The Time has come for U.S. Science

[Lydia_1739]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

By the way, did anyone else at Championship see the "Yes We Can" slide, followed by the helicopter noises outside and think / hope Obama was coming?

I did! And I kept saying "I sense Obama, he's gonna be here"

And then there was no guest speaker at all

[Andrew Schreiber]

Saying and DOING are two different things. I'll believe it when I see it.

And Akash is right, FIRST is a pretty small thing as far as STEM goes. 10,000 people is nothing, I mean, in the long run. Yes it is important to us but if asked a person off the street would rather funding goes to schools over us. Just some food for thought.

[Steve_Alaniz]

Well... MY hope is to see President Obama have great success. He is our president... BUT, this ...as has been pointed out, is a "Show Me The Money" moment. If it is important then invest! Promote Science and Technology, and do noting to hinder it. The two are a very difficult balance to achieve and it hasn't happened yet. FIRST is one way and there are others. Presidents Clinton, H.Bush and W.Bush have all given their seal of approval to FIRST Robotics and I expect President Obama to do the same eventually. But My litmus test is still "Show Me The Money."

Steve

[Nawaid Ladak]

I think once Dean leads his march of FIRSTers on Washington D.C. .... things will change

[Tazlikesrobots]

I believe that government is the problem, not the solution. It is up to us as leaders in our community to demand a better education for our children. We have a government that was built by people for the people, however they have lost sight of who they answer to.

If we really want to make a difference, then it is time for all of us to stop waiting for the government to do something and take action ourselves. Talk to your elected representatives and private industry. FIRST has a large community and if we all shout, then someone is bound to hear us!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Tazlikesrobots

I believe that government is the problem, not the solution. It is up to us as leaders in our community to demand a better education for our children. We have a government that was built by people for the people, however they have lost sight of who they answer to.

If we really want to make a difference, then it is time for all of us to stop waiting for the government to do something and take action ourselves. Talk to your elected representatives and private industry. FIRST has a large community and if we all shout, then someone is bound to hear us!

It sounds like you're contradicting yourself. If government isn't the answer, then why do we need to talk to elected leaders? Anyhow I won't feel like debating libertarianism right now, but it's an interesting point.

(by the way I wasn't really being too serious with my post above, except for the yes we can part)

[Tazlikesrobots]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It sounds like you're contradicting yourself. If government isn't the answer, then why do we need to talk to elected leaders? Anyhow I won't feel like debating libertarianism right now, but it's an interesting point.

(by the way I wasn't really being too serious with my post above, except for the yes we can part)

I probably should have said it a different way, but basically the point I wanted to make is not sit around and wait for someone to fix the problem....

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It sounds like you're contradicting yourself. If government isn't the answer, then why do we need to talk to elected leaders? Anyhow I won't feel like debating libertarianism right now, but it's an interesting point.

It's pretty simple. You talk to them to let them know that you don't want them in your business--or that you do.

I also don't want to discuss politics, but Andrew and Steve are correct. You've never heard of "campaign promises"? Those are classic political maneuvers to look good, but may not be followed through on (though it's in a candidate's/politician's best interest to at least try to follow through, due to this little thing called an election).

It's quite possible that something happens somewhere and the followthrough doesn't happen. On the other hand, it's also possible that the followthrough surprises us with its speed of execution.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by EricH

On the other hand, it's also possible that the followthrough surprises us with its speed of execution.

Hehehehhe.....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_...nnual-Meeting/
It also helps that he actually put a real scientist as the head of the department of energy. He's also tripled the budget for graduate fellowships. It seems like he is spreading out the wealth and not just actively supporting one specific part of the sucess of science in America.

It's pretty simple. You talk to them to let them know that you don't want them in your business--or that you do.

When it comes to science government intervention is pretty much a must. A lot of weird and esoteric equipment like particle acellerators gets used in multiple fields that you will never ever ever find in the commercial sector and quite frankly you don't find many of in the government sectors either. In the above speech Obama refers to them as light sources even though technically they are particle accelerators.

[ehochstein]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_...nnual-Meeting/


thank you Adam Y. for finding this!

That has to be one of the top speechs I have ever heard about science (right next to Dean Kamen's this year). This speech is a must read!

My favorite part:

We know that our country is better than this. A half century ago, this nation made a commitment to lead the world in scientific and technological innovation; to invest in education, in research, in engineering; to set a goal of reaching space and engaging every citizen in that historic mission. That was the high water mark of America's investment in research and development. And since then our investments have steadily declined as a share of our national income. As a result, other countries are now beginning to pull ahead in the pursuit of this generation's great discoveries.

I believe it is not in our character, the American character, to follow. It's our character to lead. And it is time for us to lead once again. So I'm here today to set this goal: We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science. (Applause.)

This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history.

Just think what this will allow us to accomplish: solar cells as cheap as paint; green buildings that produce all the energy they consume; learning software as effective as a personal tutor; prosthetics so advanced that you could play the piano again; an expansion of the frontiers of human knowledge about ourselves and world the around us. We can do this.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_...nnual-Meeting/

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Lydia_1739

And then there was no guest speaker at all

We did have a guest speaker, except he wasn't a guest. His name was Dean Kamen and he had a very serious message, a very stern message. It was based on a story about the 3 little pigs and the houses they chose to build to sustain their quality of life and well-being.

It was a very simple message that holds a lot of truth regarding how we structure our lives, our economies as nations, and how we want to help build and re-build society from a local to a global level, using bricks.

When we are looking for ways to create presentations and promos for FIRST, we have to look no further than this speech to cull enough material to help develop an elevator speech, a promotional video, a doctoral thesis, a team challenge or goal, or simply to use as inspiration on a bad or boring day.

--
It appears that there is a lot of room for discussion regarding the topic of starting new teams and sustaining those that have already formed. It might be helpful to use a smaller brush with a finer point to paint our thoughts with instead of making such broad strokes. That will focus the discussion on how FIRST can continue to grow/spread while addressing the need for FRC teams to be sustainable in order to continue to develop.