Valley Precision Products (VPP), located in Goleta, California, provided the DPEA Robotics team with all of the raw materials necessary to build our robot. This was significant because we were able to obtain all of our metals, plastics, etc., on demand and did not have to carry any stock in house. Brian Wirtz, co-owner of VPP, also took the time to order any materials that were not regularly stocked and provided these to us within 24 hours of our request. Brian also personally worked with our students to provide fabrication assistance in the areas that our school facilities were lacking. This included sheet metal forming, welding, machining, and manufacturing consulting. Brian worked one-on-one with students and made sure that all fabrication was done to exacting standards. He treated us as if we were paying customers all the while providing an excellent learning experience for our students. He made sure to take the time to explain in detail the manufacturing processes so that the students could make educated decisions about how to proceed with a design. Brian worked late into the night with us on many occasions even after he had spent a full day at work. His understanding of the time-sensitive nature of our Robotics competition coupled with his willingness to provide us with on-demand fabrication assistance and material procurement was invaluable. Without the help of Brian Wirtz and Valley Precision Products we would not have been able to achieve the level of success attained by our team in this year's FIRST robotics competition.

Raytheon Goleta has been a consistent and generous supporter of both Dos Pueblos High School and its Engineering Academy. They have made financial contributions over the years which have helped to support many programs at DPHS including Future Scientists and Engineers of America. They have also helped improve the technology at our school by donating many new computers for use in our science classrooms. In addition to this, Raytheon employees, current and retired, can be found regularly on the Dos Pueblos campus serving as mentors, guest speakers, and as classroom instructors. This year Raytheon donated $5000 to help the Engineering Academy purchase 30 reusable and programmable robots, one for each student, to use while enrolled in Computer Science 1. This will greatly improve the students' ability to design the larger and more complex robots that compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Dos Pueblos High School and the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy are grateful for Raytheon's commitment to supporting education in our community.

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Inc. (LCOGTN) has supported the Engineering Academy financially, and gave the Robotics team a tour of their research and development facility. The students enjoyed seeing the conjuction of engineering and astronomy. Las Cumbres Observatory is a privately funded, nonprofit organization that is creating a cutting edge science program paired with a innovative education program. LCOGTN is building two networks of completely robotic telescopes that will all be linked through the internet. The telescopes within the network will be able to hand off observations from one site to the next, acting as an unblinking eye on the sky.

Impulse Internet Services provides the web server and services for the Academy and DPEA Foundation websites. Impulse is a local provider of business telephone and Internet services. Founded in 1994, Impulse owns and manages one of the largest IP networks in California with conveniently located data centers and network gateways. It is unique in its ability to design, implement, and support a company's entire voice and Internet infrastructure. One of their most popular products is ClearStar, a complete business telephone system. It includes telephone service, unlimited calling, full telephone system features, Internet access, and the outstanding customer service you would expect from your local, central coast telephone and Internet Company. Impulse focuses on making it easy for a business of any size to meet its communication needs.

ATK Space is a new financial sponsor this year. ATK Space Goleta (formerly ABLE engineering) designs and manufactures solar arrays and other deployable structures for spacecraft and is recognized as a world leader in these technologies. Examples of ATK Space Goleta's products are the eight 35 meter long solar array deployment masts on the International Space Station, coilable booms that can extend to over 50 times their stowed length to offset scientific instruments from spacecraft, deployable rigid panel solar arrays used on NASA science and commercial communication satellites and the circular shaped UltraFlex solar arrays used on the Mars Phoenix Lander and NASA's next generation manned spacecraft Orion. ATK Space Goleta currently employs over 160 people locally and is part of the ATK Corporation who is a leading provider of advanced weapon and space systems with $4.1 billion in annual sales, approximately 17,000 employees, and operations in 21 states.

Restock has generously partnered with the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Restock.com is the provider of List-In-Hand^TM Mobile List that allows consumers, businesses, and everyone with a smartphone, and a List-In-Hand^TM Mobile List compatible barcode scanner, to organize, simply, and improve the quality of their life, all while saving significant money.

Serialio is a much appreciated financial partner to the Engineering Academy. Serialio.com provides intuitive solutions that combine state-of-the-art software and hardware to meet or exceed customer expectations. Solutions focus on serial data connectivity. Most information going to and from computing devices is in serial format (The "io" in Serialio signifies input-output). Serialio.com has been providing visionary solutions for over a decade, including the world's first commercial Java product for serial ports - SerialPort. Our customers span the range from major Fortune 1000 companies to independent developers, located in over 60 countries worldwide.

FLIR Systems supports the robotics team financially.

Afar Communications has been a consistent supporter of the Academy and Team 1717. Afar Communications designs and manufacturers wireless equipment in license-free bands used to deploy data and telemetry networks in demanding applications. These networks bridge the user Ethernet LANs across multiple sites in point-to-multipoint or mesh topologies with link distances sometimes exceeding 50 miles (80 km). The equipment operates over a wide temperature range, and under severe shock and vibration conditions. Among others, AFAR radios are being used to control and monitor driver-less metro trains in public transportation systems, and to collect telemetry from all race cars at NASCAR and Indy 500 events driving at over 200 mph.

National Security Technologies has provided generously for the team.

RENCO has been a generous financial partner to the team. This year, they also worked with a group of students to find appropriate encoders for use on the robot. Their in-kind donations have helped the team build a sophisticated and robust robot. RENCO is an industry leading manufacturer of high quality rotary optical encoders. They offer a wide variety of both standard and custom products. RENCO products have been designed and manufactured at their plant in California for almost 40 years.