"US" First - History Question

[Mastonevich]

With first changing their URL from usfirst to firstinspires it reminded me of a history question I have always wanted to know the answer to.

What did the "US" in usfirst really mean?

Did it mean the first organization, and it resided in the United States?
Was the United States abbreviation part of an effort to bolster the STEM fields in just that one country? (As in we want the US to be first in STEM)
Is there some other meaning I am not thinking of?

Does anyone know this history?

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

I thought originally the whole point was the generate more engineers in the United States to compete with the rest of the world better. Now it's more to generate more engineers in the world as a whole to make the world better. At least that's what I got from the informational videos produced by FIRST when I started FRC.

[sanddrag]

Their legal name is (still) United States Foundation For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

[Bob Steele]

I thought originally the whole point was the generate more engineers in the United States to compete with the rest of the world better. Now it's more to generate more engineers in the world as a whole to make the world better. At least that's what I got from the informational videos produced by FIRST when I started FRC.

this........ I am not really sure if FIRST has the emphasis it once had. The US has been reported as lagging behind most of the world in producing new engineers. In 2007 there was a widely reported listing that indicated that China was producing 600,000 undergraduate engineers, India 350,000 and the US only 70,000.

Since that time these numbers have come under some serious scrutiny because what China and India call an "engineer" is not the same as the US. They included degrees that in the US would be considered "technicians" The US number was also underreported.

Duke University came up with some better numbers as I recall that were more like: China 350,000 Engineers, India 112,000 Engineers and the US 140,000 Engineers This would actually mean that the US produces more engineers per year per million population than any other country.

Since this time FIRST has grown into a larger, more international organization that supports many nations in the recognition of Engineering, Science and Technology.

I believe the emphasis has moved away from being a US centric organization to a more global one.

I am just reporting this and not commenting on it.

See you on the field!!

[Mastonevich]

Thanks for the responses.