About BEST

BEST, which stands for "Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology", is a nonprofit organization founded by two Texas Instruments (TI) engineers, Ted Mahler and Steve Marum in 1993. What first started with North Texas BEST with 14 schools and 221 students, has now grown to over 750 middle and high schools and over 11,000 students.

In the BEST competition, middle and high school teams are given six weeks to design and build a functioning machine that can perform certain, specific tasks in three minutes. Teams are given plywood and a set kit of parts including items such as PVC pipe, screws and other hardware, an irrigation valve cover, piano wire, aluminum paint grid, a bicycle inner tube, a BRAIN (BEST Robotics Advanced Instruction Node programmable platform), and something called a micro-energy chain system to build their robot.

BEST's mission is to engage and excite students about engineering, science, and technology as well as inspire them to pursue careers in these fields.Through participation in the project-based STEM program, students learn to analyze and solve problems utilizing the Engineering Design Process, which helps them develop technological literacy skills. It is these skills that industry seeks in its workforce.