The 40 students, who were chosen from more than 1,600 applicants, are in Washington, D.C. to compete for more than a half a million dollars in scholarships and prizes, including a grand prize of $100,000. This year, the finalists represent 17 states and 35 schools.
"What's cool is that President Obama is really on board in terms of supporting science education," said Intel Science Talent Search finalist Aniruddha Deshmukh from Cupertino, Calif., "He said he's supporting policies that would increase funding towards science and education programs on a very large scale in the U.S. That's really key."
"Last month, Intel announced a $7 billion multi-year investment in innovation. Today's meeting between President Obama and our Intel Science Talent Science finalists demonstrates how important investment in education is in fueling innovation," said Shelly Esque, Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs for the Intel Corporation. "These incredible young scientists are positive proof that investment in science and math education will play a critical role in stimulating the next generation of ideas and lifting our economy."
The Intel Science Talent Search encourages students to tackle challenging scientific questions and develop the skills necessary to solve the problems of tomorrow. Over the past 67 years, Science Talent Search finalists have gone on to win seven Nobel Prizes, a Fields Medal, the National Medal of Science and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Society for Science & the Public (SSP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the public engagement in scientific research and education, has owned and administered the Science Talent Search since its inception in 1942.
Intel believes that students everywhere deserve to have the skills necessary to become the next generation of innovators. Intel's commitment to education extends far beyond Intel Science Talent Search. Over the past decade alone, the company has invested more than $1 billion, and its employees have donated more than 2.5 million hours toward improving education in 50 countries. The Intel Science Talent Search is jointly funded by Intel Corporation and Intel Foundation.
Recognition events will be held in Tokyo and Santa Clara, Calif. this month to honor the PQS award winners. In addition, there will be an online advertisement launch and acknowledgement on Intel's corporate Web site.
The PQS winners provide Intel with the following products and services:
"Integrating computers and education is essential in the 21st century," said Barrett, who also chairs the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development. "The new technologies and trends that are transforming the global economy will influence the future of today's students, both personally and professionally."
Barrett delivered his address at one of Romania's most prestigious institutions of higher education. The nearly 200-year-old University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB), with 26,000 students, is the country's largest technical university. Speaking to students from information technology departments as well as professors from Bucharest universities, Barrett encouraged listeners to broaden their options for the future by learning as much as they can with the help of information and communications technology (ICT).
In related events, UPB bestowed the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa on Barrett today during a special ceremony at the university. The honor recognizes Barrett's intellectual merits, and is the highest degree that UPB awards to any individual.
Barrett is also scheduled to meet with government officials today to discuss how Intel can support the Romanian government's plan to strengthen its strategy for technology-assisted education. One existing effort is the Intel Teach program, which is designed to enhance classroom learning by training teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. Intel teamed with Romanian software developer SIVECO to help administer the training and expects that 35,000 Romanian teachers will complete the Intel Teach program in the coming years.
The Intel chairman planned to end his day with the local American Chamber of Commerce at a forum at the National Museum of Art of Romania. Barrett is expected to talk about how Romania can take advantage of ICT to be competitive as one of the newest members of the European Union. He believes investments in ICT infrastructure deployment such as Internet access and broadband technology are vital to economic development and job creation.
The forum is expected to draw approximately 100 people, including government representatives and key IT managers in Romanian Ministries, education officials and advisors, local IT leaders and private-sector CEOs from Romania's largest companies.
Barrett's current trip to Europe is expected to be his last as an ambassador for the Intel World Ahead Program. He announced in January an intention to retire from his role as Intel's chairman in May.
This MOU is an important step in a long-term strategic technology cooperation between Intel and TSMC. With this joint effort, Intel intends to significantly broaden the market opportunities for its Intel Atom SoCs and accelerate deployment of the architecture through multiple SoC implementations. At the same time, TSMC extends its technology platform to serve the Intel Architecture market segments.
