Area middle school students explore the tiny but vast world of nanotechnology

Troy, N.Y. — Twenty-four middle school teams from around the Capital Region competed today in the FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) NanoQuest Challenge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The global competition is being brought to the region for the second time through a partnership between GE and Rensselaer. The tournament, which is supported by nearly 100 GE Volunteers and Rensselaer students, faculty, and staff, puts eight weeks of research, design, and programming to the test, giving local students the chance to participate at the FLL World Festival at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Area children are among the record 80,000 students around the world who have risen to the 2006 FLL NanoQuest Challenge. This year’s challenge calls for teams of 9- to 14-year-old children to research and present their own creative applications of nanotechnology to improve people’s lives. To successfully complete the Challenge, teams must build and program a LEGO MINDSTORMS® robot to explore nanotechnology and the amazing solutions this newest frontier of science and technology can make possible.  

FIRST collaborated with the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Nano Science & Technology and the Cornell University Nanobiotechnology Center to help shape a theme and challenge missions that include manipulating individual atoms, clothes that never get dirty, an elevator to outer space, and cures for disease.

FLL is a partnership between the LEGO Group and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. FLL is the middle school component of the FIRST Robotics Competition, an international contest that teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in a competitive way. Kamen visited Rensselaer last December to meet with area students involved in FIRST competitions and to deliver a lecture on innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Every FIRST LEGO League challenge helps students discover how imagination and creativity combined with science and technology can solve today’s problems,” Kamen says. The FLL competition is judged in four areas: project presentation, robot performance, technical design and programming of the robot, and teamwork. The highest honor will go to the team that best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.

The tournament, which has doubled in size since launching in the Capital Region last year, is organized by GE Volunteers and Rensselaer’s Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education (CIPCE), which works with area teachers and students to promote the use of robotics in the classroom.

“We’re proud to help students bring technology to life through hands-on programs that can inspire their interests as future scientists and engineers,” said Mark M. Little, senior vice president and director, GE Global Research.  “The FLL competition brings visibility to real-world technical opportunities and challenges, and we hope to grow the pipeline of professional talent who will drive future innovations in these areas.”  

“This is an opportunity to help students understand the common themes that connect math, science, engineering, and technology, and the  nation’s best research universities can and must play a significant role in strengthening these areas of education at the pre-college level,” says Lester Rubenfeld, CIPCE director and professor of mathematical sciences at Rensselaer. “By hosting robotics competitions, assisting teachers, and mentoring students, we can be part of the solution to this critical national challenge. I am so proud of our students who are volunteering their time to show the next generation how much fun math, science, and engineering can be.”

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson has long warned of what she calls the “Quiet Crisis” in America — the threat to our nation’s capacity to innovate due to the looming shortage in the nation’s science and technology workforce. The shortfall results from a record number of retirements on the horizon, and not enough students in the pipeline to replace them. For information on the “Quiet Crisis”, go to: http://www.rpi.edu/homepage/quietcrisis/index.html.

The FIRST LEGO League competition organized by CIPCE in collaboration with GE is part of Rensselaer’s larger effort to interest area young people and their families in pursuing occupations in the fields of science and engineering. Other “pipeline” programs include: Design Your Future Day, to engage young girls in science and engineering studies and professions; Exploring Engineering Day, to spark the interest of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in science, technology, and engineering; and Rensselaer’s Molecularium™ project to teach young children about the smallest forms of matter.

FLL’s eighth year is also its biggest season, with more than 8,100 teams — more than 80,000 students – from 34 countries competing in hundreds of qualifying events and Championship Tournaments. Regional winners will have a chance to participate at the FIRST LEGO League World Festival, to be held in conjunction with the FIRST Vex Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition Championship for high school students, April 12-14, 2007 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga.

Note to editors: Tournament results will be posted at http://geglobalresearch.com/LegoLeague/index.html

About GE Volunteers
GE employees and retirees contribute more than one million hours of service annually to local community initiatives. Today, there are 200 GE Volunteer councils located in 36 countries around the world. Each is responsible for mobilizing volunteers to address serious social issues facing their communities, including education, protecting the environment, community development and applying their professional capacity to help school systems and nonprofits.

Contacts:

Jessica Otitigbe, Rensselaer  (518) 276-6050  otitij@rpi.edu
Christine Horne, GE (518) 225-2779 christine.horne@ge.com

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