ST. LOUIS (Apr. 22, 2015) - More than 12,000 students from around the world have gathered in St. Louis, Mo., for today's kickoff of the 2015FIRST World Championship. Rockwell Collins is one of the programming strategic partners, promoting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to the next generation of innovators.

The FIRST World Championship continues through Saturday, and is the culmination of the season's FIRST programs, bringing together the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC®) Championship, the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC®) World Championship, the FIRST LEGO® League (FLL®) World Festival, and the Jr. FIRST LEGO® League World Festival Expo.

FIRST serves as the anchor of Rockwell Collins Engineering Experiences program which offers students of all ages the opportunity to take part in experiences designed to take learning out of the textbooks and place it in their hands.

A large number of Rockwell Collins employees, volunteers and sponsored teams will once again be in attendance at this year's FIRST World Championship, including Rockwell Collins CEO and President, Kelly Ortberg. Ortberg is a member of the FIRST Board of Directors and will be meeting personally with the following teams while in St. Louis:

FRC teams:
Error Code Xero, Oregon
Power Hawks, Maryland
Team Terminator, Iowa
Team Voltage, Florida
The Iron Lions, Iowa

FTC teams:
The Ducks, California
Dark Matter, Iowa
Combustible Lemons, Iowa
Denver Cybots, Iowa
Sock Monkeys, Iowa
Blockheads, Iowa
Tuxedo Pandas, Virginia
Evil Purple Sox, Virginia

Also, Nan Mattai, senior vice president, Engineering and Technology for Rockwell Collins, will speak at the FTC closing ceremonies on April 25th and will present the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award. This award celebrates a team that thinks outside the box and also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make its designs come to life. The award is given to the team with the most innovative and creative robot design solution to any or all specific field elements or components in the FTC game.

Rockwell Collins will also be hosting a daily HGS™ Flight tournament at the Innovation Station located in The Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel. Participants will compete for highest score and prizes on the company's iPad® head-up display simulation application.

To learn more about FIRST, visit www.usfirst.org/. To learn more about Rockwell Collins' Engineering Experiences program, click here.

About Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins is a pioneer in the development and deployment of innovative communication and aviation electronic solutions for both commercial and government applications. Our expertise in flight deck avionics, cabin electronics, mission communications, simulation and training, and information management is delivered by a global workforce, and a service and support network that crosses more than 150 countries.www.rockwellcollins.com.

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