The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) wants to promote the following resources to K-12 teachers as supplements to classroom materials:

• TryEngineering Lesson Plans from IEEE: http://tryengineering.org/
• Career Path Guidance through TryEngineering: Engineering Majors and Engineering Technology Majors
• VEX Robotics Kit Grants for Indiana Elementary Schools: https://www.techpointyouth.org/robotgrant/ (currently a wait list)
• Renewable Energy Education Materials from Horizon Educational: Catalog
• Guide to Artificial Intelligence (AI) from ComputerScienceOnline: http://www.computerscienceonline.org/cutting-edge/automation-ai/
• IEEE Spark Magazine for Students Ages 14-18: http://spark.ieee.org/

The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (pronounced “Eye-triple-E”) invites all FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams in Central Indiana to apply for sponsorships. Applications should be one-page essays, and the teams submitting the top three essays will win $250 each.

The IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. With more than 421,000 members worldwide, IEEE is the largest technical professional organization in the world. The IEEE is a leading authority on electronics, electrical engineering, and computer science, including the broad range of topics touched by those fields. The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) is the local unit supporting the roughly 1,700 IEEE members in central Indiana.

FRC Teams must meet ONE of the following two criteria:

• Team is headquartered within the geographical area encompassed by CIS-IEEE*
• Team has an adult Mentor who is a CIS-IEEE member**

*The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) includes the following 40 counties in Indiana: Bartholomew, Benton, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Warren, and White.

**The membership of an adult Mentor will be verified by sending the adult Mentor’s full name and eight-digit IEEE Member Number to michael.r.hayashi@ieee.org. The adult Mentor must be at the Member, Life Member, Senior Member, Life Senior Member, Fellow, or Life Fellow membership grade.

• The team name, names of authoring students, address of headquarters, and adult Mentor (including IEEE Member Number if needed) must be included in the email with the essay.
• Teams must submit a one-page essay. The essay must identify an engineering mentor on your team, explain what compelled that person to pursue a career in engineering, and discuss how relevant those motivations are to people in your own age group.
• A part of the evaluation will include directed writing skills. Students should keep in mind that the IEEE members serving as the audience work in engineering or related fields and will be interested in how students approach their own education and learn engineering soft skills.
• Students must be the primary authors. Adult Mentors, teachers, and parents are limited to proofreading roles.
• Submissions must be in the PDF file format.
• Only one entry per team is allowed.
• The judges will determine the top three entries from the pool of all submitted applications. The first place team, second place team, and third place team will each receive a sponsorship to the tune of $250. All decisions are final.
• Winning teams are expected to display the CIS-IEEE logo on team documents and at all competitions and demonstrations for the season.

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday, March 1, 2017. All entries must be sent to michael.r.hayashi@ieee.org. Successfully submitted entries will receive a confirmation email once eligibility requirements have been verified and the essay is deemed ready for judging.

The winning teams will be announced by Tuesday, March 15, 2017.

Send questions to Michael Hayashi (michael.r.hayashi@ieee.org). Michael interacts with K-12 students and educators to promote engineering experiences as part of his role as the CIS-IEEE Educational Activities Chair. He remains unaffiliated with FIRST but has gained experience with robotics during his time as an undergraduate on the Purdue IEEE ROV Team. Team questions and requests outside of essay submissions remain confidential with him unless explicitly asked to share communications.

• CIS-IEEE website
• About IEEE
• IEEE Pre-University Education
• IEEE TISP
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS)

The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (pronounced “Eye-triple-E”) wants to assist teachers who promote hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction in their lesson plans. In a time when teaching standards become more rigidized and curricula become more full, outside assistance becomes more important when giving students additional exposure to STEM subjects. Teachers in the area are encouraged to utilize the free lesson plans available at tryengineering.org. These lessons include activities designed to be performed for under $100.

The IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. With more than 421,000 members worldwide, IEEE is the largest technical professional organization in the world. The IEEE is a leading authority on electronics, electrical engineering, and computer science, including the broad range of topics touched by those fields. The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) is the local unit supporting the roughly 1,700 IEEE members in central Indiana.

• School must be located within the geographical area encompassed by CIS-IEEE*
• A lesson from tryengineering.org may be chosen without additional review
• Custom lesson plans should be submitted in entirety to the CIS-IEEE Educational Activities Chair prior to classroom instruction for review of the topics and activities**
• A classroom teacher must lead the lesson, but an IEEE volunteer or other special instructor is allowed to assist the classroom teacher

*The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) includes the following 40 counties in Indiana: Bartholomew, Benton, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Warren, and White.

**In general, lesson plans that favor an engineering design mentality over a scientific mentality will be favored for selection. Both require knowledge of the problem and careful observations. The scientific method generally proceeds to formulate hypotheses, develop tests, gather data to evaluate the hypotheses, and draw conclusions to explain a phenomenon. The engineering design process either diverges or continues from the scientific method by developing requirements for a desired model or object or process, brainstorming ideas, prototyping a solution, evaluating that solution, iterating prototype designs to better fulfill the requirements, and communicating the results. In brief, scientific exercises focus on explaining phenomena, and engineering activities focus on controlling phenomena for a desired output.

The Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE) will reimburse costs for the classroom presentation of an eligible lesson up to a limit of $100. Teachers need pre-approval for the reimbursement by supplying the information requested below. Pre-approved lessons will be assigned an expense code for the submission of related expenses up to the $100 limit.

To apply, send an email with the following information to Michael Hayashi (michael.r.hayashi@ieee.org):

• Name and address of the school
• Teacher presenting the lesson
• Lesson name from tryengineering.org or a complete, custom lesson plan including cost estimates
• Grade level(s) targeted for the lesson
• Date lesson will be presented

The Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) sets a framework for IEEE volunteers to develop and present STEM subject matters to local K-12 educators in an in-service or professional development setting. TISP allows IEEE volunteers to share their technical expertise and to promote technical literacy in students and their instructors through inquiry-based learning.

Send questions or requests to Michael Hayashi (michael.r.hayashi@ieee.org). Michael interacts with K-12 educators to promote engineering concepts in education and career advising as part of his role as the CIS-IEEE Educational Activities Chair. TISP presentations for your school may also be scheduled through him on the basis of availability.

• CIS-IEEE website
• About IEEE
• IEEE Pre-University Education
• IEEE TISP