It’s nice to know that Broadcom Corp. is investing locally to nudge kids into engineering careers. The Irvine chipmaker, which supplies chips for iPhones, DVRs and other consumer electronic gadgets, ponied up $7,000 for the Irvine School District’s 29th annual science fair to replace money lost due to budget cuts.

On top of the cash, Broadcom is sending over some of its engineers to hang out with students on Wednesday during the district’s annual science fair, said Broadcom spokeswoman Dana Brzozkiewicz.

Update: The $7,000 is approximately the same budget as prior years.

The science fair includes 384 projects from Irvine’s 30 elementary, middle and high school students. Some of the geekiest that Brzozkiewicz could find: “The Effect of Cell Phone Radiation on the Reproduction of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae” and “An Analysis of Clock Rate and Thermal Scaling in Modern Multi-Core Microprocessors.” The yummiest? “The Diffusion of Gummy Bears.”

This is the first education grant from the new Broadcom Foundation, established to get young people interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers. The organization targets places where Broadcom employees work, like Irvine, where the bulk of the company’s 7,407 workers are based.

“With the state budget crisis necessitating cutbacks at the district level, funding for this year’s Science Fair was in jeopardy. We are so grateful to the Broadcom Foundation and the Irvine Public Schools Foundation for preserving this valuable educational opportunity,” said Dr. Gwen Gross, Superintendent of the Irvine Unified School District, in a statement.

The IUSD Science Fair is Wednesday, March 3, at Northwood High School, at 4515 Portola Parkway in Irvine. Projects can be viewed from noon to 6:30 p.m. An awards ceremony is at 6:45 p.m.

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