• Samsung Innovation Campus is kicking off its second year in the U.S. to strengthen future technology capabilities and employment opportunities for underrepresented communities in STEM. 
• 150 female students were selected out of over 3,000 applicants from across the country to take part in a free, semester-long AI course to be equipped with future-proof, problem-solving skills.
• “At Samsung, we are committed to educating and empowering future generations to contribute to a better world through bold innovation, and STEM plays a critical role in that.” –Michelle Crossan-Matos

Today, Samsung Electronics America will launch the 2022-2023 Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) Artificial Intelligence Course in the United States and further its commitment to empowering the next generation through education. Under Samsung’s global corporate citizenship vision of “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,” Samsung Innovation Campus will enable Millennial and Gen Z participants across the United States to harness future technologies and curate collaborative experiences. This will be the program’s second year in the U.S., which has shown a 55% technical competency improvement rate globally since its launch in 2019.¹

“I am thrilled to launch the second year of Samsung Innovation Campus and for the opportunity to make the tech industry more accessible and inclusive of female talent,” said Michelle Crossan-Matos, Chief Marketing, Citizenship and Communications Officer at Samsung Electronics America. “At Samsung, we are committed to educating and empowering future generations to contribute to a better world through bold innovation, and STEM plays a critical role in that. I look forward to seeing how all of the participants apply this newfound knowledge to drive purposeful change and break the barriers for women in tech.”

Through the integration of technology, basic software skills and emerging capabilities, the program seeks to empower its participants to grow into well-rounded professionals. From January through May 2023, women aged 17-35 from across the United States will take part in a virtual course rooted in project-based learning to strengthen employment opportunities and problem-solving skills. The first part of the course will consist of asynchronous modules covering topics such as unsupervised learning, natural language processing and deep learning to provide a solid artificial intelligence foundation. The second part will introduce more advanced material, all leading up to capstone project presentations developed based on new technological skills and sustainable development solutions.

“AI is touching every aspect of our lives, including medicine, finance, education, communication, and security, to name just a few applications,” said Sven Dickenson, Head of Samsung AI Center Toronto. “As companies try to navigate this new landscape of AI tools and techniques, they will need people who have a basic grounding in AI – people who can look at a problem and choose the appropriate AI tools to solve it. This Samsung Innovation Campus course in AI provides that basic grounding to a small, diverse cohort of students.”

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), Samsung is providing students with the tools they need to succeed in these growing fields. The Samsung Innovation Campus curriculum is designed to help close the skills gap and provide opportunities to students from communities that have been historically underrepresented in the tech industry. This year, the program will empower an all-female cohort of 150 students coming from diverse backgrounds and education levels, including college and PhD students, mothers returning to the workforce and employees looking to further develop their skillsets.

In 2019, women accounted for only 22% of all AI and computer science PhD programs in North America, a mere 4% increase from 2010.² Diversity, equity and inclusion are three critical components in driving bold innovation and growth at Samsung, and the company looks forward to further empowering women in technology through this program. In addition to receiving advanced technical skills, students will be given professional development advice from Samsung Electronics America and Samsung Research America employees. These employees will mentor participants and share their experience in AI and the larger technology industry, including topics such as breaking the bias in the STEM field.

“There was always something new and exciting to learn during Samsung Innovation Campus, from Natural Language Processing to Neural Networks and more,” said Shan Rafique, Samsung Innovation Campus 2021-2022 Participant and 2022-2023 Teaching Assistant. “I made connections with people around the world and had fun working on a project to predict the ground state energy of molecules that match certain criteria. I’m glad I took this course and started my journey into AI. I’m looking forward to helping this year’s cohort!”

Samsung Innovation Campus is the company’s second educational program to be introduced in the United States, following its successful Samsung Solve for Tomorrow program. Going on its 13^th year this fall, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow has awarded $22 million to more than 3,500 public schools across the nation. The program challenges students in grades 6-12 to consider how science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can be used to solve problems and drive positive change in their communities.

As the program’s start date quickly approaching, the company looks forward to continue kicking off the second year of Samsung Innovation Campus and further empowering the next generation of change makers.

For more on Samsung’s commitment to Corporate Citizenship, visit Samsung.com.

¹ Source: Samsung Innovation Campus 2021 Results

² Source: “The path forward: How to create a better future for women in AI,” Deloitte 2021

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a leader in mobile technologies, consumer electronics, home appliances and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA is pushing beyond the limits of today’s technology and providing consumers and organizations with a portfolio of groundbreaking products and services across mobile devices, connected appliances, home entertainment, 5G networks and digital solutions. To discover more about Samsung, please visit www.samsung.com. For the latest Samsung news, please visit news.samsung.com/us and follow us @SamsungNewsUS.

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