December 2006
Lego girls bring home 3 trophiesThe M Go Blue Bots, an all-girl robotics team from Ann Arbor, brought home a gleaming, yellow trophy– made from Lego bricks. The team, sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program, earned the trophy for best teamwork in the Fist Lego League state championship and placed in the top 15 overall. A total of 44 teams, including teams from Houghton and Newberry, competed in the Flint/Genesee County Championship Tournament for a chance to advance to the international championship tournament in Atlanta in April 2007. The International FIRST Lego League (FLL), founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen, introduces children to science and technology through competitions that use Lego Mindstorm robot kits. The FLL issues a new theme and challenge every September. The challenge includes two components: missions that a robot must complete in order to earn points; and a research project and presentatio. In addition, teams earn points for their understanding and use of programming and engineering and for their ability to work as a team. “To me, the teamwork trophy was the most important award that our girls could have won,” says Cinda-Sue Davis, WISE Director.” While they clearly can hold their own with their technical expertise, their teamwork is inspirational.” Davis points out that the ability to operate well in a team is a high priority for employers. At a recent meeting, member of the College of Engineering national advisory board were asked for the most important characteristic of graduating engineers for today's workforce. “To a person,” says Davis, “each one answered ‘the ability to work in diverse groups or teams.’” The M Go Blue Bots includes girls from six different Ann Arbor schools including Forsythe, Slauson, Greenhills, Emerson, Ann Arbor Open, Pioneer, and Tappan. Prior to their participation on this team, few members knew each other. Team member Zoey Fuller, a 7th grader at Ann Arbor Open, appreciates the diversity she gets from the non-school-based team. “You get to know other people from other schools that you probably wouldn't get to know. Also there's not just one grade which means you have a variety of levels.” Competing against a sea of predominantly all-boy teams, parent and team members believe the all-girl component of the team is key to the team’s success. Team member Elizabeth Qian, a freshman at Pioneer High School, says, “It's nice to not have to compete with overly domineering males to speak my mind and point things out.” Parent Julie Ritter concurs. “Having an all girl team made it a lot easier for the girls to participate without hesitation. They are at that awkward middle school age where other people’s opinions become so much more important. They become inhibited around boys, and in this situation they did not have that obstacle,” says Ritter. “It made them much freer and more powerful to advocate for themselves in the group.” The year’s First Lego League theme was nanotechnology. “Before this season I didn't even know that nanotechnology existed. I had heard the word ‘nano’ used before, but I didn't know there was a nanoscale.,” said Fuller. “But now I think it's amazing that people can do stuff with things that small.” As everyone on the team knows, one nanometer is about one 80,000th of a human hair, or one billionth of a meter. Red blood cells are about 7,000 nanometers in diameter. “Studying nanotechnology really helped with my biology homework, while we were researching our project,” says Qian. “I wasn't really interested in nanotechnology before this, and now I am. The team chose to investigate the use of spherical fullerenes (buckyballs) in treating cancer. Buckyballs are about 6 nanomenters. The project focused on thyroid cancer and the delivery of a tumor-suppressing protein to cancerous thyroid cells using iodine-coated buckyballs. The team had the advantage of visiting the Michigan Nanofabrication Lab and talking with UM faculty and graduate students about their research using nanotechnology. The M Go Blue Bots are coached by UM students Beth Keifer, a senior in electrical engineering and David Lorch a third year biomedical engineering graduate student. Katie Olson a junior mechanical engineering student and Lisa Perez a sophomore in aerospace engineering also helped coach. “The student coaches were truly inspiring,” says Ritter. “The fact that they were so patient, so thorough, and such good role models for these young women; I greatly appreciate all of them! They each brought different perspectives to the group and the girls learned from every one!” The team’s performance in the regional meet at Michigan State University in mid-November allowed them to advance to the state competition. In addition to earning enough points to advance to the state tournament, the team earned the first place research award for their research project and they earned the judges award for best overall team. This award went to the team that did well in all of the points-earning categories including robot missions; research project and presentation; technical interview and teamwork. The team is funded with the generous support of Altarum, the University of Michigan and team parents. The includes students Rosie Curtis (Tappan Middle), Betsy Mansfield (Emerson Middle), Dorthea Bamfo (Greenhills), Tegwyn John and Kecil John (Forsythe Middle), Zoey Fuller and Sarah Keller (Ann Arbor Open) Jenny Nathans (Slauson Middle) and Elizabeth Qain (Pioneer High); is coached by Jamie Saville (Assistant Director, WISE), Rick Keller, (Senior Systems Engineer, Altarum), Beth Keifer (senior electrical engineering), David Lorch (third year biomedical engineering graduate student), Katie Olson (junior ME) and Liza Perez (sophomore Aerospace); and received research support by UM faculty and staff Cinda-Sue Davis (WISE Director), Nadine Kam (Assistant Professor/Post Doctoral Scholar, Chemical Engineering), Anouk Girard (Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering) and John Mansfield (Associate Research Scientist, Materials Science & Engineering). The girls will demonstrate their missions and research at the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum in February.
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