AMD Empowers Students With a Summer of STEM Education

For students, summer is a time for long days, great weather and no school. For those in underserved communities, students may not have the resources to participate in special programs that support their development throughout the summer in key subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). AMD recognizes the importance of continued learning in hopes of curbing the “summer slide” as well as introducing STEM concepts and careers to students, which increases the chance that they will pursue a STEM track in school. That is why this summer, offices around the globe provided a variety of activities such as visiting AMD offices and participating in hackathons to engage students. 

Exploring STEM Careers

Students from The Hidden Genius Project, Visions of Science, South High School and Breakthrough Central Texas visited AMD sites in San Jose, Markham, Boxborough and Austin. Employees, interns and members of Employee Resource Groups, including Advancing Black Leadership Excellence and the AMD Women’s Forum, hosted career panels where AMDers shared their career experiences and advice. Students also participated in hands-on STEM activities with AMD volunteers to spark creativity and problem solving such as building computers, conducting science experiments, constructing towers with limited supplies and assembling and racing solar-powered cars. 

Getting Competitive

In Longmont, AMD welcomed 38 middle and high school students to the 6^th annual AMD PYNQ™ Bootcamp, a week-long hackathon led by AMD summer interns. The event provided hands-on learning using AMD Kria™ System-on-Modules technology and PYNQ programming to develop AI use cases under the theme of “Deploying AI in the Real World.” Volunteers in Hyderabad also hosted a mini hackathon for 45 students in grades eight and nine. The students were challenged to create solutions to a real-life problem using breadboards, sensors, Arduino platforms and other supplies. With help from AMDers, they successfully built their innovative models within two to three hours and presented their projects to volunteer judges.

In Taipei, AMD partnered with New Taipei City's Department of Education to support FIRST Robotics Competition events. At the Poster Competition, 210 students presented STEM projects to AMDers, revealing their creativity. Later, 30 teams participated in the "2024 National High School FIRST Robotics Competition Off-Season Event," designing robots to collect and shoot foam rings into goals, showcasing their technical skills and teamwork to volunteer judges.

Exploring STEM at Home

AMD volunteers assembled and donated 2,000 STEM kits to six global nonprofits to encourage hands-on STEM learning. The kits offer engaging engineering challenges such as programming robots to learn coding, making light-up wearables to understand how circuits work, and other activities designed to spark interest in engineering and technology

AMD remains deeply committed to fostering STEM education and preparing the next generation of innovators. Not only did 2,500+ students experience STEM activities in a meaningful and inspiring way, but our employees experienced firsthand the positive impact their efforts made in their communities.

For more information on STEM initiatives at AMD, please visit: https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/corporate-responsibility/digital-impact.html