MTU Robotic Systems Enterprise

[prettycolors91]

Hello Future Michigan Tech Students!

My name is Megan Crowley, and I will be the director of the Robotic Systems Enterprise this coming academic year. RSE partners with STEM faculty to continue education through FIRST mentorship and participation in collegiate level robotics competitions.

RSE has many aspects, including STEM fields, business, accounting, and marketing. We're always looking for incoming FIRST students (which tech tends to get a lot of!). Attached to this post is a slideshow containing details about the program, what teams we work with, and what sort of collegiate level activities we participate in.

I will be a third year student studying Environmental Science, but I am a proud graduate of HOT 67, and this will be my ninth year in FIRST. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them here, PM me, or email me at mmcrowle@mtu.edu
Robotic Systems Enterprise Slideshow.pdf

[David Dawson]

Will there be cake?

[prettycolors91]

Of course there's cake!

I've gotten a few general questions that people might want to know the answer to:

Q: How does senior design work? Does it apply for everybody in the enterprise?
A: It doesn't always work for everybody. Some departments have very specific requirements. Most of the STEM majors can work it out with their advisors, though. Generally, students will complete a design project that is similar in caliber of senior design, but you can do it with a team that you pick from the enterprise, instead of a random group in your senior design class.

Q: I only want to mentor, can I do that in the Enterprise?
A: Yes! We love seeing students that are passionate about giving back to the FIRST community.

Q: Do I have to enroll in a class?
A: Yes. The Enterprise credit is a 1 or 2 credit (2 for leadership) class that gives you access to Enterprise computer labs and machine shops. We hold general meetings every other week, and there are hour requirements depending on the class level you are enrolled in. It is not, however, a "formal" class that you have to schedule around.

Q: Can I mentor without being in the class?
A: Yes and no. With proper supervision, you can work with students, but for liability reasons, you cannot fabricate parts, travel with students, or be unattended with students. We believe in student accountability for actions, which can be difficult to regulate without enrollment.

[Adam Freeman]

Very cool Megan!

I wish I would have gotten involved in some of these activities when I was there. I think Enterprise was still in the beginning phases back then (1998-2002).

I know we (my senior design group) had a hard time getting access to the machine shops to get what we needed fabricated back in the day. Is that getting any better?

We are very proud of all our HOT team alumni up at Tech.

If you need anything just let us know.

[jmanela]

do you have to be an upperclassmen to join an enterprise?

[ajlapp]

As a founding member of the enterprise I can say definitively that it is an excellent way to stay involved with FIRST while in college.

One of the biggest challenges faced by young college students is remembering to go to class and do your studies when you have a robot to work on instead!

I was not always able to do this myself.

Having a focused and organized team helping with the effort can take the stress off and allow you to be successful at both ventures.

I'm glad to see we still have talented students helping to keep the enterprise system alive. Good luck.

[EricLeifermann]

As a former director of this enterprise myself, I can say that being involved in this enterprise was alot of fun. Requirements for senior design have changed since I was in this enterprise and you have to do a bit more design work than i had to do to get your senior design requirement out of the way. That being said this enterprise has many opportunities to get those requirements so don't worry about that.

Another positive about this enterprise compared to the other on MTU's campus is that it is a smaller enterprise 15-20 students so opportunity for leadership is greater than the other enterprises that average about 50-75 college students.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask Megan or myself. As was a member of the enterprise for 5 years and have been involved in FIRST for 11 years as well.


As asked above you do not have to be an upperclassman to join freshman are more than welcome!

[prettycolors91]

Adam,

I know that getting access to the labs has gotten much easier for Enterprise students in recent years. As you can imagine, I don't have much experience with senior design outside of the Enterprise program, but I'm sure it's gotten more streamlined over the years. And thank you so much for the help you have given us already. I know our rookie team is in HOT's debt...you guys are fantastic, as always.



We're really looking to expand this coming year, and branch out to some exciting non-FIRST programs (although it's always the central part of what we do).

And yes, we accept all years! We encourage freshmen to get their bearings and learn their limits before they dive in headfirst, though. We put academics first....we don't want you failing out because of FIRST!