SANDISK ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO PURSUE CAREERS IN ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY WITH $1 MILLION ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
- SanDisk Scholars Fund focuses on women, Latino and
African-American students pursuing careers in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics
- SanDisk endowment awards up to $10,000 per student for
college
Milpitas, Calif., Feb. 1,
2012 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader
in flash memory storage solutions, announced today it will award
$1,000,000 this year in needs-based scholarships to students from
disadvantaged backgrounds through its SanDisk Scholars Fund.
Funded by the SanDisk Foundation,
which provides philanthropic support to charitable organizations
worldwide, the SanDisk Scholars Fund supports the educational goals
of women, Latino and African-American students pursuing careers in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Scholarships of up to $10,000 per student will be awarded to
graduating high school seniors, community-college students, or
students already enrolled in a STEM-related course of study.
The fund targets students who have
the academic promise to attend college and require the economic
assistance to pursue careers in STEM-related fields. Helping
talented and qualified students obtain university degrees in
science, engineering and technology leads to growth in the
technology industry and increases the overall competitiveness of
the U.S.
"The goal of the SanDisk Scholarship Fund is to help
disadvantaged students to pursue studies in technology and
engineering," said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO, SanDisk.
"Our hope is to alleviate the under-representation of women,
Latinos and African-American students in STEM-related occupations.
As U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, said, 'Preparing young
people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of
society but is also an economic imperative. The onus to improve
education lies not just with our school officials, but with local
business partners, philanthropic organizations, community based
organizations, higher education institutions, and families as
well.'"
SanDisk evaluated a wide range of options to determine how it
could effectively enhance academic performance in engineering and
technical areas, especially for students from underserved
communities. The company believes its focused scholarships will
encourage young people who traditionally have had limited
opportunities to pursue a STEM-related career.
Program Details
The SanDisk Foundation (a corporate advised fund of the Silicon
Valley Community Foundation) is partnering with the Silicon Valley
Community Foundation, International Scholarship and Tuition
Services (ISTS), the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) and the United
Negro College Fund (UNCF) to identify students fitting the SanDisk
Scholar Fund's applicant profile, process applications, award
scholarships and provide support services to scholarship
recipients.
Of the $1 million committed for this year, a portion of
SanDisk's Scholar Fund is committed to students attending one of
these five U.S. universities: Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley,
University of California-Los Angeles and University of
Texas-Austin. Funding for STEM-related research grants is also
planned and included in this amount.
Interested students can find all of the eligibility
requirements, online applications, and required accompanying
documents at https://aim.applyists.net/SanDisk.
SanDisk's Philanthropy Focus
SanDisk's mission as a company is to enrich people's lives through
digital storage anytime, anywhere. Philanthropically, SanDisk
supports programs and organizations like the SanDisk Scholars Fund
through the SanDisk Foundation that address the needs of
communities where the company has a significant presence through
donations to non-profit organizations and community groups whose
efforts align with SanDisk's core values-innovation, focus on
execution, adaptability and agility, teamwork and integrity.
"The SanDisk Scholars Fund deepens our existing philanthropy
activities while aligning with one of our Foundation's key focus
areas: enhancing academic performance, technology skills and the
social development of students from underserved communities," said
Mehrotra.
For more information on the SanDisk Scholars Fund or to submit
an application, visit https://aim.applyists.net/SanDisk.
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash
memory storage solutions, from research and development, product
design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and
retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory
and storage system technologies have provided customers with new
and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product
portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used
in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital
media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB
flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market.
SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers
around the world.
SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500
company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.
For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk
Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries.
Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes
only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).