FIRST® and Booz Allen Hamilton Join Forces to Stem the Low Tide of Future STEM Professionals

With less than a fifth of high school seniors interested in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career, our nation lacks the pipeline of future talent to address pressing challenges like cybersecurity. To help inspire young people to pursue careers in STEM fields, the international not-for-profit FIRST^® has significantly expanded their relationship with Booz Allen Hamilton, inducting the company as one of 18 FIRST Strategic Partners.

“Booz Allen works with clients as their essential partner to find solutions to critical challenges every day. It is fitting then that Booz Allen invests in the FIRST mission of inspiring and preparing the next generation of problem solvers and innovators,” said Donald E. Bossi, FIRST President. “Booz Allen has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to helping FIRST grow in the United States and abroad. Booz Allen provides multifaceted support spanning all FIRST programs, with a focus on engaging employees as team Mentors, event Volunteers, and regional/affiliate advisors. This past year, Booz Allen also provided in-kind technical consulting services to help us take data analytics capabilities at FIRST to the next level. We are proud to call Booz Allen Hamilton a FIRST Strategic Partner.”

FIRST Strategic Partner status recognizes Booz Allen Hamilton as providing the highest level of sponsorship to FIRST through cumulative and overarching support of the organization. Only 17 other companies and a federal agency have achieved this level of influential supporters, including Google.org and NASA.

“The Strategic Partner designation will help us take our collaboration to new heights. We are proud of our past support and are excited about the future and what we can do together to engage more young people and professionals in FIRST programs,” said Joe Sifer, Executive Vice President and leader of Booz Allen's engineering and science business. “Our work with FIRST is deeply meaningful for the firm and our employees. It’s enabled significant community impact and employee engagement. Now we want more FIRST Alumni and Volunteers to join us at Booz Allen, where they can apply their STEM knowledge and leadership skills, fine-tuned through their FIRST participation, to innovate for leading corporations and governments in the US and abroad.”

Currently, Booz Allen is helping FIRST implement a business intelligence tool that will help transform the global operations at FIRST. The tool will enable FIRST to, among other things, improve data management and analytics capabilities, forecast program demand, and track program effectiveness.

Booz Allen’s support for FIRST began in 2004 with sponsorship of the FIRST^® Robotics Competition regional in Richmond, Va. The relationship has grown to reach many states and, in 2015, expanded to the Middle East/North Africa region. In addition to event and team sponsorships, Booz Allen has been the driving force behind an annual FIRST^® LEGO^® League  “Meet the Experts Festival.” This annual Festival convenes over 1,000 people in the greater Washington, DC, region for a day focused on the challenge topic and the research project. Also for FIRST^®LEGO^® League, Booz Allen is a founding Partner in Innovation for the Global Innovation Award, and provides generous support to the Arabia Championship.  Booz Allen consultants have also worked on the FIRST Robotics Competition district model implementation across Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

For more information about FIRST programs and sponsorship opportunities, please contact development@firstinspires.org.