Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

I know some teams that are sponsored by the Army, I was just wondering if the Navy does any team sponsorships? I would think that they would..... Please respond if you have any knowledge of a team that is sponsored by then Navy.

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

The references above to affiliations with SPAWAR are Navy. I'm an Engineer from Scott Air Force Base near St. Louis, as far as I know no other engineers are mentors from the base. Someone correct me please :)

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

I think that 78 is sponsored by NAVSEA. I remember talking to one of their mentors this fall at River Rage.

Years ago, a friend's husband who is a civilian contractor to the Navy in VA had a Navy-specific FLL kit that he was using with a group of FLL-aged kids.

Trying to Help

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

There are a few teams in Maryland sponsored by different affiliations with the military. You can see the sponsorship in the team name for the teams attending the Chesapeake Regional, for example. (Should also search for MD teams attending DC Regional as well as DC and VA teams.)
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ts.aspx?id=430

Yes, the Navy does sponsor some teams.

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

Our School District is known as Academy District 20, because the first High School is on the Air Force Academy and we have been unsuccessful in getting the Air Force Academy to even talk to us about any kind of sponsorship.

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

Just learned that 3011 is a DoDDS sponsored team in Germany:

http://www.wies-hs.eu.dodea.edu/Club.../robomain.html

http://www.eu.dodea.edu/news/0910/100105a_robo.php

We need to be sure to add them to our little "club" :yikes:

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

NAVSEA (part of the NAVY) does sponsor a number of teams. Team 121 is sponsored, primarily in mentor support iirc, by NAVSEA. A number of teams in Maryland/DC Metro are sponsored by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD, part of NAVSEA) in Bethesda, Md. NSWCCD also has provided team 116 with welding services in the past (via a team alumna who works there).

I'm currently an NSWCCD employee in Philadelphia, but have no current arrangement to help support 1712 or 116. NSWCCD Philadelphia is involved with other high school-level engineering based programs, such as SeaPearch.

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

We are lucky to have the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport as our primary sponsor. Besides a large workspace (4000+ sq. ft. for FRC and FTC), NUWC allows us the use of tools and employees as engineering mentors.

The National Defense Education Program also sponsors our organization through grants for our FRC and FLL teams.

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

After a lot of digging I was able to locate just what I was looking for. The National Defense Education Program (NDEP) provides grants to FIRST teams (FLL, FTC, and FRC) that are affiliated with DoD research laboratories. All the details are here: http://www.ndep.us/USFirst/

I believe this must have been what Paul Gudonis was referring to at Kickoff. These are the DoD labs that appear to currently participate in NDEP educational outreach: http://www.ndep.us/Labs.aspx

FRC team 456 applied for the NDEP grant funding and has been notified that we were awarded an NDEP grant for the 2010-2011 FRC season. I am also aware that FRC team 462 and FTC team 3486 have been awarded the NDEP grant as well.

Since I can’t seem to find a list of all the teams that have received the NDEP grant like NASA publishes for their grants, I am curious how many other teams applied and who got the grants?

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

Congrats on getting this support! Many of these labs have been very supportive of robotics programs over the years in Maryland, with funding and mentors.
Last year, my understanding was the NDEP/FIRST grant was just for rookie teams.
Did they open it up to veterans this year?

Re: DoD Sponsorship of FIRST
 

We didn't know about the NDEP last year but after I found out about it this year we applied and were awarded the grant even though we are a veteran team. FRC 462 and FTC 3486 are also veteran teams and applied and were awarded NDEP grants though our lab so I guess it is open to veterans as well as long as you are supported by a DoD lab and/or scientitsts/engineers. When we applied the grant application seemed to favor new teams but it didn't really say it was only for starting new teams. I am really glad to see DoD stepping up and getting this going and hope the grants continue and will be there to sustain DoD affiliated teams. There are already lots of grant opportunities available for starting new teams like through the NASA grants. I have seen way too many teams fail after their first year or two because there are less opportunities for sustaining funds. This grant will be a huge help to our team! We struggle with funding every year and so we are hoping this may be the first year we can afford to got to 2 regional competitions. Thank you NDEP!!!