[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             GIRLS OF STEEL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 27, 2016

  Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
commend the Girls of Steel robotics team on winning the Engineering 
Inspiration award at the 2016 Queen City Regional FIRST Robotics 
Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the most prestigious award at 
FIRST, and it honors the team that does the most to increase 
appreciation for engineering in its community and embodies the purpose 
and goals of FIRST.
  The Girls of Steel also won the Entrepreneurship Award at the 2016 
Greater Pittsburgh FIRST Robotics Competition in California, PA. This 
award recognizes the team that developed the best business plan to 
identify, manage, and accomplish its objectives.
  I think that winning these awards speaks volumes to the dedication 
with which these young women are pursuing ``STEM'' careers, along with 
the hundreds of hours they have spent conducting outreach in their 
community.
  FIRST, which stands for ``For Inspiration and Recognition of Science 
and Technology,'' is an organization dedicated to engaging our students 
in STEM fields. Hundreds of thousands of students gain practical, team-
based engineering experience through FIRST every year. The FIRST 
Robotics Competition allows these students to apply creativity and 
critical thinking in the demanding and competitive field of robotics, 
all while instilling a strong sense of pride in participants.
  As a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Robotics Caucus, I 
believe competitions like these are incredible tools for helping the 
next generation to explore potential careers in STEM. I've witnessed 
firsthand the incredible economic growth and development that these 
fields can bring in my home district, and I strongly believe that they 
are crucial to our nation's future prosperity. For encouraging young 
people in these pursuits, I want to commend organizations like FIRST 
for their important work.
  In addition to their success at these competitions, the Girls of 
Steel have also been featured in American Girl Life: Get Your Science 
On!, Xploration Earth 2050 ``The Future of Robotics Makers and 
Innovators'', and they will be featured this year in an original 
documentary series called ``What We Teach Girls,'' which takes a close 
look at what girls are being taught around the globe. Recently, they 
even met with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Carnegie 
Mellon University and had the opportunity to speak with her about the 
design of their robot and why they joined Girls of Steel.
  Sixty-one young women from 8th through 12th grades associated with 
schools located in and around the Pittsburgh area are members of this 
year's Girls of Steel. In recognition of their hard work, intelligence, 
and teamwork, I would like to mention each of these inspiring young 
ladies by name. They are Alexandria Adams, Vishi Agrawal, Arushi Bandi, 
Margaret Begg, Emilia Bianchini, Kimball Bruning, Julia Bukowski, Emma 
Burnett, Melissa Burnett, Hanna Chen, Mulin Chen, Claire Cummings, Hope 
DiGioia, Samantha Eppinger, Clarisa Espinoza-Delgado, Rozie Fero, 
Corinne Hartman, Kristina Hilko, Sydney Hnat, Madelyn Human, Anna 
Jablonowski, Katelyn Johnson, Isabelle Kowenhoven, Jisue Lee, Sophia 
Lee, Shiyu Liu, Huiyun Liu, Sofia Liovet-Nava, Gayathri Manchella, 
Jordan Martinez, Svea McCann, Sree Mekala, Cheyenne Meyers, Claire 
Morton, Gigi Nieson, Anne Kailin Northam, Jimin Oh, Maddie Oppelt, 
Helen Paulini, Lehka Pendyala, Eden Petri, Riley Pottinger, Priya Ray, 
Isabella Salvi, Lauren Scheller-Wolf, Cate Seay, Sarah Seay, Anzu 
Sekikawa, Alexa Selwood, Swathi Senthil, Kriti Shah, Makayla Shreve, 
Kavya Soman, JeanMarie Trichel, Mikayla Trost, Langley Turcsanyi, Molly 
Urbina, Anja Vogt, Becca Volk, Ziya Xu, and Natalie Young.
  Additionally, I want to convey my sincere appreciation to the faculty 
and staff of Carnegie Mellon University's Field Robotics Center, who 
have mentored the Girls of Steel since 2010. Because of their efforts, 
more young women can experience real-world technological challenges and 
learn from some of the nation's best at solving these problems. These 
experiences will certainly benefit these young women in the future.
  I look forward to hearing about their progress as they advance to the 
FIRST Championship in St. Louis--the final and largest competition of 
its kind, a.k.a. the Super Bowl of robotics. This will be their sixth 
consecutive trip in six years, and they will be competing against top 
teams from all over the world. I congratulate the Girls of Steel and 
wish them all continued success in their academic and professional 
endeavors.




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