for life presented by for life presented by college first program workshop welcome!

for LIFE Presented By

for LIFEPresented By

College FIRST Program Workshop

WELCOME!


Our Goals• Cultivate new college and university affiliated

FIRST programs• Share "Best Practices“ and experiences • Form a network of Colleges and Universities

– Link graduating seniors to college and university programs

– Share curriculum resources– Initiate college and university programs



Deb Grubbe

President and Owner of Safety Solutions, LLC

FIRST Board Member

FIRST® for LIFEMaking University FIRST® Work!

Deborah Grubbe, PE

Atlanta, GA

16 April 2010

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

FIRST® LEGO® League

“T-Ball” “Little League” “Intermediate Program”

“Major League”

FIRST® Family of Programs

Jr. FIRST® LEGO® League

FIRST® Robotics Competition

FIRST® Tech Challenge

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Organization & Programs

Mission is to INSPIRE, not EDUCATE

BUT look at what is involved:

Math (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus)

Science (physics, chemistry, experimentation)

Language arts (writing, public speaking)

Business (marketing, PR, fundraising)

Finance (accounting)

Computer Science (programming, 3D animation)

Environmental Projects (Green Energy Audits, electronics recycling)

Fabrication (woodworking, metalworking)

Mentorship: Working side-by-side with professionals

Teamwork6


FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®): 2010 season

1,809 teams

Over 45,000 high-school-aged students

Average 25 students per team

44 regional competitions

6 weeks to design, build, and test robots

FIRST® Robotics Competition Team Growth

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Goal: lower-cost, more accessible program

1,300 teams (projected)

13,000 high-school-age students

60 Qualifying Events and Championship Tournaments and 3 Pilots

U.S., Canada, Holland, and Mexico

Growth


FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®): 2009 season

FIRST Tech Challenge Team Growth

8


FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®):

2009 Season

14,600 teams (projected) 146,000 middle-school-age students 50+ countries 450+ qualifying events 85+ Championship tournaments 1,500 Junior FIRST ® LEGO ®

League (Jr.FLL®) teams for 6 to 9 year-olds

FIRST ® LEGO ® League Team Growth

Outside US and Canada

US and Canada

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Establishing a Continuum

Corporations

Colleges & Universities

Grade Schools JFLL (1-4)

FLL (4-8)

High SchoolsFTC

FRC

Mentorship

Career Interest

Enrollment

Volunteering & Sponsorship

Objective is to increase

Interest in Science and

Technology careers

Mentorship

Qualified New Hires

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FIRST Robotics Competition March Madness

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FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®)

2005 study

Conducted by Brandeis University FRC alumni from mainly low-income,

urban schools

Comparison group: students with similar backgrounds in high school math and science

Impact

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Education in Science & Technology

FIRST® Students vs. Comparison Group

Seek Education in Science &Technology Students are 50% more likely to go on to college Twice as likely to major in science or engineering More than three times as likely to major specifically in engineering

Impact

Source: Brandeis University, Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management 13

FIRST® Students vs. Comparison Group Earn Career Opportunities:

Almost ten times more likely to have internship Expect to Pursue Science & Technology Careers:

More than twice as likely to pursue S&T career Nearly four times as likely to pursue career specifically in engineering

Source: Brandeis University, Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management

ImpactCareers in Science & Technology

14

A school in trouble. Then…

FIRST® team started (including 5 young women) all graduated, all received scholarships

Enrollment from 900 to 1,400

Attendance rates from 60% to 82%

“Just 5 years ago…an urban school…slated for closing. We’ve become the science / engineering magnet school… More students try out for FIRST® team than football and basketball combined.”

East Technical High School, Cleveland, OH

Case History

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Strategic Plan: Growth Goals

Prototype

Pro

duct

ion

After, 19 years, FIRST ® is in 8% of U.S. High Schools; now that the model is proven, we want to accelerate the future growth.

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Over 130 universities provide more than $12 million in scholarship opportunities and host events, including:

Scholarships

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Provide financial support To FIRST ®

To events To teams For a specific purpose, such as the

FIRST Underserved Initiative Provide equipment for kit of parts,

field components Provide facilities for teams & event

Involve employees As mentors to teams As volunteers at events As consultants to FIRST

Offer scholarships Provide internships Customized approach

Ways to be Involved

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Building a Local FIRST ® Community

Business Government

Education

Social Investors

Model for Success

Community

Mentors Volunteers Fundraising

Teachers Facilities Scholarships

Funding Research

Volunteers Organizations

Policy Support Recognition Funding

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William Butler Yeats

Inspiring the Next Generation

“Education is not filling a pail; it is lighting a fire.”

