Mentors and Judges

 Thank you for your interest in the Real World Design Challenge. RWDC relies on a diverse cadre of mentors to provide support to participating teams. Mentors from a wide variety of backgrounds will be asked to provide guidance based on their own areas of expertise. No two teams will have the same needs so the support provided by mentors may take many different forms. Some possible activities include: 

• Providing      insight into the process of engineering design,
• Providing      instruction in applying scientific principles to engineering design,
• Providing      instruction in fundamental scientific and mathematical concepts,
• Providing      instruction in making a business case for designs,
• Providing      encouragement to teams,
• Providing      a role model to young adults.

 Anyone who is currently employed as a scientist, mathematician, or engineer may volunteer to participate as a mentor. These professionals might be employed at Federal Agencies like the FAA, and NASA, Aerospace/Aviation related industry and higher education.

•  Once registered, you will be contacted to confirm the information that will be placed on the RWDC site.
• Mentors must be available to work with teams until the completion of the State competition, December, 2017.
• Teams that qualify for the National Challenge will be expected to contact their mentor and request their continued participation through the completion of the competition in April 2018.
• Teams will choose mentors to fit their needs. This may mean that individuals who volunteer to mentor may not be contacted by a team.
• Individuals who wish to volunteer as mentors are free to define the boundaries of their participation as they wish. 
  • Mentors are asked to specify the number of teams they are willing to assist.
  • Mentors may place limits on the time they are willing to  commit to the mentorship process.
  • Mentors are able to identify the content areas in which they will provide assistance.
• Mentors ARE NOT expected to learn the Engineering software or provide advice or guidance in an area outside of their expertise.

• Present science, engineering and mathematics concepts in a fun and exciting way.
• Stimulate creative thinking and problem solving processes.
• Help students experience the satisfaction of solving real world problems.
• Provide advice on science, math and engineering principles.
• Act as a resource for the team regarding science, engineering and mathematics.
• Act as a role model for the students.
• Keep the team informed of the constraints on the mentor’s time and availability.
• Provide honest advice that is developmentally appropriate for the students.

• Provide career advice for students concerning opportunities in science, mathematics and engineering.
• Write letters of recommendation for students based on the mentor’s knowledge of the student’s abilities.

• Provide a solution to the Challenge for the team.
• Share information on a team’s strategy with another team. A team’s approach to solving the Challenge should be considered the intellectual property of  that team.
• Share personal information with the team.
• Attempt to elicit personal information from the team members.

Students will also have the opportunity to choose up to four mentors based on the mentors’ expertise. Once an RWDC team logs in to their team site, they will be provided with a complete list of registered mentors. The mentors will be subdivided into categories based on current employment: Industry, Academia & Government (included federal agencies and National Laboratories). As part of this list, students will quickly be able to view a mentor’s name, organization and the technical areas in which they are willing to provide support (Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Aviation Design, Other).

 A student or coach will contact the individual by their listed preferred method of contact. Once an individual agrees to mentor a team, they will the use the mentor as a resource to help them understand concepts in the mentors field. This will be done through whatever communication method the team and mentor agree upon.