Woodie Flowers

Flowers speaking at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C. Woodie Claude Flowers (November 18, 1943 – October 11, 2019) was an American professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His specialty areas were engineering design and product development; he held the Pappalardo Professorship and was a MacVicar Faculty Fellow.

Flowers was known for co-creating FIRST, a youth organization known primarily for operating FIRST Robotics Competition and other student engineering competitions. Working with inventor Dean Kamen, Flowers helped design the organization's competition structure based loosely around his 2.70 class at MIT. and named after his grandfathers Woodie and Claude. His father, Abe Flowers, was a welder and inventor; his mother, Bertie Graham, was an elementary-school and special education teacher. Flowers had a sister, Kay. His thesis, titled "A man-interactive simulator system for above-knee prosthetics studies," was on a robot-like prosthetic knee inspired by Mann's Boston Arm.

1974–1987: MIT Professor After receiving his doctorate, Flowers began as an assistant professor at MIT, working with Herb Richardson on the "Introduction to Design and Manufacturing" class. until 1993 when he was replaced by Alan Alda.

1990–Current: FIRST In 1990, Flowers began working with Dean Kamen on FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a project to inspire a culture that celebrates science and technology. Taking elements from 2.70, they created the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) in 1992, which evolved into an international competition involving 3,647 teams and serving more than 91,000 students as of 2020. Flowers introduced the phrase "gracious professionalism" to FIRST, an idea which has since pervaded FIRST literature and culture. Flowers served every year as National Advisor to FIRST. He was active at FIRST events, working as an MC and being treated along with Kamen "like heroes."

At the 2017 VEX Robotics World Championship, Woodie Flowers was inducted into the STEM Hall of Fame.

FRC Woodie Flowers Award In 1996, the FIRST Robotics Competition created the Woodie Flowers award, which was awarded to Flowers that year.

Later career Flowers was a "Distinguished Partner" at Olin College, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007, he received a degree honoris causa from Chilean university Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello.

Personal life Flowers married Margaret Weas, who he met at Louisiana Tech University, in 1967. Flowers was known for having an eclectic selection of hobbies, including wildlife photography, scuba diving, unicycling, skydiving, and trapeze.