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Conference Program


Benefits of a College FIRST Program

• Presentation– Why should we have a college FIRST program?– "Best Practices" and experiences of some

successful college programs• Worcester Polytechnic Institute• Clarkson University• Purdue FIRST Programs


Getting Your College or University Involved

• Presentation– Explanation of the four key stake holders

• College Students• Faculty/ Administration• Local Community/ Schools• Sponsors

• Panel Discussion

Breakout Session Option 1


Sustaining and Growing a College FIRST Program

• Small Group Discussion– Growing a program– Organizational structure– Transfer of Information from year to year– Demonstrating benefits to stakeholders– Importance of data

Breakout Session Option 2


Fundraising, Institutional Support and Connecting with Community

• Presentation– Being strategic and flexible– Working with the university

• Administration viewpoint• Team viewpoint


Closing Remarks• Woodie Flowers• Establish working group



Benefits of a College FIRST Program

Share of “Best Practices” and experiences of some successful

college programs



Clarkson University

Experience sustaining and growing a college FIRST Program

Presented by the students associated with the Clarkson FIRST Robotics SPEED Team


Background Information• Clarkson University is a private, doctoral-level

research institution located in Potsdam, NY:– 2,700 undergraduates and 400 graduate students

• The Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering's endowed SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design) program provides multidisciplinary, hands-on learning opportunities for more than 250 undergraduates annually


Background Information• SPEED project experiences:

– are open to all undergraduate students across all majors

– serve to increase the engagement of women and students of color

– involve engineering design and analysis, fabrication and the enhancement of professional competencies such as budget management, effective teamwork and communication skills


Background Information• Many of the SPEED project opportunities stem from

national engineering design competitions at the collegiate level; some, like the FIRST Robotics team, center around service learning-based outreach:– Clarkson students mentoring regional K-12 students– the FIRST Robotics SPEED team (FRC Team 229) involves

~30 Clarkson and ~40 local area high school students each year with an annual budget of ~$30K


Origins of the FIRST SPEED Team• Founded in 1998 to support a local FRC team• Two local high schools emerged as partners:

– the Massena and Salmon River Central School Districts

• Successful partnerships require at least one “champion” in each participating institution, e.g.:– technology teachers Bernie Bissonnette (at

Massena) and Chuck Raiti (at Salmon River)


Evolution of the FIRST SPEED Team• Team 229 took at few years to understand the FRC

program and its unique team dynamic, e.g.:– undergraduate mentors who often came from successful

FRC teams and, as a result, had strong (often conflicting) thoughts about how to best run a team or design robots

• The team adopted a leadership structure and set of operational policies in 2002 that included mechanisms for continuous improvement:– based on a service learning course, MT214/MP414, open

to all students and offered each semester


Evolution of the FIRST SPEED Team• Team 229 won their first regional competition in

2004 and began steady success thereafter; expanding operations in 2007 to include outreach at the FIRST FLL and FTC levels

• Today, the Clarkson FIRST SPEED team supports FIRST programs, JFLL through FRC, including hosting a Championship FLL and FTC Tournament on Clarkson’s campus each Dec., as well as in-class use of FLL/FTC technology, impacting 15 local school districts:– this expanded outreach is done with the strong support of

Clarkson’s Office of Educational Partnerships


Facilitating Expanded Outreach• The Northern New York Robotics Institute (NNYRI)

was formed in 2007, consisting of faculty/staff from:– Clarkson, Saint Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY

Canton, SUNY Jefferson Community College and the Saint Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (SLL-BOCES)

– The NNYRI has successfully received STEM grants from a variety of sources, e.g., New York State Education Dept.

– As a result of these activities, over 60 local area teachers have received week-long summer professional development courses on how to coach FLL/FTC teams as well as transition the technology into the classroom


Sustaining the Outreach Effort• In 2007, the SLL-BOCES, in conjunction with the

NNYRI, leveraged the state aid reimbursement formula to allow school districts to participate in FIRST’s robotics programs as well as the Clarkson hosted FLL/FTC tournaments– these districts are eligible for partial reimbursement of the

program costs, e.g., through a Robotics Exploratory Enrichment Cooperative Services Agreement (CoSer)

– 15 of 18 school districts in the SLL-BOCES district participate in the Robotics CoSer, averaging about 70% state reimbursement of program costs


Remote Mentoring & Drop-In Clinics• In order make outreach feasible over a large

geographic area, an IP-based remote mentoring system was created where Clarkson mentors are able to support teachers and their students at their respective schools without leaving Clarkson campus

• To solve problems requiring face-to-face contact with Clarkson’s FLL- and FTC-trained faculty and students, schools are given the opportunity to come to Clarkson once every other week during the fall competition season to help debug problems they may be having


Robotics Living-Learning Community• For the 2009-2010 school year, Clarkson’s Residence

Life staff and the FIRST SPEED team advisor developed a themed housing option to support the robotics related outreach:– Freshman and Sophomore students willing to dedicate 3

hours per week to robotics-related outreach activities– upper-class students serve as mentors to the LLC– students enjoy access to special programming and other

resources designed to enhance their interest in robotics and build the community dynamic


The Integrated Design (ID) Team• A selected group of senior Mechanical, Electrical or

Computer Engineering students enrolled in Clarkson’s capstone design courses, e.g., ME445

