According to a recent note in the EETimes, some are theorizing that American students have been losing interest in electrical engineering because the dramatic technological advances in electronics have had the unintended consequence of making electronics less accessible to curious young minds. How many of you became interested in technology via various tinkering opportunities as a youngster. One person who has been actively trying to address this situation is Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway Human Transport Device. Dean has established an organization called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.

Although Kamen may be best known among the general public for his work on the Segway, his background is as an entrepreneur and inventor of numerous biomedical devices, including the first portable insulin pump for diabetics. He holds over 440 U.S. patents and his accomplishments were recognized in 2000 when he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton. In 1989 he founded FIRST as a way to get high school age students interested in and excited about science and technology. The approach is to give teams of students the task of creating robotic devices and placing those teams with their creations into competitions that Kamen seeks to make as exciting for the students as a high school football or basketball game. From the first competition involving 28 teams in a New Hampshire high school gym, the program has grown to involve over 100,000 students from all around the world, and will host it's 2008 championship competition in 2008 in the Georgia Dome.

FIRST promotes the ethos of Gracious Professionalism, a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. Key to making this happen is mentoring from volunteers from the field of science and engineering, as well as financial support from industry and technical organizations. To this end, the ALA has agreed to become a financial sponsor of FIRST. To contribute to the mentoring process, the ALA has invited two of the elite FIRST teams of students to attend LabAutomation 2008, where they will display their robotic creations and have the opportunity to mingle with professionals from our field of endeavor.

We come from a profession where "proof is in the data", and there is some real data available to show the impact of FIRST. Recently, Brandeis University's Center for Youth and Communities conducted an independent, retrospective survey of FIRST Robotics Competition participants and compared results to a group of non-FIRST students with similar backgrounds and academic experiences, including math and science. They found among other things, that FIRST students were more than twice as likely to expect to pursue a career in science and technology, and nearly 4 times as likely to expect to pursue a career specifically in engineering.

Paul Gudonis, the president of FIRST will be a closing plenary speaker at LabAutomation 2008, and will talk about the organization and the concept of Gracious Professionalism. The Lab Man will certainly be there to listen with interest, and hopes that many of you will be there as well. Take the opportunity to chat with the high school teams and consider for yourself whether FIRST is something that you and/or your organization should be involved with.

Post a comment and let us know if you're supportive of this ALA initiative!

Until next time,

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto