensuring that it is impactful for students across regions and demographics. This summer, we’re thrilled to bring more future inventors into Qcamp and we look forward to seeing their creations evolve.”

“We are excited that this year’s TeckTrek robotics camp is being hosted at the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab, and led by one of their instructors,” said Toni Lopez, director, AAUW Tech Trek camp, University of California San Diego. “We’ve experienced first-hand the great work and results that the Thinkabit Lab team has accomplished for the past few years, and we are very proud that the girls participating in our camp this year have access to these valuable hands-on STEM experience.”

Qcamp and the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley Study

To assess the impact of Qcamp on middle school girls, between 2014 and 2016, Qualcomm teamed up with the Research Group at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science (Hall) to develop a study following a cohort of 30 girls that attended the two-week camp for three consecutive Summers. The Hall’s study noted that the program supports students to become more actively involved in STEM. Findings showed that:

• 100 percent of Qcampers who participated in the study felt positively about the hands-on engineering and coding activities they did during Qcamp

• 90 percent of participants reported a range of benefits and personal growth areas, including: improved teamwork, enhanced communication skills and increased perseverance.

• 60 percent of participants indicated they had gained interest in advanced classes and a career in STEM.

The executive summary of the Qcamp report will be launched later this year.

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