TI gives $2.2 million to re-energize introductory electronics courses at UC Berkeley

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May 10, 2012, 02:43 ET

DALLAS and SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today announced a $2.2 million gift to support engineering education at the University of California, Berkeley. The university will use the gift to transform its traditional introductory Electronic Design Laboratory into a dynamic learning environment for undergraduate students.

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"With TI's expanded Silicon Valley research and development base in Santa Clara, this gift represents another step in our commitment to fostering the innovation ecosystem in this region and around the world," said Gregg Lowe, senior vice president of TI's Analog business. "The gift also dovetails with TI's initiatives to increase internship opportunities for engineering students. By engaging students early in their engineering education, we can help ignite lifelong ingenuity and passion for tackling the world's challenges with analog and embedded processors."

More than 1,000 students a year gain their first hands-on electronics experience in the university's Electronic Design Lab, which supports Introduction to Microelectronic Circuits and other gateway electrical engineering courses at UC Berkeley. In the nearby Hacker/Maker space, students work together on projects solving real-life issues, from automating a dorm room, to creating a simple, yet fully functional electroencephalograph (EEG). By renovating and equipping the aging lab to meet 21st Century standards and connecting it to the engineering student lounge and Hacker/Maker space, the TI gift will allow students to study in a modern environment that organically cultivates community, collaboration and creativity. The university expects to open the renovated space in Spring 2013. The renovated lab will also connect to the school's Mixed Signals Laboratory, originally funded by a gift from National Semiconductor, one of Silicon Valley's first semiconductor companies, which was acquired by TI in 2011.

"This is a unique opportunity to introduce a new generation of engineering students to the fun of building things that matter," said Professor Costas Spanos, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. "We will do this by infusing the 'maker' ethic early into the learning cycle, and by creating a place that brings together state-of-the-art instructional labs, a student meeting place and student-run space for hardware hacking."

In addition to the monetary gift, TI is donating development kits that incorporate a range of devices from its extensive semiconductor portfolio, along with supporting software, to enhance the hands-on learning experience in the classroom.

The gift follows a March announcement of the new TI Silicon Valley Labs, a center for research and collaboration with universities and customers on disruptive analog and mixed signal technologies. TI also announced it is working with UC Berkeley, Stanford and other universities to dramatically increase internship opportunities for students. In the United States alone, TI has increased internships by 85 percent over the past three years, and in 2012 has offered more than 460 internships.

The announcements in Silicon Valley are connected to TI's strategy of working with universities worldwide to help engineering students build a foundation of knowledge and experience with analog and embedded processing technologies and excite students about the hardware side of electronics and engineering. In the past five years, TI and the TI Foundation have given almost $120 million to support higher education globally.

Learn more about TI's university program by visiting the links below:

Follow TI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/aroundTI.
Join TI on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TexasInstruments.
Learn about internships with TI: http://www.ti.com/intern-pr.
Learn about TI's university programs: www.ti.com/university-pr.
Learn about career opportunities with TI: www.ti.com/careers.

About the University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering

The mission of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley is to educate leaders, create knowledge and serve society. Berkeley Engineering is consistently ranked among the top three engineering schools nationwide and upholds a global reputation for academic excellence and technological innovation. It includes more than 4,500 students and more than 200 full-time faculty, with more than 60,000 alumni living and working around the world. Its academic offerings span seven departments, all ranked in the top 10 nationally. More than 40 affiliated multidisciplinary research centers, in areas from wireless communications to green design, foster student instruction and industry collaboration. Learn more at coe.berkeley.edu.

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments semiconductor innovations help 90,000 customers unlock the possibilities of the world as it could be – smarter, safer, greener, healthier and more fun. Our commitment to building a better future is ingrained in everything we do – from the responsible manufacturing of our semiconductors, to caring for our employees, to giving back inside our communities. This is just the beginning of our story. Learn more at www.ti.com.

SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated