SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s (SUNY Poly’s) Albany campus will host a FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Expo for the Hudson Valley FIRST® LEGO® League on Saturday, January 25 in the NanoFab South auditorium, rotunda, and classrooms to help inspire STEM-based learning in New York State.

The event will feature registered teams of 4-9th grade students as well as K-4 students—more than 200 in all—who are taking part in the hands-on experience. The 4-9th grade students who are looking to advance to state and national-level competitions will design a Lego “Mindstorms” robot tasked with completing a specific set of challenges related to a “City Shaper” theme. The K-4th grade students will construct models using the Lego “WeDo” coding platform and present a poster detailing their design process for the “Boomtown Build” theme, gaining valuable teamwork skills. SUNY Poly faculty, staff, and representatives from on-campus corporate partners will serve as event volunteers and judges.

This event comes as SUNY Poly’s Utica campus is gearing up to host the Central New York 2019 Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition March 18-21, which is expected to bring 3,000 students in grades 9-12 to the campus from around the world, as well as mentors, coaches, and family members. A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are still available for that event, and interested parties are asked to contact the SUNY Poly Foundation via Andrea LaGatta at andrea.lagatta@sunypoly.edu.