Qualcomm's Thinkabit Lab Learning Center Offers Free STEM Resources

Qualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that enable life-changing products and experiences. In a connected world, we are shaping a better future by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Our Corporate Responsibility team is building on this legacy in four key areas – Purposeful Innovation; Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM) Education; Responsible Business, and Our People.

Proud to be known as Qualcomm for Good, our team invests in STEM initiatives that:

• engage the next generation of inventors and technologists,
• expand opportunities for underrepresented students, and
• advance workforce development for STEM-related careers.

The Qualcomm^® Thinkabit Lab™ is a STEM initiative which began in 2014 at our San Diego headquarters.

The goal was to inspire students of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds to be inventors and explore the Qualcomm® World of Work. Given the high demand for the program, we transitioned to a new expansion model in 2018.

Thinkabit Lab Program Snapshot

• To date, our Thinkabit Lab program has aimed to inspire more than 65,000 participants to be future inventors. We collaborate with many different types of organizations, including schools, universities, and libraries. Our 16 national Thinkabit Lab sites are located in five states, including California, Virginia, Michigan, Louisiana and North Carolina.
• Our week-long summer camps have engaged more than 500 students, including all-girl summer camps held in collaboration with our national sites and organizations like the American Association of University Women.
• The Tech for Good Project incorporating Bluetooth communication and the Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ Initiative, along with our Agriculture IoT Project showed how our technologies transform communities.
• Our employee volunteer base grew beyond San Diego headquarters to include Cambridge, United Kingdom; Boulder, Colorado; and Cork, Ireland. In the past two years, employees at these offices reached over 6,600 students in their local communities.

The Learning Center

Access fun and free coding activities in STEM education. The Learning Center is a free online resource developed for adult instructors to help them introduce students to coding and engineering. Qualcomm welcomes educators, librarians, community members and youth organization leaders to visit our easy-to-use center.

Here’s a quick look at what you’ll find online

• Materials and where to purchase them – you only need a few components to get started
• Step-by-step instructions for setting up a microcontroller and how to use a breadboard
• Hands-on coding and engineering challenges
• How to build an LED circuit, get it to blink and send Morse code, using a microcontroller power source
• Instructions for connecting a Servo motor and writing code to control the motion
• Steps for wiring and writing code to connect a Servo and LED at the same time

Get started! Visit the Learning Center today.