The Tennessee STEM Education Center, or TSEC, at MTSU is partnering with Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation  to help judge their robotics competition at the Wilson County Fair and is in need of volunteers.

The center is looking for five volunteers to judge each of the robotics competitions at the Wilson County Fair on Saturday, Aug. 17. Rules and guidelines for each competition will be provided, and volunteers will receive free Wilson County Fair passes.

Volunteer judges do not need expertise or experience working with robots, organizers said. They’ll receive criteria by which to judge the participants.

There are two divisions to judge throughout the day, and volunteers can choose to judge for one or both:

• 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.: LEGO Mindstorm SUMO Bot Competition, ages 12 and up.
• 3:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Robot Round Up, all ages.

Organizers said volunteering for the event is a great way to give back to the community by encouraging STEM participation and interest in students, gaining an understanding of the exciting things students can do with new and accessible robotics technology and representing the great work done at MTSU in STEM education. STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering and math.

Anyone interested in helping with this event can register here. If questions, please contact the Tennessee STEM Education Center at tsec@mtsu.edu or 615-904-8573.

The Tennessee STEM Education Center is a research and outreach arm of MTSU, aimed at improving K-20 STEM education both locally and nationally. Dr. Greg Rushton is the center’s director. Learn more at www.mtsu.edu/tsec.