Difference between revisions of "User:Siri"

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I was a student on Team 1640 from 2007 (Rack 'n Roll) until I graduated from Downingtown East in 2009. I continue to mentor the team, commuting 7 hours from Penn State Main every weekend during the 2011 build and competition seasons. Slightly alarmingly, I logged just under 400 hours, 3,000 miles, and $550 in transportation in 6 weeks. (I've been told this makes me insane. I find this to be a rather belated realization, not the least because that's easily less than a third of the time--albeit, many more miles--I spent in '08 or '09.) As a mentor overall, I'm now at around 1,400 hours and $1350 having driven the distance between Philadelphia and Astana and back (as the crow flies).
+
I am currently a mentor and alumna of team 1640, having been a student on the team from 2007 ([[DEWBOT III|Rack 'n Roll]]) until I graduated from Downingtown East in 2009 (after [[DEWBOT V|Lunacy]]) and a mentor from 2010 ([[DEWBOT VI| Breakaway]]) to present.
 +
=Mentor=
 +
I serve as the team's field coach and co-lead designer (CAD), in addition to helping manage the shop and ensure students have and understand their jobs.
 +
;Field Coach
 +
:As field coach, I'm responsible for training the drive team (and currently the scouts), negotiating qualification and elimination strategy, serving as the chief at-event contact for other teams, liaising between the drive team and pit crew (and the rest of the team), and of course coaching the drivers during matches. The longest-standing coach and drive team member (and one of the long-running team members in general), I have been coaching 1640 regularly since I graduated in 2009 and have coached 5 of our 7 competition championships.
 +
;Co-Process Manager
 +
:As process manager, I am responsible for the CIP or continuous improvement process on 1640. Generally, this is seen a endlessly bugging people to examine how we can better fulfill our mission (of inspiring and educating our students) and operate more optimally. I facilitate these discussions, mull over the SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) issues brought up, and then return to our other process managers and team members with more suggestions, questions and improved structures with which to bug them. It's worked out well enough so far. This has been the mechanism for most of the team's recent restructuring. I am also responsible for some more in-the-moment issues, including running some meetings (particularly for student feedback), post-mortems, one-on-one interviews and other administrative and management activities.
 +
;Co-Lead Designer
 +
:During build season, this role generally entails teaching, supervising, and coordinating mechanical design, prototyping and fabrication. Unfortunately, a dearth in student CAD/design experience required me to step into a lead hands-on CAD role in 2011 before doing the bulk of the CAD work in 2012 and much of 2013. My main job, however, is to work on remedying this inexperience, leading to my initiation and teaching of multiple design projects as the team's design process teacher. I hope to take a more guiding, tutoring and coordinating role as a design leader, though I expect there will still be some hands-on CAD walkthroughs for eager students in my future.
 +
;Pit Supervisor
 +
:Though students now proudly organize and execute the pit work for 1640, I currently serve as the most-regular adult pit supervisor, coordinating troubleshooting efforts and advising the student crew where needed, including facilitating communication, planning priorities and keeping members on task. (While not actually informal, this position is largely extemporaneous and derived from the collision of my coaching and process management roles with my student experience as pit captain.)
 +
;NEMO Mentor
 +
:As an official and active member of FIRST's [http://www.firstnemo.org/ Non-Engineering Mentor Organization], I had also assisted with the team's Chairman's and and Woodie Flowers submissions and created maost of the team's media handouts. As our student and mentor base grows and more NEMO talent arises, I have been able to take a less active role in some of our own NEMO activities, though I still have some project responsibilities and remain active in some NEMO proceedings outside of 1640.
  
=Years as a Student=
+
=Volunteer=
I was the captain-manager of FRC Team 1640 for the 2008 (Overdrive) and 2009 (Lunacy) seasons, until I handed off the position to Carly McKown before graduating from Downingtown High School East Campus in June of 2009. I took the position after Head Mentor Emeritus and Team Founder Paul Sabatino went on medical sabbatical. In that time, I served as the team's representative and student liaison, chief media-creator (now a separate department), paperwork-doer, question-answerer, scheduler and organizer, finance officer (also separate department now), etc. I was also the first student member of the [[Steering Committee]] and [[Design Team]] in my capacities as captain and lead mechanical student, respectively.
+
I am proud to say I am a veteran FIRST volunteer with 15 events under my belt in 4 years (11 in the last 2). I serve primarily as a referee, though I'm becoming a common judge for FLL/FTC, and will continue to will fill other roles in FRC, VEX, FTC and FLL.
  
In the 2009 season, I became the first student member of the design team (largely thanks to Clem McKown's mass emails), a position we have begun to expand for other students in the 2010 season. This experience enhanced my ability to serve the team's lead mechanical student and pit crew leader--the latter fortunately mostly obsolete in 2009. (The [[DEWBOT V Chesapeake Regional|Annapolis Regional]] judges also seemed to like that a student possessed that knowledge.)
+
;Current Qualifications
 +
:'''FRC''' (Aerial Assist): Referee, Inspector
 +
:'''FTC''' (Block Party): Hardware Inspector (trainer)
 +
:'''FLL''' (Nature's Fury): Head Referee
 +
{|
 +
|'''2014 Season'''
 +
*FRC Clifton District - Referee
 +
*FRC Bridgewater District - Referee, Inspector
 +
*FRC New York City Regional - Referee<br>
 +
:...<br>
 +
'''2013 Season'''
 +
*FRC Bridgewater District - Referee, Inspector
 +
*FRC New York City Regional - Referee
 +
*FTC NJ Qualifier
 +
*FLL DAR Tune Up - Head Referee
 +
*FLL DAR Qualifier - Head Referee<br>
 +
|'''2012 Season'''
 +
*FRC Chestnut Hill District - Referee
 +
*FRC Mount Olive District - Referee
 +
*FRC Battle o' Baltimore - Referee, Teardown
 +
*FRC Brunswick Eruption - Referee
 +
*VEX Delaware State Championship - Referee, Setup/down
 +
*FLL DAR Tune Up - Game Announcer, Setup/down
 +
*FLL Chestnut Hill Qualifier - Judge
 +
*FLL DAR Qualifier - Head Core Values Judge, Setup/down
 +
|'''2011 Season'''
 +
*VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Co-Lead Queuer, Setup/down<br>
 +
'''2010 Season'''
 +
*FRC Big Apple Breakaway - Referee
 +
*VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Field Controller, Logistics, Setup/down<br>
 +
'''2009 Season'''
 +
*VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Referee, Setup/down
 +
|}
  
In the winter of 2008, Clem McKown, Foster Schucker, and I started organizing pre-kickoff classes for many FRC subjects, several of which I taught. I also serve as an occasional VEX mentor and have run the scoring system at our annual [[2010 Eastern Pennsylvania Regional | Eastern PA VEX Regional]] as well as taught an Enabling Mentors VEX programming session.
+
=Student=
 +
In my time as a 1640 student, I served as captain-manager, pit captain, design team lead student, head mechanical student, head (and only team) welder, co-driver, and outreach lead. However, several of these names would now be re-classified to include media lead, logistician and finance student, among others under the team's current, more detailed organizational scheme.
  
As the team's representative in 2008, I also had the wonderful opportunity to help start a JFLL club at [http://www.gvsd.org/index.pl?id=10687 Sugartown Elementary School] in the nearby [http://www.gvsd.org/index.pl Great Valley School District].
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;Captain
 +
:In 2008 I became the first 1640 student to be named lead captain for two years, serving as captain-manager of FRC Team 1640 for the 2008 (Overdrive) and 2009 (Lunacy) seasons before graduating Downingtown High School East Campus. At the time, the job entailed being representative and student liaison, media and PR lead, student logistician, contact point person, scheduler and organizer, and finance officer. It also earned me the first student slot on the [[Steering Committee], created in 2009.
  
 +
;Design Team & Mechanical Lead
 +
:In the 2009 season, I became the first student member of the just-created design team as the team's pit captain and lead mechanical student. Student slots have since been significantly expanded, but at the time the enhanced student-mentor coordination helped lead to the team's then-most unique (and effective) [[7th Wheel | drive system]], as well as our [[DEWBOT V's Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award (Chesapeake Regional) | first official award]] (turns out the judges really would rather hear from a student).
  
