DoD Sponsorship of FIRST

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

Our team is DoD affiliated in as much as we work in unused space at a DoD research facility during build season and they provide us some storage space during off season and most of the team mentors are DoD research scientists and engineers. For the generous use of the space we consider the DoD research facility to be one of our title sponsors. However, the DoD scientist and engineer mentors are all on their own time and the DoD provides us no direct funding, zero, zip, nada. We have other sponsors and fundraise just like everyone else to cover the costs of entry fees, travel, parts and materials, etc.

We have a very similar arrangement.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by squirrel

We have a very similar arrangement.

Oh, they know we're here. Tardec supports a number of teams and brings some of the battefield robots to the regionals in Michigan. They are awesome - and one of their prototypes was powered by cims

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by squirrel

We have a very similar arrangement.

Glad to know we aren't the only ones in this boat.

[Martinez]

DeepWater, please send me a PM. I'm a recently laid of Lockheed Martin Contractor who is currently going back to school to be NYS certified in Physics/Math. My desire is to be come a DoDS teacher and as an Air Force Brat would love to see a more active military sponsorship.

Places to start would be the Chesapeake Regional. The Navel Academy has been sponsoring a FIRST competition there for numourous years. The acting Sec of the Navy dropped in on Sat to be a Judge. My guess is what ever was being talked about at Kickoff will be BIG, but is likely still *classified*

Also, there was a team last year at that regional who is sponsored by an Army Research Lab. I can't remember the name exactly, something Hawks, but talking to them is well worth it.

Other food for thought is that Lockheed Martin is one of the largest sponsors of FIRST Teams, yet there are alot of sites that don't have teams, including the largely untapped LM Aero. With a new Utah Regional, it maybe be easier to get the AF Academy on board. If any FIRST students are attending/planning to attend, they might be able to start up a team with our support simularly to what was originally done at Clarkson (229). Also, the Air Force Research Lab in Rome NY also has a mentorship program with the local high school, so while it isn't FIRST, there is a precident.

[hschase]

As part of a team that is sponsored by a DoD (SPAWAR) entity the DoD does actually invest $$$ in some places, although for you specificaly not your team... Currently funds are allocated and monitored for appropriate use the the DoD educational outreach program, and it includes mentors who work for the DoD to provide feedback and progress updates on their teams! They are paying attention and I am sure there is more to come! (That is the tea leaves..)

[ebarker]

And of course there are the problems of 'institutionalizing' a new program within a large institution.

Over at NASA there is a small group of committed individuals that are great advocates for FIRST.

There needs to be a committed advocacy within DOD to make it work there as well. Allocating some funding to be available to the spread around to bases would be pretty cool. I can think of quite a few installations that could tap into that if there was funding and a streamlined application process.

You would think local sites like SPAWAR, NRL, Army Research, Warner Robins, etc would be glad to get on board if there was a fastpath. In fact I know they would.

[Akash Rastogi]

Some teams in NJ are affiliated with or mentored by Picatinny Arsenal up in our area. The engineers that work at this facility are phenomenal. One of our programming mentors is a former Smart Missile programmer for them

[bobmonkey836]

Originally Posted by Martinez

Places to start would be the Chesapeake Regional. The Navel Academy has been sponsoring a FIRST competition there for numourous years. The acting Sec of the Navy dropped in on Sat to be a Judge.

it's certainly been there in the past, but this year it's scheduled to be in baltimore, at the baltimore convention center.

my hope is that this opens it up an makes FIRST more visible to more people as they walk down the street, but i still liked it at the academy....

[SteveGPage]

Originally Posted by Martinez

... Places to start would be the Chesapeake Regional. The Navel Academy has been sponsoring a FIRST competition there for numourous years...

Unfortunately, that is no longer true this year. Last year Das Goat (Team 116 or 166, I believe) was no longer at the CR. They had been at the USNA as a team, and used their facilities, they were no longer listed as an active team. I haven't checked to see if they are active this year, though. This year, the CR is being held at the Baltimore convention center. I don't believe that it is a lack of wanting to be a part of FIRST by the USNA, but that security concerns have caused them to pull back. I hope to see the DoD re-engage in FIRST. Locally, 836 has the Pax River Naval Airstation, where research such as UAV is being done. Many of our students have gone on to work at Pax River in those programs. It would be nice to see them available as a sponsor as well.

Steve

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by SteveGPage

Unfortunately, that is no longer true this year. Last year Das Goat (Team 116 or 166, I believe) was no longer at the CR. They had been at the USNA as a team, and used their facilities, they were no longer listed as an active team. I haven't checked to see if they are active this year, though. This year, the CR is being held at the Baltimore convention center. I don't believe that it is a lack of wanting to be a part of FIRST by the USNA, but that security concerns have caused them to pull back.

USNA last fielded Team 165 in 2007.
Construction at Halsey Field House conflicted with FIRST schedules, not security concerns.

Also,
ARL supports Team 1980 in Aberdeen MD home of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, as well as 1748 in Baltimore and 53 in Greenbelt and 449 in Silver Spring.
There are other teams supported through the NDEP http://www.ndep.us/

[chsrobotics3283]

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.

[DavidGitz]

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

[Trying to Help]

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

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Trying to Help

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

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.

[ChuckDickerson]

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?