Registration

When does open registration begin?

Early registration begins August 17th and goes through September 30th. Open registration begins on October 1st.

As a special incentive to register during the early registration period, each advisor will receive a Lockheed Martin swag item.

Do I need to have the faculty advisor and or students selected to register my College or University?

No, the attending faculty advisor and competing students do not need to be selected and registered until the January 18th deadline. Once your faculty advisor and students are selected they must each complete separate registrations.

Is there a registration fee?

Yes, the $500 per team registration fee includes meals at the CLE, bus transportation between the Embassy Suites and the Center for Leadership Excellence and off-campus tours and events. 

Air travel, hotel accommodations, and ground transport are not included in this fee.

The individual making the payment on behalf of the school does not need to be the faculty advisor. If the faculty advisor is not paying the registration fee, they must register separately.

Team Composition and Faculty Advisor

What are the qualifications for the teams?

A team is comprised of two undergraduate students, along with a faculty advisor. The case addresses engineering issues, but all majors are welcome to compete.

Students who have previously interned at Lockheed Martin may participate. But, students who are currently employed with or are currently an intern at Lockheed Martin, or who have participated in a previous Lockheed Martin case competition may not participate. Students of all nationalities are welcome.

May a school register two teams for the Competition?

Yes, a school may register a second team. Each team must register separately.

Can schools bring two teams to the competition with only one faculty advisor?

Yes, schools can bring two teams to the competition with only one faculty advisor. Each team must register separately.

What is the role of the faculty advisor?

The faculty advisor may play several roles regarding the competition. In some schools, this person is responsible for putting the team together. In other schools, this person is assigned (or volunteers) to help the student team prepare for the Competition when the case is released in January.

The faculty advisor who accompanies the student team must be from the academic or the administrative staff. Additional faculty advisors and student advisors are not permitted.

At the Competition, the faculty advisor will sit in on their team’s matches (and only their own team’s matches) and may offer any coaching advice (before or after matches) that works for the team.

At the Competition, we will have breakout sessions for the advisors to network and to discuss trends in ethics in engineering curricula.

If a faculty advisor cannot attend in person, contact us at lm.eie@lmco.com to discuss alternative arrangements in allowing the faculty advisor to support the team virtually. However, the Registration Fee still remains the same.

Can teams from the same school prepare together before the competition, and can they collaborate during the competition?

While teams from the same school can prepare together before the competition, they cannot collaborate during the competition. Each team must work independently and make their own decisions during the competition. Advisors must also act as the only advisor for each team and cannot share strategies or information learned from one team with the other team.

What are the expectations for advisors who are advising two teams?

During the competition, advisors who are advising two teams are expected to maintain confidentiality and not share information or strategies learned from one team with the other team. Each team must be advised separately, and the advisor must not provide guidance or advice to one team based on information learned from the other team. The advisor's role is to provide guidance and support to each team individually, without sharing information or strategies between teams.

Please note that teams from the same school may be assigned to compete at the same time. However, your teams will not compete against each other during the preliminary seeding round. After the preliminary seeding round is complete, teams may be matched against each other in subsequent rounds.

Can each team have more than one faculty advisor?

No. Additional faculty advisors and student advisors are not permitted.

Can a student have the role of a faculty advisor?

No. The faculty advisor must be from the academic or the administrative staff.

Is the faculty advisor permitted to attend the Competition virtually?

If a faculty advisor is unable to attend the Competition in person for pressing personal reasons, they must contact us to discuss special arrangements. If permission is granted, a student team may be permitted to use a video app on their personal smartphone or laptop to allow the faculty advisor to watch the round. Additional considerations:

• To minimize disruption, the video session must be in progress before the students enter the competition room.
• The speaker must be on mute.
• The moderator will determine where the phone or laptop will be placed.
• The students may not make any adjustments during the match, even if the connection is severed.

Is the student permitted to attend the Competition virtually?

No. Virtual participation is not allowed for competing students; they are required to be present in person for the competition.

How are the student teams selected?

Every school will take its own path in selecting a team. Some schools have downloaded cases from previous competitions from our Academic Outreach website to use in internal competitions at their school.

Our only request is that the students be registered before January 18th.

Can a team consist of students from different schools?

An ROTC Battalion that is a consortium of several schools asked if it can field a Battalion team with members from different schools?  The answer is yes, so long as the faculty advisor contacts us beforehand to discuss any possible conflicts.

If our team is working with a group of students to prepare, may these additional students also come to Bethesda?

Due to space limitations, additional students are not permitted to register for the Competition at this time. Only competing students and faculty advisors may attend.

Can a non-US citizen register for the competition?

Yes, a non-US citizen may register for the competition as either a faculty advisor or a student. When registering, please ensure that the registrant selects the appropriate option under "citizenship." If you are not a US citizen please bring your passport with you to the competition.

