NASA Budget Cuts // Help save FIRST teams by writing a letter.

[Pavan Dave]

The following was sent to me from a good friend who was on our team. She asked us to get the word out and to inform the community so I am posting it where most of the community lives, CD.

Today is June 14th and I just informed yesterday that the NASA's robotics education budget is being cut 80% in the 2009 fiscal year. I come to you to ask for your help. We have 5 days (June 19th) to construct a report on why this is a devastating idea. To paint a picture: NASA grants will cease to exist, which could possibly be the end of many FIRST teams and not to mention teams that have not been started yet. Every one of you has seen NASA's robotics education at its best, so please write how NASA has changed so many lives, and how the nation benefits as a whole. it can be as long as you want, but please hurry so that we may get organized in time. Thanks!! Hope to hear back from y'all!!

Please email me.

Pavan.

[Nate Laverdure]

That's terribly disappointing.

I have a suggestion-- let's create an open letter on FIRSTwiki, here: http://wiki.chiefdelphi.com/index.ph...Funding_Letter

[sanddrag]

Nuts for NASA anyone?

[MasonMM]

wow. This is a serious disaster. NASA, is huge to FIRST. If NASA has this large of a budget cut, FIRST is going to feel it. I don't know how many teams are supported by NASA, but by a quick count, over 60 teams were at the Championship event this year who had NASA in their name. Thats nearing 20% of the teams at the Championship in Atlanta had enough affiliation with NASA to have them in their team name. Then theres all the teams who were not at Championship who are funded by NASA. And Then there are all the teams who could be started by NASA that may never get the chance. By some stretch logic I could hypothesize that 20% of FIRST teams have affiliation with NASA, and if NASA loses 80% of it's budget that could mean 16% of FIRST lose their fundings and suddenly thats a big percent of FIRST being seriously affected. Now is that accurate... probably not, but it does show that this is a real concern.

This needs attention. This needs support. This isn't just a few teams, this is a large faction of FIRST. I don't know any details on what areas of the education department are being dropped or hurt the most, but I am certain that FIRST teams will feel a blow.

And it's not just FIRST teams. NASA education does so many things. Growing up around Johnson Space Center I saw firsthand how many lives this education changes. For years, I saw over 500 kids pour into a school auditorium throughout the day during a FIRST Lego League competition, a majority of the teams funded and mentored by NASA. 4th and 5th graders who otherwise would never get the chance to compete in an engineering competition, will lose this opportunity to be shown how enticing and rewarding a path in engineering can be. At this age it is crucial to have more, not less, funding to sponsor more teams, when the children are still so impressionable.

I'm shocked and frankly I'm scared. I couldn't imagine something so important is being cut by such a large amount. Something has to be done. This community has the means to do it. I know each and every one of you feels strongly about how important education, especially science and technology, is to our world's future.

Please, for all the future FIRSTers, for all the current NASA sponsored teams, and for the betterment of FIRST, write a paragraph showing how much robotics education means to you and how it has affected your life.

Looking for your support,
Mason Markee

[Travis Hoffman]

I believe this just underlines the importance of doing Dean's homework and getting your state and federal legislators involved in promoting and funding FIRST programs directly. Instead of continuing to fund FIRST teams through federal money budgeted to NASA, let's see FIRST teams funded through federal money budgeted directly for FIRST and other similar educational science and technology programs. If we constantly communicate to the President and all of Congress the importance of FIRST and consistently demonstrate the results, we will be achieving greater security in insuring the legislature will continue to fund FIRST and related programs.

That being said, I'd guess (and would like to know the reality) that the NASA FIRST grant program does not consume all 80% of the proposed budget cut, so other worthy Robotics Education Program services are going to feel the blow if this cut were to actually happen. For that reason, I'd definitely encourage everyone to show their support of the program.

Perhaps Dave or some other qualified individual could shed some light on the reality of the matter? If it is indeed dire, perhaps he could also suggest the best course of action for those who have been positively affected by NASA FIRST program and wish to speak their mind?

I have another somewhat-related question. Outside of the FIRST NASA grant program, which is open to all schools, I was wondering if the benefits of other REP activities were "regionalized" around NASA operations throughout the country. Basically, does every American school have access to these benefits, or typically, do schools near NASA facilities share in the bulk of the benefit? Looking for concrete examples. If it turns out these benefits were somewhat-regionalized, then perhaps a better method could be developed to see that the benefits are amplified and extended to reach every student in every school?

[Ian Curtis]

Can someone link an actual article stating this? I can't find one, and I'd assume if someone said it, it would show up. No reason to get bent out of shape over non existant budget cuts.

[dlavery]

I can neither confirm nor deny what might or might not be in the 2009 President's budget submission. I just can not comment on that.

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

I believe this just underlines the importance of doing Dean's homework and getting your state and federal legislators involved in promoting and funding FIRST programs directly. Instead of continuing to fund FIRST teams through federal money budgeted to NASA, let's see FIRST teams funded through federal money budgeted directly for FIRST and other similar educational science and technology programs.

Just one comment regarding a fine point of how the Federal budget is implemented. Congress cannot just allocate funding for FIRST and send it to them. It has to go through one of the department/agency budgets. So for FIRST (or FIRST teams) to receive Federal funds, at least one Federal agency (such as NASA, NSF, Department of Education, etc.) must be involved, must receive the appropriated funds from Congress, and then allocate the funding to FIRST (or the teams) as part of their annual budget/procurement process.

