BOSTON, MA -WGBH Boston is pleased to announce that Intel Corporation and the Intel ® Foundation will be underwriting Design Squad, WGBH's upcoming live-action series for kids. Design Squad is something new on the block--it's aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, it borrows from the hugely popular reality competition format, and it intends to get its viewers excited about engineering. The brainchild of ZOOM producers, Design Squad has built-in family appeal and will be serious fun for people of all ages. Intel joins the National Science Foundation as a major funder for the series. Additional funding is provided by Tyco Electronics, The Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation, the Noyce Foundation, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Over 13 episodes, eight teenagers will compete to design and build fantastic, whimsical, and fully operational machines--everything from PB & J sandwich-making machines to racecars--for real clients. Teams, and team members, will be scored for their ability to think outside the box and meet (or surpass) the demands of the challenge at hand. In the final episode, the top two scorers will battle for the Grand Prize--a $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel ® Foundation to study science, engineering, math, or technology. Engineers (a male and female twenty-something duo: NOT your stereotypical men-with-pocket-protectors) will provide on-site guidance and occasional comic relief, while kids at home can interact with the series through the web site, blogs, and handheld devices. Design Squad is shooting in and around Cambridge, MA this summer and premieres on PBS in February 2007.

"To meet today's global competitive challenge, our country needs to increase the number of students pursuing science, mathematics and engineering in school and in their careers," says Brenda Musilli, director of education for Intel. "By showcasing engaging, real-life applications of engineering, we believe that Design Squad will be a unique vehicle for increasing students' interest in the subject, while presenting engineering as a creative career that enables one to turn science into reality."

Marisa Wolsky, Design Squad's executive producer, concurs. "Intel is a perfect collaborator for this series. Our goal is to dispel some myths about engineers--that they're boring, or that they're all men! In fact, engineers have the coolest jobs: they get to imagine the future and design for it." Kate Taylor, who has overseen several popular science series at WGBH, including the Emmy Award-winning series ZOOM and Peep and the Big Wide World, adds: "As we have done with many of our series, we're taking a TV format that kids love and injecting it with meaningful content. We know from past experience that this is a great way to get kids excited about subjects they had never before considered appealing."

As with all WGBH kids' shows, Design Squad, will spread its message via the series web site and an innovative outreach program. An educator's guide and training workshops will be offered to key partners, which include the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Scouts USA, 4-H, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, National Academy of Engineering, National Engineers Week, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Society of Women Engineers.

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