Hi ChrisH
I have no problem with the requirements that you pointed out and I suppose our problem may be isolated. I'm not exactly sure how NASA structures staff to handle teams. I also know of other teams in our area that get funding through NASA that don't seem to be held to the same rules as those who are getting grants. These teams are the ones that actually have NASA engineers within the team. I'm not sure what guidelines they are held to.
We are located in Huntsville, Al. near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and started getting demands along the line of who is to build the actual robot (Students not Engineers) and where "NASA" appears in the title of our team. We choose to work together on the design and assembly but Engineers and Machine shop folks do most of the cutting. This is our choice for a variety of safety and lagistical reasons. As for the title thing, Daimlerchrysler gives us around $30K each year along with employee time vs. the 2K grant. It's clear to us who should get top billing. The teacher that actually applied for the grant had other issues but I'm not 100% sure what the problem was.
This may sound a little trivial to teams that are really scrounging for funds but it just wasn't a comfortable fit for us so we went to plan "B". I understand NASA wants to hold on to the title of having the most teams but we're really a DaimlerChrysler team. I hope you get the point ......
I wish we could have accepted the money but everything worked out without it and besides, I'm sure some other team appreciated getting the grant. All is well.