By a series of flukes of attendance, I also became the main robot operator (second driver) in 2007 (which held until I graduated in 2009) and the chief welder in 2009. By deliberate stubbornness, I also joined the pit crew in 2007, learning more and more until eventually leading the crew in the 2008 post-season.
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;Pit Captain
 +
:After an ill-defined 2008 pit hierarchy, I found myself in the definitive capacity of pit captain in post-season 2008 through 2009. Luckily, nothing much went wrong in 2009 (allowing me to focus on driving and [[DEWBOT V's Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award (Chesapeake Regional) | wooing judges]]).
  
=Years as a Mentor=
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;Co-Driver
The 2010 (Breakaway) is my first season as an FRC mentor. During the build season, I commuted weekly between Downingtown and State College by bus (roughly 3.5 hours), logging 176 hours before ship. When at DEC, I teach, supervise, and coordinate mechanical design, prototyping, welding, fabrication, and assembly. During the [[DEWBOT VI Finger Lakes Regional | Finger Lakes Regional]], I worked as a pit mentor and occasional coach, and created the design handout and poster files as well as editing the slide show video.<br>
+
:As a sophomore in 2007, I became the team's youngest official driver by operating the arm at the Pittsburgh Regional. I drove in every event in 2007-2009 afterwards, including serving as alliance captain at [[DEWBOT IV PARC XI | PARC 2008]], making the finals at [[DEWBOT IV Duel on the Delaware | Duel on the Delaware]] and winning [[DEWBOT V PARC XII | PARC 2009]]. I also did some coaching in those years before becoming the team's main coach for 2010-Present.
  
On 2 October 2010, I earned my first FRC volunteer experience at the first annual Big Apple Breakaway! I served as a referee with [[User:Rizzo | Mike Rizzo]]. I've also volunteered at our [[Eastern Pennsylvania Regional]], doing logistics, field control and refereeing.
+
;Lead Mechanical Student & Chief Welder
 +
:As I took over as lead mechanical student in post-season 2009, one of the main changes I found myself in was in rapidly becoming the chief, first and only team welder (student or adult) in 2009. Somehow I managed to figure out what I was doing well enough to weld a 2009 robot that weathered 6 competitions (tied for our record at the time) with only one broken weld. I also served as lead mechanical student (design, though I also did fabrication) for the rest of the award-winning [[DEWBOT V | 2009 robot]].
  
=Sub-Team Membership=
+
;Outreach Lead
The team has restructured (or perhaps just "structured") several times in my tenure, but I am/was a member of the following sub-teams throughout the years (in order of precedence, notice the evolution):<br>
+
:As the team's representative in 2008, I had the wonderful opportunity to help start a robotics club at [http://www.gvsd.org/index.pl?id=10687 Sugartown Elementary School] in the nearby [http://www.gvsd.org/index.pl Great Valley School District], with whom we still remain in contact. Also in pre-season 2008, the team leadership began pre-kickoff classes (we were previously basically dormant before kickoff), several of which I taught to both the FRC team and our VEX outreach.
DEWBOT III Mechanical ([[DEWBOT_III_Drive_Train|Drive]] and [[DEWBOT_III_Arm| Arm]]) Team (student)<br>
 
DEWBOT III Pit Crew (student)<br>
 
DEWBOT III Drive Team (operator)<br>
 
DEWBOT III Scouting/Tactical Team (operator)<br><br>
 
  
DEWBOT IV Managerial Team (captain-manager)<br>
 
DEWBOT IV Mechanical ([[DEWBOT_IV_Drive_Train|Drive]] and [[DEWBOT_IV_Lift-Catapult| Catapult]]) Team (student co-leader)<br>
 
