FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen. Its charter is to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology, leading to increased self-esteem and confidence. This year, FIRST will sponsor 44 robotics competitions throughout the world. More than 52,000 students from 12 countries will compete in 2010. Assisted by more than 85,000 mentors and volunteers, students have six weeks to design, build, and test robots for regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of the students. The source code for the robots' software control system is available to all students using the CollabNet platform, enabling the teams to be self-supporting and to share code.
"CollabNet's participation as a Diamond Supplier furthers our goal to inspire energy and enthusiasm for science and technology," said Paul R. Gudonis, president, FIRST. "It clearly demonstrates their local and national commitment to play a leadership role in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and workforce development by helping students develop the technology and life skills that will help them succeed in their future careers."
"We're pleased to again support the FIRST competition and to introduce the participants to the many benefits that the CollabNet platform provides to distributed teams of software developers," said Bill Portelli, president and chief executive officer, CollabNet. "CollabNet TeamForge was engineered from the ground up to enable a culture of collaboration, which the student teams are learning is essential to success. Good luck to all the competitors."
On March 18-20, local teams will compete in the Silicon Valley Regional Championship at San Jose State University. Winners of regional events will advance to the FIRST Championship in Atlanta, Ga., April 15-17, 2010. Participating students are eligible to apply for more than $12 million in scholarships offered by leading universities, colleges, and companies.
About CollabNet
CollabNet leads the industry in Agile application lifecycle management (Agile ALM) in the Cloud. The CollabNet TeamForge® ALM platform, CollabNet Subversion software configuration management ( SCM) solution, and ScrumWorks® project and program management software enable teams using any environment, methodology, and technology to increase productivity by up to 50% and reduce the cost of software development by up to 80%. The company also offers training, including Certified ScrumMaster training, software development process improvement services, and an innovative community management approach to driving enterprise development success. As the founder of the open source Subversion project, CollabNet has collaborative development for distributed teams in our DNA. Millions of users at more than 2,500 organizations, including Applied Biosystems, Capgemini, Deutsche Bank, Oracle, Reuters, and the U.S. Department of Defense, have transformed the way they develop software with CollabNet. For more information, visit www.collab.net.
About FIRST®
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $12 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC® ) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC® ) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL® ) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.
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