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

I have another somewhat-related question. Outside of the FIRST NASA grant program, which is open to all schools, I was wondering if the benefits of other REP activities were "regionalized" around NASA operations throughout the country. Basically, does every American school have access to these benefits, or typically, do schools near NASA facilities share in the bulk of the benefit? Looking for concrete examples. If it turns out these benefits were somewhat-regionalized, then perhaps a better method could be developed to see that the benefits are amplified and extended to reach every student in every school?

There are multiple elements of the NASA Robotics Alliance Project. Most of them are open and available to any U.S. school that wants to participate, without geographic restriction (e.g. the FRC Growth Grants, the NASA Robotics Curriculum Clearinghouse and the on-line robotics courses). Some of them (such as the FRC Regional Challenge Grants) are coupled to a particular competition event at a particular location, but any team from anywhere in the country may apply to participate. A minor fraction of the RAP activities are targeted at supporting the local communities around the various NASA field centers (e.g. support for the FRC “house teams” at each NASA field center). We believe this mix of project types and distributions is appropriate, and do not plan on changing this profile in 2008.

-dave

[Pavan Dave]

An update:

I am told that there have only been a few letters sent and they need more and the ones from the alumni help a lot. So if you know any alumni please please please let them know as soon as possible.

Thanks.

[Travis Hoffman]

In a dream, the following idea was presented to me. In that dream, a Walrus told me to post the following on Chief Delphi. I cannot be certain if it was real, but here it is. Maybe it is possibly a good idea. You be the judge.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
er, um, cough, uh.......I mean.......
"If people were to submit a collection of notes, letters, anecdotes, etc. to FIRST (Paul Gudonis, Bill Miller, Bruce Linton, or Dean Kamen) telling them in particular how the NASA support for the FIRST program has helped them, their teams, their community, their school, etc. I am sure that the recipients at FIRST would know how to make the best use of them."

Sounds like a pretty smart Walrus. Where's my pen?

[Nawaid Ladak]

It's not just teams that could be affected by this.

we could be looking at trouble with web casts for the 2009 season, and regional events getting less sponsorship money, which could lead to below average quality during the event etc. a couple regionals come to mind when i think of this situation (VCU, UCF, Lone star) this could turn into a huge problem for the teams attending these regionals, so even if your not a NASA team, please help this cause, because it could hurt US ALL (The FIRST community) if we don't do anything about this

(from the 2004 program guide NASA was the biggest team sponsor of FIRST with 207 out of 955 teams)

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by FreedomForce

..this could turn into a huge problem for the teams attending these regionals, so even if your not a NASA team, please help this cause, because it could hurt US ALL (The FIRST community) if we don't do anything about this

(from the 2004 program guide NASA was the biggest team sponsor of FIRST with 207 out of 955 teams)

Agreed. When I think of Lone Star Regional, one of the first teams I think about is 118, followed quickly by my respect for NASA and its amazing support for FIRST over the years.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

(^Travis' fault)

I am going to write a letter. I also had the privilege of attending the Florida Regional this year and saw how appreciative many of the teams were to have NASA's support. It was so inspiring to hear their stories, veteran and rookie teams alike, when walking through the pits.

[Rich Kressly]

if you wanna see any history of NASA involvement check here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1583

there's a pretty nice piece in there on our NASA friends

[Pavan Dave]

We need more letters. I am informed that we have not even reached the 10 letter mark yet. Please please please, write a letter, and share your story, the future of NASA's robotics education program depends on it.

[Pavan Dave]

I apologize for not giving you more information before, but there is more to the NASA funding issue than meets the eye.

To clarify the reasoning behind the budget cuts for robotics education here
is the link and a direct quote from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Budget

"However, as a result of the $545 million in approved cuts from NASA's
original FY '07 funding request, NASA Administrator Dr. Michael D. Griffin
plans to eliminate a robotic mission to the moon, cut educational programs
for schoolchildren and delay development of Project Constellation. According
to an April 6, 2007 story published in the Orlando Sentinel, a planned
robotic mission to the moon would be eliminated in order to help free up
more than $100 million in funding."

As you can see, NASA had no intension to cut funding, but had no choice when congress
decided that for them. I am not in any way blaming congress, but it seems that (obviously)
NASA knows the benefits of robotics education. The letters were a way to remind them of the
positive aspects and providewritten support. On the other hand, I believe now that the original report
deadline has passed we have a new mission. We need to convince congress of the benefits of FIRST
(through NASA) so that this won't happen again. If this sounds familiar that is because this was
Dean's homework. But I askthat you write even more letters but please include brief (or lengthy)
information about certain supporters (like NASA) who depend on the support
of congress. I also encourage you to do a little homework on your homework
and got to this site and get educated in the history and the reasoning
behind NASA's budget.

[mathking]

There is still time to get at least some of this money reinstated. I talked to a couple of friends who are congressional staffers, and they said basically, lots of contacts with lots of legislators. I think the appropriate avenue for convincing is to keep hammering away on the "we need scientists and engineers for the 21st century economy." If they start thinking about this as both education and economic development, we have a better chance.

This budget cycle is going to be REALLY nasty. Funding for the war in Iraq is going to be the issue that makes all others much more nasty and contentious than the normal nasty and contentious process. And the defense budget, when you include all of the supplemental spending for Iraq and Afghanistan is well beyond half a trillion dollars and heading toward $750 million. Which is waymore than all of the non-defense discretionary spending put together. Translation, money is going to be tight. So it would likely behoove those of us worried about funding for educational programs like this to stress the bipartisan nature of such funding. It benefits everyone. This is the kind of spending that can get reinstated if enough legislators on both sides think it is worthwhile.