NE FIRST

Out to New England FRC teams...


NE FIRST Things FIRST

Week of September 28, 2015

 

 
FRC Rookie Grant
Deadline: Monday, Nov. 2, 11:59 p.m.
Notification: Friday, Nov. 13
 
FIRST is excited to announce a funding opportunity exclusively available to Rookie teams participating in the 2016 FRC season. Awarded teams will receive $6,000 (to be used for registration) over the course of two seasons. Teams can expect $4,000 in season one and $2,000 in season two. The application link can be found here and sample fundraising plans can be found in the FIRST Fundraising Toolkit.
 
Criteria and obligations:
  • Teams must be from a country that has an existing FRC Regional or District event.
  • Teams should have at least one committed Mentor.
  • Application must include copy of fundraising plan.
  • In order to foster a culture of Gracious Professionalism, Awardees must share lessons learned after their Rookie season. For example, a team may upload fundraising materials to the FIRST Community website, post lessons learned on Facebook, etc.
FIRST Headquarters will collaborate with local FIRST Regional Directors while reviewing applications. NE FIRST Regional Directors are listed at the bottom of this email.If you know of any potential rookie teams looking to compete in the 2016 season, be sure to contact your local Regional Director, as well.
 
Thinking about starting a team? Start here. For additional support, contact [email protected] or 800-871-8326 and your local Regional Director.

 
NIDays Boston 2015
 
NIDays, the largest regional technology and innovation event series held by NI, brings together thousands of engineers and scientists worldwide to experience true innovation in a single day. The event will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston and is free to attend.
The event will deliver introductory and advanced technical sessions taught by experts, hands-on workshops, visionary keynote presentations, innovative partner demonstrations, peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and an exhibition that showcases the latest advancements in design, control, and test. More information about the event, including how to register, can be found here.

If your team is interested in setting up a display for the event, please contact Steve Cremer at [email protected]. This is a large event that has access to large groups of programmers and software engineers who might be interested in working with teams. Teams demonstrating at the event will be able to attend sessions and food will be provided.
 

Boston NE FIRST University Day

The Boston NE FIRST University Day, hosted by FRC 125, will be held on Saturday Oct. 10 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The event will take place at the Behrakis Center at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Seminars will be held in rooms 310, 315, 320, and 325. All FRC team adults and students are invited to attend!

Registration: Please fill out this form so we can get a head count and prepare enough food.

Parking: Parking is available at the Renaissance Parking Garage (835 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA, 02120) and is $8 for 24 hours. The garage is a short walk from Behrakis Center. We strongly recommend parking at the garage since on-street parking will be metered until 6 p.m.
Please email the host team at [email protected] with any questions and check out the Facebook event if you plan on attending!


Support FIRST and the STEM Education Coalition!

Want to help support STEM education in the U.S.? FIRST
is a member of the STEM Education Coalition - a large group of organizations lobbying for STEM Education funding in Title II-E (Section 2005) of the ESEA reauthorization.
 
We now have a specific "ask" in addition to general support for Title II-E (Section 2005) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act providing for STEM education including afterschool competitive programs. A "Dear Collogue" letter is being circulated for signatures by Representatives Hanna (R NY) and Courtney (D CT), which asks Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Scott of the Senate Education and Work Force Committee to preserve Title II-E of the Senate bill.
 
The coalition has set up a website to generate word.doc that addresses the person's letter to Representative based on return address. One can just fill in one's name and address, click print and have a letter generated asking the local Representative to sign-on to the Hanna-Courtney letter. Each letter that a friend of FIRST generates will help support the push for STEM education funding.
 
A sample letter is set up on the STEM Education Coalition's website, which the sender can personalize and send directly to their representative in the U.S. House. Click on this link to get started.

 
FRC Blog Updates
 
The following posts come from recent updates to the FRC blog. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed if you have not done so already!
 
KOP Drive System Opt-Out
 
Veteran teams can choose to receive a $450 Product Donation Voucher (PDV) for AndyMark parts instead of the KOP Drive System at Kickoff. Rookie teams will automatically receive the KOP Drive System.
 
To accommodate orders and lead times, the option to opt out of the KOP Drive System for the PDV will be available ONLY from noon today, Oct. 1, to noon on Friday, Oct. 16. During that time, the option to receive the PDV in place of the KOP Drive System will be found in the "What's New" section on the right side bar of the TIMS main screen. If teams do not choose to opt out of the KOP Drive System in favor of the PDV by 10/16, they will be assigned the 'default' option of receiving the KOP Drive System as part of their Kickoff Kit.
 
See the original blog post here for more information, profile drawings, and details on the drive system.
 
