NXP Foundation Presents the 2017 Women’s STEM Leadership Forum

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NXP Foundation, the nonprofit organization of NXP Semiconductors™ N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) that is advancing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, today hosted the 2017 Women’s STEM Leadership Forum connecting industry pioneers and preeminent professionals with highly accomplished students. At the event, the NXP Foundation recognized Barbara Grosz as the recipient of the first NXP Foundation Prize for Women's Leadership in STEM for inspiring exceptional innovation, vision, and excellence in STEM. In addition, ten exemplary students were recognized with the Women’s STEM Student Achievement Award, which carried a cash prize up to $5,000.

“Today, the NXP Foundation created an extraordinary dialogue between the best and brightest young minds in the field of STEM,” said Danielle Alexandra, Chair of the NXP Foundation. “Just as NXP enables a smarter world, these young women will create, innovate, imagine and build the future of technology that will benefit humankind. We are extremely lucky to offer young women this opportunity to explore and embrace STEM and are very proud of what they have already accomplished.”

Today’s Women’s STEM Leadership Forum offered attendees the opportunity to network and engage in dialogue with technology leaders during a series of presentations and panel discussions. Keynote speakers included:

• Barbara Grosz: recipient of the 2017 NXP Foundation Prize for Women's Leadership in STEM and renowned expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Grosz, a Senior Professor in Computer Science at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University, is widely respected for her seminal contributions to research on human-computer communication. Grosz spoke on artificial intelligence platforms and the ethics of AI versus the human brain.
   
• Dr. Peter Stone: The David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professor and Associate Chair of Computer Science, as well as Chair of the Robotics Portfolio Program, at the University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Stone spoke about his research in machine learning and multiagent systems, and the evolution of his extraordinary, award-winning team of robot soccer agents.
   
• Bill Kroyer: award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films, Director of Digital Arts at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and Co-Chair of the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Recognized as a pioneer in animation, Kroyer was one of the first animators to make the leap to computer animation as a computer image choreographer on Disney's ground-breaking 1982 feature, Tron. He spoke about his experience with the big screen and approach to computer animation.
   
• Discussion panel participants included visionary women leaders in industry, academia, and government: Deborah Spence-Cummings, Dipti Vachani, Dr. Ellen M. Rathje, Diana Clemmons and panel moderator Tricia Berry.

Also honored today were ten Women’s STEM Student Achievement Award winners, talented students excelling in a variety of STEM fields. The honorees were recognized for their accomplishments and their vision for using STEM to have an impactful, positive change in the world or to solve one of the world's greatest challenges. Winners received a cash award and a Certificate of Achievement. Honorees included:

• First place: Carlisle DeJulius, The University of Akron, received the Barbara Grosz STEM Student Achievement Award for her vision to innovate in the area of bacterial antibiotic resistance
• Second place: Maureen Kalimba Isimbi, Tufts University, received the Peter Stone STEM Student Achievement Award for her mobile application to help bolster education in Rwanda
• Nicole Devitt, University of Delaware, received the Bill Kroyer STEM Student Achievement Award for most inspiring essay
• Additional winners included:
  • Sam Alberts, Purdue University
  • Marissa Dusek, Southern Methodist University
  • Hattie Greydanus, Calvin College
  • Lauren Henderson, Villanova University
  • Emily Osman, Southern Methodist University
  • Jessica Peebles, University of Arizona
  • Francine Reyes Vega, University of Puerto Rico

For more information about the NXP Foundation, please visit here. For more information on the NXP Foundation Women's STEM Leadership Forum and Women’s STEM Student Achievement Award, please visit here.

About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) enables secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has 31,000 employees in more than 33 countries and posted revenue of $9.5 billion in 2016. Find out more at www.nxp.com.

NXP the NXP logo and Layerscape are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. Arm is a registered trademark of Arm Limited (or its subsidiaries) in the EU and/or elsewhere. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. © 2017 NXP B.V.

About NXP Foundation
Founded in 2013, the NXP Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting advancement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. We support initiatives that improve diversity in STEM, with a special focus on women and underrepresented groups.

For more information, please contact:

Jacey Zuniga      
Tel: +1 512-415-2681
Email: jacey.zuniga@nxp.com