Shaw Industries has extended its educational partnership program to include mentoring and sponsorship of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge events and/or teams in Georgia.

With more than $1 billion invested in new equipment, technology and processes over the past few years, Shaw’s operations are more complex than ever, according to the company. As the company focuses on innovation for its products, services and processes, it needs designers and data scientists, engineers and electricians, machinists and marketers with a higher skill level than in the past.

FIRST is an international organization started by Segway inventor, Dean Kamen, that aims to inspire young people to participate in science and technology.

Shaw’s support of the organization includes providing mentors and financial support to individual teams and sponsoring and providing volunteer judges and other significant on-site support at the FIRST Robotics Competition qualifier event.

“At Shaw, we’re looking for the next innovators, problem solvers, and creative thinkers – people like all of the incredible students competing in FIRST events,” said Brian Cooksey, Shaw’s director of operations training and development. “I’ve been impressed by the creative ideas and fresh thinking these young men and women are bringing forth.”

For Shaw, FIRST is one of many ways it works to build the workforce of the future. The company has fostered an expansive array of education programs to provide students from early education through college with skills and training necessary to take advantage of the next generation of manufacturing careers.