Founded in 1989 by inventor/entrepreneur Dean Kamen in celebration of science and technology and to inspire young people’s interest in related fields, the FIRST Robotics Competition is an exciting, multinational competition.  It teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way.  The program is a life-changing, career-molding experience—and a lot of fun.  In 2011, the 20^th season of FIRST, the nearly 60 competitions are expected to reach over 52,000 students in 2075 teams from Canada, Brazil, Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, the U.K., Puerto Rico, and every U.S. state. The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, the result of lots of focused brainstorming, real-world teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines, and deadlines.  More information about FIRST can be found at www.usfirst.org.