FIRST Programs

Spotlight on Woodie Flowers

Dean Kamen has said that when he was talking to people about forming FIRST Robotics, they kept telling him about this Woodie Flowers guy and that they had to meet. So he did and they hit it off. Woody became co-founder of FIRST along with Dean.

Woodie C. Flowers graduated with a BS from Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in 1966. He earned an M.S., M.E. and Ph.D. at M.I.T. and became an Assistant Professor there in 1972. He took over the M.I.T. "Introduction to Design" class in 1974 in which he gave students a set of random parts such as small motors, wire and tongue depressors. Students were told to build a device that would perform some specific function. He treated it as a competition something like a sporting event, with dynamic challenges for the robots.

These competitions were televised on PBS' Discover the World of Science show through the '80s and '90s. Woody became a full professor in 1988.

He hosted a show carried on PBS called Scientific American Frontiers. His replacement when he left was Alan Alda.

He is now an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at M.I.T. and holds the Pappalardo Professorship and is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow. He continues to serve at M.I.T. as a professor of Mechanical Engineering and as Director of the New Products Program there.

During the time he ran the Intro to Design and Manufacturing course and competitions, Dr. Flowers realized one of the most important concepts he wanted to get across to the students was not mechanical at all, but the idea "Compete like crazy, but treat each other well" which he gave the name Gracious Professionalism. He brought that concept with him to FIRST.

One of the most prestigious awards granted by FIRST - probably the most prestigious award given to an individual - is the Woody Flowers Award. In recognition of his leadership and promoting the concept of Mentorship within FIRST, it is bestowed on a Mentor (team advisor) each year. The award celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering/design and recognizes mentors who lead, inspire and empower those around them by using excellent communication skills. The award is given at each regional and an overall award winner is selected from regional winners at the Championship event each year. The award itself, a clever ball-bearing race twisted into a Moebius strip, is highly prized and a cherished item to those who earn it.

While Dean Kamen is highly respected and admired in the FIRST community, it is Woody Flowers who seems to really be beloved and sought-out by the students. His kind and caring yet firm, 'tell-it-like-it-is' demeanor has endeared him to many a FIRST team member.

Woodie Flowers Quotations:

• "One will never understand what being graciously professional is like unless you do it." While much of our society encourages what he describes as "chest-thumping behavior" and humiliation of opponents, "If our educational system can't counteract that, we're in trouble."


• About his father, a welder and mechanic/repairman: "He would go around town and tell people, 'I'm going to take a thingamabob, and a widget, and put them together to make a new kind of slab-kicker' and then he'd go do it, and it did work. He did some pretty amazing stuff."
  "I think my father taught me more engineering than I learned in school."


• "By participating in a FIRST program, you will be solving a difficult multidisciplinary problem where you will learn about technology, teamwork, marketing, fundraising, and finance. You will gain the ability to appreciate another's unique skills and, if you put your heart into it, it will change your self-image. As a result, you will get the deep satisfaction of knowing that you are in the game. Being in the game will make your heart sing a lot more than money or fame. FIRST is one of the best opportunities you will ever have to know you are competent in a fast game."


• "FIRST is a network of Gracious Professionals, passionately developing compassionate leaders from the youth of the world that will solve our global challenges by applying technology and scientific solutions to the hard problems humanity has yet to solve."


• "Gracious professionals are good, smart people doing good, smart things."


• "Find something you love to do and do it really well. If you do it in a better way than anyone else, the world will pay you for it."