Defenders of the Multiverse

 

The Business of Engineering Grant

Dominion Foundation

An article written by IEEE indicated that at all levels of an organization, engineers should play a significant role in driving innovations that will benefit customers and increase profits. From the earliest stages of their careers, engineers are expected to lead projects and teams, and to bring new ideas to fruition. Senior-level engineers are expected to lead large, complex projects; to drive innovation; and to provide guidance for less-experienced peers. Excellent leadership skills are necessary to effectively execute such responsibilities. In a recent article in Project Engineering Magazine, Dr. Pamela Palmer reiterated that what engineers and computer scientists don’t know about management can hurt them. Trouble is, many engineering students don’t realize this until they’re already on the job. Simply by expanding their studies to include finance, planning and communication skills central to management, students can increase their opportunities for career success in the engineering field.

Companies like Dominion can greatly benefit from hiring engineers who have business and leadership skills. Establishing the “Business of Engineering” program can benefit high school students by helping them integrate the science and technology skills needed to design, build and program a robot with real world business and leadership skills.

At Hanover High School, the FIRST robotics team, named Defenders of the Multiverse or DOTM, was formed in 2004 and shares the FIRST vision to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders. The team mission is also aligned with the FIRST mission that is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Participating in FIRST has inspired many robotics team members to pursue science and technology careers. In 2010, all DOTM seniors enrolled in college. Again this year, all DOTM seniors are enrolling in college with more than half pursuing an engineering degree. Robotics has also encouraged students to include physics in their pre-college coursework. Enrollment in physics classes has increased five-fold since DOTM was established. Twelve of the fourteen students in the current AP Physics-C class are DOTM members.

 

Robotics Team Composition: Since being established in 2005, the team has grown from a dozen students to more than 45 in 2011 and has been successful in recruiting a diverse mix of students. All students are welcome to join the team. This year, more than a quarter of the team is female and due to intense recruiting efforts, nearly half of the team is made up of first-year robotics students from all grade levels. Since the team was formed, students have relied heavily on parents and sponsors to provide funding, tools and equipment to support the robot manufacturing and programming process. The team has been very successful and most recently won the Virginia Regional FIRST Championship. As the team continues to grow, a more structured business model and work environment would not only benefit the team model but would enable students to integrate both engineering and business skills to better prepare for the business world.

 

Educational Project Description:

During the 2011-2012 school year, the Business of Engineering program is being launched to develop a framework for a comprehensive business plan in order to scope, manage, and obtain team objectives while learning key engineering skills including design, construction and programming. The Business of Engineering program will complement current science, technology and programming learning activities with business skills to provide potential engineers with business skills needed to succeed in the corporate environment. These programs and skills will include project management, inventory management, marketing, communications, budgeting, safety, team building and leadership. A curriculum to support these skills will be developed as part of the Business of Engineering program.

Creating a successful business plan and honing additional business skills, will enable the team to define a more business centric operating structure that will enable students will learn how to resolve real engineering challenges in a business environment. Setting objectives, managing schedules and costs, developing teamwork skills and managing inventory and equipment are skills that all engineers need in order to be successful.

To assure a safe, reliable and business oriented work environment, a store room/workshop re-make is planned. Some of the current equipment is in need of repair and other pieces are nearing end-of-life. The re-make will evaluate the working condition of all current equipment and replace and/or repair current resources to assure that a full set of tools are available. The re-make of the robotics build area will also provide storage facilities, bins and tool repositories to enable inventory management programs and practices to be implemented. Computer work stations will be designed to enable self learning of Autodesk Inventor, Lab view, Mathematica and Apple Apps development. Currently, students conduct their programming work at a snack table in the robotics pod. A business support pod will also be added to assist with inventory management, budgeting, marketing and communications. This work environment will enable the team to integrate business processes with technical process to maximize success using a science and technology driven business model. It also provides a more structured framework to support the many outreach activities that the team participates in to grow engineering and technology talent across the entire county as well as in the region. Examples of engineering outreach that has been performed over the past three years include the following:

