A message from Director Dr. Cinda-Sue Davis

In 2005, the WISE Program sponsored its first FIRST Lego League Robotics team. Calling themselves the M-GoBlue Bots, this team of 10 girls between the ages of 10 and 14, designed, built and programmed Lego Mindstorm robots to perform a number of Ocean Odyssey tasks. Under the direction of Jamie Saville, Director of the WISE Science Office, and her coaches, all undergraduate engineering students, the team did very well, coming in 14th out of 47 teams in the regional competition. Nonetheless, we were clearly new to the process, and we learned a lot that first year.

For the 2006 team, a combination of returning and new girls continued the M Go Blue Bots effort, this time with a nanotechnology theme. The team met every Sunday afternoon throughout the fall and even a few weekend evenings. Their persistence won out. The girls finished 5th in their regional division at Michigan State and qualified to compete in the State Finals in Flint. This meant several more weeks of practice and it really paid off. The girls came in 1st overall in the state, but more importantly were awarded the Best Teamwork Award, which was a very impressive trophy made entirely out of Legos!

The WISE Program is particularly proud of their achievements. Each team gets 2.5 minutes to perform approximately 12 tasks with their robots. Most teams designate one to two members to actually work at the board for this competition. But each member of our M Go Blue Bots team competes at the board in our allotted time. The judges clearly recognized this true team effort which was, I am certain, influential in giving us this coveted award.

At a time when corporate recruiters are constantly reminding us that technical skills alone do not make a good engineer but rather the ability to work in diverse teams is crucial, it is exciting to see how these young women are already doing this. Our congratulations go out to the team and the coaches. We look forward to next year when we will be working on Alternative Energy Resources. Be sure to see the team article and photograph in this edition!

December 2006 eNews

October 2006 eNews

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