LONDON (AP) - Recording artist will.i.am was at the Science Museum in London Monday to meet young people who have been helped by The Prince's Trust.

The Black Eyed Peas frontman donated $500,000 to the youth charity in June 2012 via his i.am angel Foundation to fund education, training and enterprise schemes with a focus on technology and computer skills development.

The cause may sound a little geeky, but according to the pop star, "geeks are cool."

"They make cool things. They are disciplined and dedicated," he explained. "If it wasn't for geeks we wouldn't have iphones, we wouldn't have tablets, we wouldn't have the internet, we wouldn't have instruments. Think about that. A geek made the first piano. A geek made the first lute that turned into a guitar. A geek made the first clarinet that turned into a saxaphone - whatever came first, I don't know - it was some geek. Geeks are the bomb. The geeks made the bomb. So it's just how do you make more geeks? This is like we're breeding geeks over here. That's what it's about."

Will.i.am mentored aspiring singers on the U.K. version of TV singing contest "The Voice," helping them to develop and try to get their music careers on track.

He now hopes that his donation to The Prince's Trust will help some of the most disadvantaged young people in the U.K. get their lives moving in the right direction too.

"I want to mentor the kids, especially like you see a kid and they're really closed, right, because you don't know what they go through at home or on their way to and from school, you don't know what their living situation is like, if they have of have not," said the recording artist.

"I want to break through that but that's difficult... So I would like to mentor and do more with The Prince's Trust with the kids, especially the young ones, at 11, 12, 13, because right there they're on the curve. They could either go the wrong way or the right way."

The Prince's Trust helps 13 to 30 year-olds who are unemployed and those who are struggling at school and at risk of exclusion.

Part of will.i.am's donation will be used to encourage more young people to engage with STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and maths.

Britain's Prince Charles is President of The Prince's Trust.

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