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Welcome to the NASA Glenn Research Center FIRST website.

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition is an annual design contest that brings professionals and young people together in teams to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. It is a national engineering contest that immerses high school students in the exciting world of engineering.

The Competition is a program of FIRST, a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. It inspires students to take a look at further studies and careers in engineering, technology and science. The competition is held in a series of regionals concluding with a final at Epcot Center in Walt Disney World.

This year, NASA Glenn Research Center is sponsoring a FIRST regional in Cleveland, OH, that will feature over 40 high-school teams from around the country. This event will held at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center. NASA Glenn Research Center will sponsor 20 of the teams at this competition.

In 6 weeks, students and engineers (NASA volunteers) work intensely together to brainstorm, design, construct, and test their "robot champion" which then competes with other robots. In past years, NASA Glenn worked with 5 FIRST teams in the greater Cleveland area:

• East Technical High School
• Rhodes High School
• Eastmoor Academy (Columbus)
• Beachwood/Warrensville High School
• Max S. Hayes Vocational High School

This year, NASA GRC is working with 18 teams.

GRC FIRST program manager: Carol Galica
GRC FIRST technical contact: Mike Krasowski

For more information about the program please browse the various areas of this website, along with the website for the FIRST Buckeye Regional.

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