Waitlist Color-Coding
 
Before you sign up for the waitlist for a given event, you will see the waitlist color coded yellow, orange, or red. Once an event reaches an open capacity of 0 (meaning no open spots are available), the following color coding will appear in TIMS:
 
W = # of teams already on waitlist for this event (min 1 for calculation sanity)
R = # of spaces in reserve (min 1 for calculation sanity)
C (chance factor) = W/R
 
For C <= 1: Yellow
For C between 1 and 1.5: Orange
For C above 1.5: Red
 
Spaces are reserved to help cover contingencies such as Rookie teams getting started later in the season, etc. If the waitlist you are signing up for is coded yellow, that doesn't mean you are guaranteed to get into the event; conversely, if a waitlist is coded red, that doesn't mean you won't be getting into an event, just that your chances are relatively smaller. Rookies should especially continue to sign up for the event that is most convenient for them, and we'll do our best to accommodate.
 
Is this feature useful to you? Be sure to send your feedback either way to [email protected]! The full details can be found in the original post.
 
 
NCWIT 2016 Aspirations in Computing Award
 
FIRST Alliance, NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) is now accepting applications for the 2016 Aspirations in Computing Award:
 
For high school girls: the Award honors young women who are active and interested in computing and technology and encourages them to pursue their passions. This multi-tiered competition includes recognition at both the national and local levels.
 
The program is open to high school women in the U.S. with computing aspirations. NCWIT recognizes both aspirations as well as accomplishments. Recipients are chosen for their outstanding aptitude and interest in computers, proven leadership ability, academic performance and plans for post-secondary education. 
 
Student applications will be accepted until 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26. Find out more here
 
For Educators: this award publicly celebrates high school educators who encourage girls' interest and participation in technology pursuits. Educator Award recipients form a national community of peers, share practices, and empower other educators to encourage the participation of girls in computing.
 
Educator applications will be accepted until 8 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9. Find out more here.
For FAQs on both programs, please visit www.aspirations.org/faqs.

 
NE FIRST Administrative Position 

NE FIRST is hiring! We're looking to hire a part-time administrative resource in the Bloomfield, Conn. area to help with a variety of administrative, bookkeeping and office management tasks.
Please check out the full position description if you're interested.

 
Upcoming FRC Registration Dates
 
Second District Event registration opens next Thursday, Oct. 8, at noon. If you have not done so already, please be sure to register for your first event. If you have any issues with registration, contact Team Support (1-800-871-8326 ext. 0 or [email protected]) and your local Regional Director.
 
Here are the next few upcoming FRC deadlines (times are at noon unless otherwise specified):
  • Friday, Oct. 2 - Kickoff registration opens
  • Thursday, Oct. 8 - 2nd district event registration opens
  • Thursday, Nov. 5 - Unrestricted regional/district registration opens
  • Thursday, Nov. 12 - Inter-district registration opens
  • Monday, Nov. 23 - Payment due for 1st district event, 2nd district event and all regionals; Inter-district registration closes
Important dates are also listed on the FRC calendar. Please note that District Teams must wait for Unrestricted Regional Event Registration to register for a Regional competition.

 
Upcoming Deadlines
 
National Instruments FIRST Grant
Deadline: Friday, Oct. 2 at 11 p.m.
Notification: Friday, Dec. 11
 
NI is pleased to provide grants to assist FIRST teams participating in FLL, FTC and FRC. Teams will be awarded grants based on their submitted application, financial need, use of LabVIEW and commitment to the FIRST program.
 
If your team is selected for an NI FIRST grant, you will be required to:
  1. Program in LabVIEW, LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS, NXT-G or EV3
  2. Maintain regular communication with NI regarding team initiatives, community and marketing activities
  3. Feature the NI logo on the team robot, t-shirts or signage; use the NI logo according to logo guidelines (guidelines provided by NI)
  4. Ensure at least one team member takes the NI Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer (CLAD) exam by the end of 2016 (NI will communicate to teams about exam preparation and logistics)
The application can be found here.

 
Upcoming Events
 
Bash at the Beach
Saturday, Oct. 3
Lyme-Old Lyme High School
69 Lyme St, Old Lyme, CT 06371
 
Greater Hartford Mini Maker Faire
Saturday, Oct. 3
Tunxis Community College
271 Scott Swamp Rd, Farmington, CT 06032
 
Boston NE FIRST University Day
Saturday, Oct. 10
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Behrakis Center
30 Leon St, Boston, MA 02115
 
River Rage 19
Saturday, Oct. 17
Memorial High School
1 Crusader Way, Manchester, NH 03103
 
Robot Rodeo
Saturday, Oct. 17
Gardiner Area Middle School
161 Cobbossee Ave, Gardiner, ME 04345


Contact Us
 
NE FIRST Executive Director
Bruce Linton ([email protected])
 
NE FIRST Advisor
Jessica Boucher ([email protected])
 
NE FIRST Regional Directors
Connecticut - Carol Scully ([email protected])
Maine - Karen Giles (http://www.robotsinme.org/)
Massachusetts/Rhode Island - Steve Cremer ([email protected])
New Hampshire/Vermont - Scott Heaton ([email protected])
 
NE FIRST Senior Mentors
Connecticut - Stacey Gray ([email protected])
Massachusetts - Dana Henry ([email protected])
 

 

Archives of NE FIRST Things FIRST are available on the NE FIRST site under "News." Submissions can be sent to [email protected].

 

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