[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 29, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      GIRLS OF STEEL ROBOTICS TEAM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 29, 2011

  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Girls of 
Steel robotics team on winning the Rookie All-Star Award at the 2011 
Pittsburgh Regional F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Competition held on March 12th 
and 13th.
  Because of their hard work and impressive performance, the team has 
been invited to compete at the F.I.R.S.T. Championship in St. Louis in 
April. The championship is the final and largest competition of the 
robotics season and features teams from across the world.
  F.I.R.S.T., which stands for ``For Inspiration and Recognition of 
Science and Technology,'' is an organization dedicated to introducing 
our youth to the world of science and technology. This year alone, 
approximately 250,000 students are gaining practical, team-based 
engineering experiences by participating in F.I.R.S.T.
  As a co-chair of the Congressional Robotics Caucus, I think 
competitions such as these are outstanding tools for getting students 
interested in careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. I 
believe our nation's future economic growth and prosperity depends upon 
getting young people interested and engaged in scientific pursuits, and 
I want to commend organizations like F.I.R.S.T. for the important work 
they do in that regard.
  The Girls of Steel team is made up of 24 young women from high 
schools in and around the Pittsburgh area. In their first year of 
competition, and using a robot they designed and built in only six 
weeks, the girls went up against 39 other teams from across the United 
States and Canada. In this regional competition, teams were challenged 
to construct robots that could place tubes on elevated pegs. After 
finishing this first part of the task, the robots were required to 
deploy smaller robots capable of climbing to the top of a 10-foot pole. 
Upon reaching the top, the ``minibots'' would set off sensors to signal 
completion of the task. The Girls of Steel performed well in the 
qualification round, and their success continued throughout the seeding 
and elimination rounds of the competition.
  In recognition of their hard work, intelligence, and teamwork, I want 
to mention each of these inspiring young ladies by name. They are Grace 
Handler, Calista Frederick-Jaskiewicz, Hallie Goldstein, Nila Ravi, 
Elizabeth Kysel, Rachel Lischy, Olivia Parks, Bryce Volk, Jaden Barney, 
Maya Chandrasekaran, Julia DiPietro, Campbell Konrad, Rachel Round, 
Jordyn Zechender, Naoka Gunawardena, Dakota Calvert, Jeannette Melanie 
Young, Tayler Wright, Kathryn Hendrickson, Pragna Mannam, Anna Maria 
Sicenica, Dahee Kim, Zhimi Ding, and Xinchao Li.
  I also want to express my appreciation to the Carnegie Mellon 
University Field Robotics Center, which has mentored the Girls of 
Steel. As a result of their efforts, more young women are gaining real-
world technological experiences which will certainly aid them in the 
future.
  I wish the Girls of Steel the best of luck as they head to St. Louis 
to compete this April, and I hope for their continual success.

                          ____________________