It was a sweltering 110 degrees on the roof, but that didn’t deter the Applied Materials employees who volunteered to install solar panels on two homes in a modest San Jose neighborhood recently. Gallons of water, ample sunscreen, and plenty of breaks under highly-coveted shade trees fortified the volunteers who worked alongside students from local solar job training programs.

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I’m honored to announce that Applied Materials was once again recognized in Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List, one of the world’s top corporate responsibility rankings.

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The H20asis project, a solar-powered reverse osmosis water supplier system, from Cupertino High School won first place in the San Francisco Clean Tech Competition.

The presentations were first-rate and the innovations were ingenious, but what impressed me most at the recent judging of Clean Tech Competition projects in Silicon Valley, Calif. was the focus on how technology can improve the way people live.

In this inaugural year of the Competition, presented by Applied Materials, student ages 13-18 worked in teams both in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Xi’an, China to design a solar solution to a humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of a real or imagined natural disaster. At the California judging recently held at Santa Clara University, students described earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions and then demonstrated their solutions ranging from food storage and cooking systems to communication and location devices to solar masks.

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As I sat through a three-hour session of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting recently and waited for my agenda item to be discussed, I realized – once again – that sometimes the wait is worth it.

I have been working on solving the issue of chronic homelessness for years and, backed by the Applied Materials Foundation, have been involved as a steward of Destination: Home, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing permanent housing solutions and support services to some of the most difficult people to house in our community.

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Special Blog Post By: Alisa Tantraphol, Corporate & Foundation Relations Manager, Second Harvest Food Bank.

Anyone else stepping into the role of Food & Fund Drive Coordinator at Applied Materials would have found it daunting to inherit a drive that raised more than $850,000 for Second Harvest last year. Luckily, Nancy Nielsen is no stranger to corporate philanthropy. In addition to a wealth of experience from places like Harvard, the New York Times, and McKinsey & Co., her impressive resume includes seven years as the Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility at Pfizer.

Last August, Applied Materials hired Nancy to manage community involvement activities for Global Community Affairs. Less than six months into her role at Applied, Nancy has already proven herself as one of the hardest working food & fund drive coordinators toiling on behalf of the nearly quarter of a million clients relying on Second Harvest for food every month.

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