"We believe this effort will make it easier for customers with significant design expertise to take advantage of benefits of the Intel Architecture in a manner that allows them to customize the implementation precisely to their needs," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "The combination of the compelling benefits of our Atom processor combined with the experience and technology of TSMC is another step in our long-term strategic relationship."
"TSMC values our strategic relationship with Intel. This MOU brings together the Intel Architecture and the TSMC technology platform. We expect this collaboration will help proliferate the Atom processor SoC and foster overall semiconductor growth," said Dr. Rick Tsai, president and CEO of TSMC. "With this agreement, our technology platform extends beyond the two companies?current collaboration to support future Intel embedded x86 products."
The Intel Atom processor features 47 million transistors and is Intel smallest processor. Products manufactured through the agreement may find adoption in embedded CPU market segments such as mobile internet Devices (MIDs), smart-phones, netbooks, nettops, and AC-powered consumer electronics device. The processor is designed to bring the whole Internet and the benefits of computing to an emerging class of consumer-friendly devices.
LG and Intel's common goal is to unleash rich Internet experiences across a range of mobile devices while delivering the functionality of today's high-end smart phones. The collaboration on the new design extends a close working relationship the two companies have enjoyed across their respective mobile product lines, which now spans the notebook, netbook and MID categories.
"The MID segment will drive growth at LG Electronics. We chose Intel's next-generation Moorestown platform and Moblin-based OS to pursue this segment because of the high performance and Internet compatibility this brings to our service provider customers," said Jung Jun Lee, executive vice president of LG Electronics and head of its Mobile Communications Business Division. "The collaboration with Intel on the MID platform has been valuable and further extends our longstanding relationship. Our efforts are well on track and we look forward to bringing the MID to market."
LG launched a netbook, based on the Intel Atom processor, in the fourth quarter of 2008, and has been supplying the mobile companion device to carriers and retailers worldwide. LG also continues to ship notebooks based on the Intel Core processor.
MIDs represent an emerging growth category in the industry and are designed to bring a rich, interactive, PC-like Internet experience in pocketable devices. The experience on a MID will help usher in the many new Internet trends performed predominantly on a PC to mobile devices.
"Moorestown" is the codename for Intel's second-generation MID platform, which consists of a System on Chip (codenamed "Lincroft") that integrates a 45nm Intel® Atom™ processor core, graphics, video and memory controller. The platform also includes an input/output (I/O) hub, codenamed "Langwell," that includes a range of I/O blocks and supports wireless solutions.
Intel's "Moorestown"-based MIDs are expected to reduce idle power consumption by a factor of greater than 10 versus today's Intel Atom processor-based MIDs. Additionally, the Moorestown platform will be accompanied by a newer Moblin software version, Moblin v2.0, that is based on the Linux operating system. This software is designed specifically to deliver a great PC-like Internet experience while also supporting cell phone voice capabilities. The "Moorestown" platform is expected to come to market by 2010.
"LG Electronics makes some of the most innovative computers and smart phones in the world, and is known to be a leading-edge player in every market segment they serve," said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager of the company's Ultra Mobility Group. "We look forward to providing them some fantastic Intel products that will deliver the best Internet experience while dramatically reducing power ontributing to the development of ultra sleek devices that offer superb battery life."
In order to offer a variety of network connections and Internet access, LG is also working with Ericsson to bring 3G network capability to its planned MID. This is an extension of the existing collaboration between the companies. LG has been supplying notebooks and netbooks with mobile broadband modules from Ericsson since the third quarter of 2008.
"We are glad that LG Electronics has chosen Ericsson to provide 3G capabilities in its Intel-based MID. We are working with LG and Intel to deliver industry-leading 3G capabilities on the Moorestown MID," said Mats Norin, vice president and head of Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules. "Ericsson's unparalleled relationships with global service providers will be instrumental as we define plans with LG to take this MID to market across multiple geographies around the world."
