Program Director, Robotic

About the Role:

NKU’s Center for Integrative Natural Science and Mathematics (CINSAM) seeks a Robotics Program Director (RBD). The RBD will lead all CINSAM’s FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics programming and serve as head liaison for NKU’s affiliate partnership with the FIRST Robotics organization. In this capacity, the RBD will serve as lead representative of FLL Robotics for all of Kentucky, bringing the interests of all of Kentucky’s FLL Challenge (upper elementary-middle grades) and Explore (primary grades) level teams to the international level and bringing FIRST resources, systems, and regulations to all of Kentucky’s FLL teams and tournaments (regional and state). The employee will also oversee the Kentucky state FLL Challenge Championship and Explore Festival with the help of one to two other colleagues, whom this person will supervise. Finally, this employee will seek grants to support CINSAM’s robotics programming. This includes writing proposals for and managing grants from NASA-KY, which has been the program’s biggest funder for several years.

Candidate review will start immediately and the position will be filled as soon as possible.

Primary Responsibilities

• Direct planning, implementation, and follow up of Kentucky’s FIRST LEGO League Challenge State Championship and FIRST LEGO League Explore Festival.
• Lead efforts related to NKU’s state affiliate partnership with FIRST’s international organization, including visiting their annual week-long conference, undergoing other annual FIRST trainings, reporting to FIRST, keeping KY teams and regional tournament leaders abreast of annual updates, and representing KY interests at the international level.
• Supervise up to two colleagues who, with this employee, comprise CINSAM’s Robotics team and will support all robotics team activities.
• Support annual regional qualifying tournaments from across the state with training, guidance, and team allocations.
• Identify, Develop, and support tournament partner organizations so tournament and festivals have sufficient capacity for all Kentucky Registered teams.
• Allocate all registered FLL teams in Kentucky to events and communicate assignments to coaches and tournament partners.
• Cultivate and manage a network of volunteers with specialized FLL expertise.
• Continue (and grow, if possible) NKU’s track record of grant funding for FLL, especially from NASA -KY, by writing proposals, implementing grant activities, reporting to funders, and maintaining strong relationships with funders
• Manage and maintain records related to FLL programs at NKU and across Kentucky, adhering to NKU and FIRST standards.
• Recruit and provide trainings for FLL coaches across the Commonwealth of Kentucky
• Lead summer camps related to FLL robotics through CINSAM
• Be a voice for the FLL teams and interests by serving on the Kentucky FIRST Robotics board of trustees.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Two years teaching children or adults in a traditional or informal setting.
• Two years of experience in FIRST robotics programming
• FIRST robotics tournament experience
• Facility with Microsoft Office 365 Apps or ability to learn Microsoft applications, especially Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel (with lookup functions), Forms, and Planner
• Experience with or ability to learn FIRST -specific platforms
• Experience with YouTube Studio is preferred