SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Amazon on Wednesday announced the commitment to supporting students' post-secondary science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education by awarding 10 million U.S. dollars in college scholarships to 250 high school seniors from underserved and historically underrepresented communities.
Each recipient of the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship will receive 40,000 dollars over four years to study computer science at a college of their choice starting this fall. Recipients will also receive a paid internship at Amazon after their freshman year of college, the announcement said.
The program has awarded 22 million dollars in scholarships to 550 students across the United States since 2019.
More than 70 percent of scholarship recipients identify as Black, Latinx, and Native American (BLNA) and 50 percent identify as women, groups that are currently underrepresented in STEM.
"These opportunities are imperative to building a diverse tech industry and enriching our communities. These students have fulfilling careers ahead, and we look forward to seeing them at their Amazon internships and all they will achieve," said Victor Reinoso, Global Director of Amazon's philanthropic education initiatives.
Computer science is the fastest-growing profession within the STEM field. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that job opportunities for computer science workers will grow 13 percent between 2020 and 2030, yet only 8 percent of STEM graduates earn a computer science degree, and only a small percentage of those come from underserved and historically underrepresented communities, according to the announcement.
Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was 91,250 dollars in May 2020, which is more than twice the median annual wage for all occupations.
Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon's global philanthropic computer science education program, aims to bridge the divide between interested students and computer science courses and opportunities. ■