• In 2009, HHS Robotics facilitated a FTC robotics camp at the VCU School of Engineering. The team mentor facilitated the class and more than a half dozen robotics team members assisted nearly 40 students learn engineering skills through FTC.
• HHS Robotics served as a mentor to establish a FIRST robotics team at Patrick Henry High School in 2010. The team won FIRST’s Highest Seeded Rookie Award at the regional competition during their first year and now is a self sustaining team that competed in the 2011 Robotics Regional Competition.
• In 2010-2011, HHS Robotics established and mentored the first LEGO League in the county at Kersey Creek Elementary school and will expand this effort to additional teams this year.
• In the 2011-2012 school year, HHS robotics will serve as a mentor to establish a robotics team at Lee Davis High school. With this addition, all Hanover County High schools will be engaged in FIRST robotics.

 

Student Impact:

In addition to the members of the robotics team which is expected to exceed sixty members in 2011, the outreach activities expands the team’s impact to more than four dozen elementary school students participating in FLL and more than a dozen high school students at Lee Davis who will be introduced to FIRST robotics. Also, the impact of “The Business of Engineering” program is multi-year and will continue after the initial launch. Processes and infrastructure will be put in place to assure the program will be self sustained and continue to grow. The Business of Engineering program can also serve as a model for other FIRST robotics teams across the country for establishing a more business centric team. Once established, participating in the learning portion of the program can be offered to local schools with robotics teams.

Measuring Success:

Program success will be gauged internally by the successful completion of the following milestones:

• Development and implementation of a comprehensive Business Plan
• Development and execution of a business centric curriculum
• Team member completion of selected training including project management, tool and personal safety, marketing, inventory management, team building and business fundamentals.
• Redesign/ remake of robotics workspace to include a more business centric environment with warehouse, construction work space and business support pod.

• Externally, success will be measured by the regional FIRST Robotics organization as part of their review in awarding the FIRST Robotics Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award. HHS Robotics will apply for this award and will be judged on having a framework for a comprehensive business plan in order to scope, manage, and obtain team objectives. Judges will also evaluate the team’s entrepreneurial enthusiasm and the vital business skills for a self-sustaining program.

Program Cost

The initial cost to establish the core “Business of Engineering” program is estimated to be $6,000. Additional cost to expand offerings and resources will be covered by the team sponsors and robotics boosters through fundraising activities. A grant from the Dominion Foundation will cover the core program requirements and help establish the infrastructure to enable the program to be self sustaining in future years.

 

Hanover High School Business of Engineering

Hanover High School Business of Engineering

Program Implementation Results

• Developed and implemented a comprehensive Business Plan
• Executed a business centric curriculum (i.e. project management, tool and personal safety, marketing, inventory management, team building and business fundamentals)
• Redesign/remake of robotics workspace is complete and includes a more business centric environment with warehouse, construction work space and business support pod
• Externally:  Award submittal documents have been completed for FIRST Robotics Entrepreneurship Award sponsored by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.  Judging will be done at Regional Competitions in March/April.

Itemized Budget Information for 2011-2012 $6000 Dominion Grant
Category	Budget		Description
Instructional Supplies / Materials	$800		Apple Enterprise Developer Software and learning materials including student licenses, Business on-line learning materials, plan templates and training guide for Filemaker Pro II and Filemaker Go, Learning CoCos 2D, IPad IOS 4 Developer, WordPress, ICS Programming, Objective C Essentials, Aps for mobile devices
Consumables	$400		Office supplies, paper, printer cartridges, inventory tags, binders, poster board, brochure stock, labels, computer supplies, thumb drives
Equipment	$3500		Computer work station and business pod equipped with computer, 2 ipads, printer, Autodesk Inventor software*, Labview* software, Mathematica* Software and Apple Enterprise Developer. Work benches, shelves and peg boards for inventory management, furniture, file cabinet, business pod equipment and set-up. (*two software packages were provided by vendors and one by the school)
Student Activities	$500		Participation in team building activities, on-line courses for application design, Apple training,
Staff Development	$500		On-line and classroom resources for for business plan development, applications  and instruction.  Filemaker training module.
Miscellaneous Supplies	$300		Business plan reproduction and binding, safety posters, signage, reproduction expenses, industrial printer paper, engineering drawing paper, etc.
TOTAL		$6000

 

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