Applied Materials : Student Learning in the Lab

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about seeing something up close and personal? That's priceless. At Applied Materials, our innovations make possible the technology shaping the future - a future that depends on the success of our youth. We encourage this success by providing charitable grants to schools and organizations working to close the academic achievement gap in communities where we do business around the world. To maximize our positive impact, we often couple financial support with student tours at Applied campuses, providing exposure to exciting career opportunities in STEM and introducing students to professionals in the high-tech industry.

This past academic year, Applied hosted more than 300 students for tours at our sites throughout Israel and North America. In Silicon Valley, we hosted 30 Bay Area high school juniors and seniors this summer at our Maydan Technology Center as part of the Stanford RISE internship program. Over in Gloucester, Massachusetts, employees networked with more than 50 sophomores and juniors from Gloucester High School's engineering, robotics and AP chemistry classes.

Applied also proudly partners with local nonprofits to create custom activities for visiting student groups. This past July, our employees in Austin, Texas volunteered with Breakthrough Central Texas, conducting mock interviews with young people and encouraging them to reflect on their summer experiences, practice public speaking skills, and learn how to network.

Also this summer at our Career Exploration Day with Breakthrough Silicon Valley, students participated in hands-on tech projects and learned about business and engineering concepts from representatives of Applied's employee resource groups, including the Black Employee Network, Hispanics in Partnership and the Young Professionals Network.

Through all of these visits, we strive to provide a thoughtful introduction to Applied Materials and to potential career paths that await students upon high school and/or college graduation. This year, we were fortunate to have Roberto Pimienta, a Stanford RISE alumni and current Applied Materials process engineer, share his story. Roberto says, 'Being a research intern in an academic lab gave me the opportunity to read journal articles, introduced me to the college environment and gave me access to ask my own research questions. Regular field trips to local companies like Applied Materials made the experience even more rewarding.'

To quote one of our young visitors, we hope students come away 'totally inspired' by their conversations with our experts. On behalf of our employee volunteers and mentors, we can confidently say the feeling is mutual.

To learn more about Applied's year-round education support and other areas we're passionate about, check out the Community page on our website, read our CSR Report or follow us on Twitter at @Applied4Good.