If a student does not currently work for Lockheed Martin but does have a job lined up with Lockheed Martin after graduation, are they eligible to participate in the competition?

Yes, students are eligible to participate in the competition. We welcome students who are planning to start their careers at Lockheed Martin after graduation, as long as they are not currently employed with Lockheed Martin during the competition.

Competition Format and Rules

What is the format of the Competition?

There are two stages to the Competition. Every participating team will compete at least twice.

On Tuesday morning, all teams will compete in a Preliminary Round. Each Preliminary Round match will be a head-to-head match between two teams. The two competing teams in each match will be selected randomly. In this round, the teams will be scored by the judges. The teams will then be ranked by their score, which will determine the seeding for the Competition Rounds.

The Competition Rounds will begin Beginning Tuesday afternoon. The Competition Rounds are a single-elimination tournament. Teams which remain at the end of the day on Tuesday will continue to compete on Wednesday morning.

Is the format of the Preliminary Round different than the format of the Competition Rounds?

The preliminary round is the same format as the competition rounds. There will be two teams representing the two companies and the judges will be scoring using the same Judging Guidelines. The only difference is that in the Preliminary Round, the team with the higher score is not declared “the winner.” Instead, each school’s score will be ranked and posted on the Leaderboard to set up the seeding for the Competition Rounds.

In the competition rounds, is it expected/preferred that students stand while speaking? Or should they remain seated while speaking?

The students should remain seated. The competition match is intended to model a meeting between two companies. The students' focus should be on the other team, not the judges.

Is a team allowed to have other students (i.e. classmates) work on the case overview with the official two student team?

Yes. Prior to the competition, students may collaborate with other students and faculty from their school. However, during the competition, students may not collaborate with members of other schools or current Lockheed Martin employees.

May teams practice or prepare for the Competition with teams from different schools?

No. Perceptions of a conflict of interest can sometimes be as harmful as an actual conflict. We don’t want anyone to have any doubts about the integrity of your students. To those ends, we request that your teams practice and prepare only with students within your own school.

When are the schools assigned to represent one company or another?

The roles are randomly assigned at the beginning of each match.

Are presentation materials permitted in the Preliminary or Competition rounds?

Student teams are not permitted to use any type of presentation materials in the Competition. This includes PowerPoint slides, whiteboards, or any type of handout.

May the students bring electronics into the match rooms in addition to hard-copy notes?

No. E-tablets and other electronics, will not be allowed in the match room. With hard copy notes, students are encouraged to print all required materials prior to arriving on competition day.

Are students permitted to print materials on site at the CLE?

No, the printing network can only be accessed by LM employees, so please print all required materials prior to arriving on competition day.

Can I use a chatbot or AI to help me come up with a solution for the Ethics in Engineering case competition?

No, the use of chatbots or AIs to generate solutions is not allowed in the Ethics in Engineering case competition. Our goal is to encourage students to think critically and creatively about complex ethics problems, and to develop their own thought processes and decision-making skills. While we understand that chatbots and AIs can be useful tools for research and idea generation, we want to ensure that students are not relying solely on these technologies to come up with their solutions. We will have controls in place to detect and prevent the use of chatbots and AIs.

Travel, Meals, and Additional Questions

Will meals be provided?

Yes, from Monday evening to the conclusion of the event on Wednesday afternoon, meals and snacks will be provided.  However, our breakfast option is very light, so it would be beneficial to have breakfast prior to arrival.  If you are staying at the Embassy Suites Bethesda with the room block, breakfast is included for all EIE guests. The breakfast at the Embassy Suites Bethesda starts at 6:30am and is located on the Lobby Level.

What is the dress code?

Monday Night we invite you to show your school spirit by wearing your school branded attire.

Tuesday and Wednesday please dress in business professional attire.

Will transportation be provided?

Yes, if you are staying at the Embassy Suites, bus transportation will be available between the Embassy Suites and Lockheed Martin only. Please refer to the agenda for all bus departure times.

Participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements if staying somewhere other than the Embassy Suites Bethesda hotel.

Is there parking on site?

Yes, a fully covered parking Garage is available for local school participants. Guests are encouraged to carpool or utilize our provided buses, public transportation, or ride share options.

Where is the closest Metro Station?

The closest Metro station to the CLE is North Bethesda on the Red Line. It is about 2.5 miles from the CLE, so walking is not advised.

Do you have an app for the event?

Yes, we do. An email with the details to download the app will be sent in January.

Do you offer any scholarships or aide to attend the competition?

Unfortunately, we do not offer any scholarships or aide to attend the competition.

Are visitors permitted to watch the Competition?

Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to host visitors at the event.