On September 8, V Pay It Forward hosted our first panel discussion with panelists and industry leaders Prof. Kevin Cao (Arizona State University), Dr. Vivek De(Intel), Prof. Rajit Manohar (Yale University), and Dr. Alice Wang (Everactive). The panel discussion focused on the “Whys” and “Hows” of the importance of advancing the frontiers of VLSI through building a strong pipeline of future VLSI engineers and explored roadblocks to incorporating VLSI education into high school curricula and bringing women into the VLSI workforce. The panel also considered the implications of AI as a tool for VLSI design.