• The ID team provides the FIRST SPEED team with access to a group of capable and highly-motivated students who have acquired the skills necessary to help facilitate a quality design and build process

• This relationship provides ID team members with experience not only in engineering design and manufacturing but also in real-world client/supplier relationships


FRC Design/Build Process Overview

KICKOFF

“Whats” “Hows”

Design Requirements

Design

Design Review

Prints Made & Materials

Ordered

Manufacturing

Assembly

Completed Robot

Complete FIRST Team (CU and high school)

ID Team (capstone CU design students)

Key



WPI and FIRST

When, How, Why?By Ken Stafford

Director, Robotics Resource Center

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

In the beginning…

• 1992: Dean asked WPI to get involved– Committed to team sponsorship

• 1996: Awarded the inaugural FIRST scholarship

• 1998: Hired staff member to manage effort (me!)


WPI/Mass Acad Team 190

• Nineteen-year veteran—since 1992

• Highly respected and awarded

• 2010 team, 150 strong!

• Year-round program– Competitions– Demonstrations– Mentorship


WPI/Burncoat HS Team 1735

• Five-year veteran—since 2006

• High-spirited team—building respect

• From an at-risk

urban school

• 1-2 WPI Mentors/6-9

students


On Campus Tournaments

• Since 1998: 53 tournaments/1383 teams/15000 students– Savage Soccer: mini-FIRST experience– BattleCry@WPI: Premier FRC offseason– RoboNautica: State FLL Championship– WPI Regional: Official FRC Flex Event


Savage Soccer

• 14th year of this WPI-unique, student-run tournament

• Low cost platform, zero cost tournament

• 60-70 Middle/high school teams

• Exported through “EBOT” site

• One day event in early Dec


BattleCry@WPI (BC11)

• Started as 26-team event in 2000

• Now 48-team event (will grow to 60 with the new Rec Center!)

• Most popular off-season competition

• Over 1200 competitors and spectators


RoboNautica

• LEGO® Mindstorms-based robots for 9-14 year olds

• Began as local tournament in 2001 • Became State Championship

FLL Tournament in 2002• One-day event in mid December• Now attracts 64 teams/500 competitors


The WPI Regional

• An official FIRST qualifier (1 of 43)

• 3-day event scheduled 11-13 Mar 2010

• Designed to be model for other universities

• 30-36 high school teams (will grow to 60 with the new Rec Center!)


Summer Robot Camps• Frontiers: Started in 2002 for rising 11th/12th

grades—2 week residence– From onset, most popular Frontiers program– Expanded to 50-student Frontiers II in 2009

• Launch: Started in 2006 for rising 9th/10th grades—1-week day camp

• JRC: Started in 2008 for 4th-8th grades –now four separate 1-week day camps


Other Involvements

• Academic projects

• Technical Source for FIRST– Author WPIlib– Host FIRST Think Tank (

http://first.wpi.edu/index.html)

• Overall FIRST Contributions


University Outcomes

• Low investment—high reward– ~$40K /yr team support– 11% of 2010 freshmen were FIRST team– 6-8 students/yr say it was deciding factor– 1000’s of students visit campus– National exposure


FIRST Robotics• For Inspiration and Recognition of

Science and Technology

“…science and technology are

celebrated, …kids think science

is cool and dream of becoming

science and technology heroes.” –D. Kamen



Purdue FIRST Programs

History and ImpactBy Kristofer Lindqvist, Vice President

of Purdue FIRST


How it Began• Spring 1999

– Associate Dean Warren Stevenson + couple faculty members and graduate students visited FIRST National Championship at the Walt Disney Epcot Center in Orlando

• Fall 1999 – Spring 2000– Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF)

Engineering Outreach Team working with West Lafayette High School technology teacher Mr. Steve Florence at started the Purdue FIRST Program’s first FRC team, Team 461 Westside Boiler Invasion.


A Brief Timeline of PFP


Organizational Structure


ME 297: FIRST Leadership Class• 2 credit-hour course required for all members• Fall classes split into 2 categories

– Core Classes: Required for all members• Examples: Representing PFP, Communication, Fundraising

– Elective Classes: Members choose from 1 of 3 sessions being offered

• Examples: Surviving College, FIRST Drivetrains, Scouting, Intro to Six Sigma, Feedback Control

• Spring Classes are primarily lectures for the entire program and aimed at internal improvement projects– A less-structured spring allows for greater flexibility with build

and competition season


The Boilermaker Regional• 40-Team Regional held at Purdue annually

– Bring hundreds of prospective engineering students to campus each year

– PFP works with the Office of Engagement at Purdue to organize campus tours for prospective students and parents

• Examples Include tours of the Nuclear Reactor, Earthquake lab, and wind tunnels.

• PFP Director of Regional Development sits on the Regional Planning Committee

• PFP requisitions over half the cost of the regional• All members, excluding seniors, are required to volunteer if not on

an FRC team

for life presented by for life presented by college first program workshop welcome!

Documents

university programs

science technology students

board member slide

lego league team growth

age students

lego league fll

robotics competition

science impact