Twenty electrical and computer engineering undergraduate students at
Missouri University of Science and Technology will receive $5,000 scholarships
and training opportunities, thanks to an initiative created by the Kao Family
Foundation and Garmin International Inc.

The Kao Family Foundation, established by Dr. Min H. Kao, co-founder and CEO
of Garmin, has committed $10 million to the Garmin Electrical and Computer
Engineering Initiative. The foundation launched the initiative in 2007 last
year in part to encourage students to study these high-demand areas of
engineering. Missouri S&T will receive $100,000 annually to provide $5,000
scholarships to 20 electrical and computer engineering undergraduate students.
The students selected also will be given first consideration for one of more
than 75 annual paid internships with Garmin International.

“To our undergraduate students, a $5,000 scholarship is significant,” says
Dr. Kelvin Erickson, professor and chair of Missouri S&T’s electrical and
computer engineering department. “By funding 20 scholarships, Garmin sends a
clear message that it values top students and wants to attract those students
into electrical and computer engineering. In my opinion, Min Kao and Garmin are
providing an excellent example for future scholarships.”

By providing funding to engineering students, the Kao Family Foundation aims
to keep the nation competitive in an increasingly technological society. During
the next decade, the growth of a technology-based society, combined with the
retirement of many engineers of the baby boom generation, will create a need
for fresh, young engineers to enter the field.

“It is my hope this program will attract the best and brightest students to
the field of electrical and computer engineering,” Kao says. “We believe this
combination of scholarship money and a hands-on experience at one of the
world’s premier electronics design and manufacturing companies will inspire
college students to commit to an engineering career.”

In 2007, Garmin International Inc. also invested $57,000 in the university’s
electrical and computer engineering department. The funds will be used to
purchase $50,000 in equipment for the Computer Engineering Laboratory, provide
$2,000 for the student robotics team and give $5,000 to support senior design
projects for students majoring in computer and electrical engineering.

“This gift definitely enriches the education of our undergraduate students,”
Erickson says.

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Garmin was the third highest employer of
graduating Missouri S&T students and has been one of the top five employers
of Missouri S&T graduates for the past six years. Garmin has a strong
presence on the Missouri S&T campus: participating in career fairs,
on-campus interviews and other activities such as Garmin Day, hosted for the
first time on campus last fall.

“Missouri S&T is one of the primary schools where we recruit students to
work at Garmin,” says Jen Mehnert, recruiting manager for Garmin International.
“We’ve found that students we have recruited from Missouri S&T have a
strong commitment to academics, are technically strong and are able to
contribute to the projects we work on at Garmin at a very high level.”

Currently, more than 70 Missouri S&T graduates are employed full time by
Garmin, and a number of Missouri S&T students have worked as interns for
the company.

Garmin International Inc. is a member of Garmin Ltd., which designs and
manufactures navigation, communication and information devices, most of which
are enabled by GPS technology.

For more information about careers at Garmin, visit www.garmin.com/careers.