Providing Mentors and Community Outreach

In 2011, 11 National Instruments offices facilitated volunteer programs that encouraged employees to mentor students in engineering and robotics. Due to cultural differences, each program varied slightly and ranged from mentoring local FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics teams to teaching students about robotics at local schools and events.

NI made progress toward its goal of expanding the robotics mentoring program to more branch offices by starting LEGO® Education WeDo™ and LEGO MINDSTORMS® NXT mentorship programs in locations served by NI Costa Rica and NI India. Managing and facilitating a global robotics mentorship program continues to be difficult due to the different perceptions of volunteering. For example, some branches do not categorize an activity as a volunteer activity unless it is performed outside work hours, while the NI corporate headquarters program often accommodates volunteer activities during traditional work hours. Despite these different perceptions, NI strives to meet the commitment to expand this program globally.

At corporate headquarters, NI surpassed its goal of retaining 60 percent of robotics mentors and was able to return 62.5 percent of its experienced mentors back to Central Texas classrooms. By retaining current mentors, NI saved valuable time and costs associated with training mentors for both educators and the company. Other individual office successes included growth in the number of mentors at NI Hungary and NI Malaysia.

Mentoring Participation at Corporate Headquarters

	2007	2008	2009	2010/2011	2011/2012
Number of Mentors	153	141	141	156	151
Hours Volunteered¹	8,721	8,037	8,037	8,835	8,607
Mentors Retained (YOY)	62%	44%	52%	54%	62.5%
Mentorship Growth (YOY)	53%	–7%	0%	11%	–3%

¹This total is an estimate based on the number of mentors, the number of weeks volunteered during a typical academic year, and the number of hours that mentors typically volunteer per week.

Robotics Mentoring and Activities Around the World

Outreach to Underserved Communities Around the Globe

NI provides educators and students in underserved communities access to technologies that can inspire them to fundamentally change the way their communities function.

To avoid duplicating the strong efforts of various nonprofit organizations in Austin deploying engineering and science programs, NI partnered with Breakthrough Austin, the Austin Children’s Museum, and The University of Texas at Austin Design, Technology, and Engineering for All Children (DTEACh) program in 2011 to increase robotics mentorship opportunities located in underserved communities surrounding NI corporate headquarters. NI increased the number of corporate robotics mentors serving economically challenged communities from 17 to 28, but still felt that location-based barriers and time constraints prevented employees from serving in these areas at the level the company strives for.

Serving children that do not typically have access to technology is a global commitment. In 2011, NI expanded its mentoring efforts by deploying robotics workshops in underdeveloped areas within India, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

In Bangalore, India, NI employees launched a program by conducting a workshop to mentor more than 30 students at Anatha Shishu Nivasa children’s home. They used the WeDo robotics platform to teach students the basics of designing, building, and programming robots.

In Mexico, NI supports a Tecnologico de Monterrey initiative called “Learning Math with Robots at Elementary Schools.” The long-term goal of the project is to incorporate robotics into every math program within every elementary school in Mexico. This program helps all students, regardless of income, to experience the same level of technology access. NI provided in-kind product donations, and employees donated their time to training and mentoring elementary school teachers participating in the program.

NI Costa Rica opened a lab at Centro de Educación Salesiana Don Bosco, which is supported by Colegio Técnico Don Bosco, a local technical high school. The project educates and trains individuals from low-income areas on the outskirts of San José. The lab is part of NI Costa Rica’s larger initiative to enhance the school’s electrical engineering curriculum. The lab is equipped with National Instruments Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS) hardware and LabVIEW software to give students access to the latest technology for hands-on, project-based learning. NI provides software, hardware, and training as part of a long-term collaboration with Don Bosco. The lab trains approximately 240 high school students in basic electrical engineering principles using NI technology each year.

Advocating for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education

Even when NI mentors can’t be in the classroom, the company is passionate about spreading the message of project-based learning. In December 2011, along with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, NI cosponsored a discussion on the future of science, technology, engineering, and math education in the United States that focused on assessing developments in education and explored the impact of the recent emphasis on project-based learning.

Robotics Workshops in Cambodia

Robotics Mentoring for Low-Income Students

In 2011, Breakthrough Austin, a nonprofit organization devoted to creating first-generation college graduates, worked with engineering mentors from the NI corporate office to enhance their summer program’s science curriculum by incorporating robotics.

To expose students to a hands-on engineering activity, McKay Bradford, an NI senior software engineer, created a LEGO MINDSTORMS soccer tournament. He spent one day training the instructors on how to use LEGO MINDSTORMS and teach engineering concepts. Then, Bradford and other NI engineers spent an additional day introducing LEGO MINDSTORMS to the students. After building and programming their robots, the students used them to compete in a soccer tournament.

“The team of NI volunteers was patient, prepared, and clearly connected with our students,” said Paulina Murton of Breakthrough Austin. “Students learned how to problem solve, work as a team, and consider careers in the field of engineering. It was an experience that they will be talking about for weeks, months, and years.”