Students get "schooled" on logistics, material handling

It's spring break for many schools as we write this, which makes this an appropriate time to pause and recognize the many ways in which the logistics and material handling community supports high school and college students. Here are just three examples of announcements that have crossed our desk recently:

• On Feb. 22, FedEx Corp. provided transportation free of charge for more than 1,000 robots built by U.S. teams competing in the 2011 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. All told, FedEx moved some 227 tons of robots and crates through its network.
  The annual competition brings together more than 50,000 high school students from nine countries. Teams have just six weeks to build robots within strict guidelines. In the 2011 competition, teams will compete on a 27- by 54-foot field implanted with poles and attempt to earn points by hanging as many triangle, circle, and square FIRST logo pieces as possible with their robots. Following a series of regional competitions in March and April, the championship event will be held in St. Louis April 27-30.
• The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) awarded its annual Logistics Student scholarships in March. The scholarship program gives students interested in a career in logistics or supply chain management an opportunity to attend RILA's annual logistics conference. The students work with adult mentors to develop and lead a session at the conference.

This year's scholarship recipients are: Sam Bradley-Kelly, University of Washington; Cathy Tse, Dalhousie University; Anthony Garwood, Michigan State University; Cassandra Furnival, Penn State University; Elizabeth Boyd, Auburn University; and Michele Hung, University of Florida.
• Dock equipment manufacturer 4Front Engineered Solutions brought its mobile showroom to Oklahoma State University in February. The 53-foot custom semi-trailer containing more than 20 pieces of loading dock and warehouse equipment is used to educate engineering and architectural students about sustainability initiatives and the importance of proper warehouse and loading dock design. Demonstrators were on hand to discuss various building designs and technologies, as well as energy-efficiency, sustainable equipment, warehouse logistics, and LEED certification.