Spring 1997

Providing an axciting boost in Texas

Like most Rose-Hulman graduates, Steve Marum used to help host local high school students each year during National Engineers Week’s Visitation Day.

But the 1973 electrical engineering graduate thought he could do more to interest youths - especially middle school and high school students - in engineering, science and technology.

That’s why the long-time Texas Instruments employee helped organize Texas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology), a competition that challenges teenagers to design radio-controlled robotic devices that pick up bobbing Bumble Balls (named "Bumble Rumble") or place sections of plastic pipe on top of posts (appropriately called "PVC Insanity").

In just four years, Texas BEST has grown from a competition for 15 teams and 225 participants in the Sherman, Texas, area to a statewide contest with six regionals and over 1,800 competitors. The state finals are conducted at Texas A&M University.

"It’s frantic out there in the competition arena. It’s more exciting than high school football or basketball," Marum boasts. That’s saying something in a state where high school football is king of extracurriculars.

"The students really love the excitement, the challenge and thrill of victory," said Marum, a senior member of Texas Instruments’ technical staff. "As an engineer, it’s great to see young people figuring out how engineering, science and technology can solve problems. They’re not afraid of technology. They love the contest and so do we, even though it’s a lot of work."

In fact, Marum and other coordinators, which include Vikki Simpson, wife of Rich Simpson (M.E., ’82), are currently formulating contest guidelines for this fall’s competition.

"Texas BEST has developed into a much bigger project than I ever imagined. It’s now a year-round process," said Marum, who has been asked to help develop contests in other states. "The students look forward to each year’s contest. That challenges us to formulate contests that continue to stimulate the students’ interest."

Schools are given pre-packaged kits of obsolete parts and contest specifications each September and given six weeks to design, prototype and test their inventions before going head-to-head against other schools. The state finals are conducted two weeks after the regional contests.

One student exclaimed after the 1995 contest: "It was like winning the Super Bowl."

Texas Instruments underwrites the costs of supplies and contest materials for four regionals. Other regionals obtain their own corporate sponsorships. (Schools only pay for transportation to regional and state contests.) Texas BEST evolved from Woody Flowers’ Introduction To Design class at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.