DEWBOT IV Pit Crew (student co-leader)<br>
 
DEWBOT IV Drive Team (operator)<br>
 
DEWBOT IV Scouting/Tactical Team (operator)<br><br>
 
  
DEWBOT V [[Steering Committee]] (captain-manager)<br>
+
=Team Roles & Photos=
DEWBOT V [[Design Team]] (student leader)<br>
+
Below is a list of my sub-team memberships and roles throughout my student and mentor years (reverse chronological, each by precedence), along with a photo summary of my tenure.<br>
DEWBOT V Mechanical ([[DEWBOT_V_Drive_Train|Drive]] and [[DEWBOT_V_Mechanical|Manipulation Systems]]) Team (student leader)<br>
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{|style="width: 75%"
DEWBOT V Pit Crew (student leader)<br>
+
|colspan=3 align="center"|'''Mentor Tenure Responsibilities'''
DEWBOT V Drive Team (operator, occasional off-season coach)<br>
+
|colspan=3 align="center"|'''Student Tenure Responsibilities'''
DEWBOT V Scouting/Tactical team (operator, occasional off-season coach)<br><br>
+
|-
 +
|rowspan=6 align="center"|[[DEWBOT IX|DEWBOT<br>IX]]
 +
|[[FRC Team 1640 | FRC 1640]]
 +
|Co-Shop (Job) Manager
 +
|rowspan=5 align="center"|[[DEWBOT V|DEWBOT<br>V]]
 +
|[[Steering Committee]]
 +
|Captain-Manager<br>
 +
|-
 +
|Design
 +
|Trainer & Kickoff Lead, CAD Co-Lead
 +
|Design
 +
|Student Lead
 +
|-
 +
|Competition Play
 +
|Coach, Scouting Adviser
 +
|[[DEWBOT_V_Drive_Train|Mechanical]]
 +
|Student Lead
 +
|-
 +
|Competition Pit
 +
|Superviser
 +
|Pit Crew
 +
|Pit Captain
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/ Mid-Atlantic FRC]
 +
|Referee
 +
|Competition
 +
|Operator, Off-Season Coach
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm NEMO]
 +
|Member
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|rowspan=4 align="center"|[[DEWBOT IV|DEWBOT<br>IV]]
 +
|Management
 +
|Captain-Manager
 +
|-
 +
|rowspan=6 align="center"|[[DEWBOT VIII|DEWBOT<br>VIII]]
 +
|[[FRC Team 1640 | FRC 1640]]
 +
|Process Manager
 +
|[[DEWBOT IV Drive Train|Mechanical]]
 +
|Student Co-Lead
 +
|-
 +
|Design
 +
|Trainer & Kickoff Lead, CAD Co-Lead
 +
|Competition
 +
|Operator, Off-Season Coach
 +
|-
 +
|Competition Play
 +
|Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser
 +
|Pit Crew
 +
|Student Co-Lead
 +
|-
 +
|Competition Pit
 +
|Adviser
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/ Mid-Atlantic FRC]
 +
|Referee
 +
|rowspan=3 align="center"|[[DEWBOT III|DEWBOT<br>III]]
 +
|[[DEWBOT_III_Drive_Train|Mechanical]]
 +
|Rookie
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm NEMO]
 +
|Member
 +
|Competition
 +
|Operator
 +
|-
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|Pit
 +
|Crew
 +
|-
 +
|rowspan=5 align="center"|[[DEWBOT VII|DEWBOT<br>VII]]
 +
|[[DEWBOT VII Design Team Page | Design]]
 +
|Kickoff Lead, Arm Designer
 +
|-
 +
|[[DEWBOT VII Drive Team Page | Competition Play]]
 +
|Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|Competition Pit
 +
|Adviser
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|[[DEWBOT VII Chairmans Award | Chairman's]]
 +
|Adviser
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm NEMO]
 +
|Member
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|-
 +
|colspan=3|
 +
|colspan=3|.
 +
|-
 +
|rowspan=3 align="center"|[[DEWBOT VI|DEWBOT<br>VI]]
 +
|[[DEWBOT VI Mechanical Team | Mechanical]]
 +
|Mentor
 +
|-
 +
|[[DEWBOT VI Competition Team | Competition Play]]
 +
|Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser
 +
|-
 +
|[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm NEMO]
 +
|Member
 +
|}
  
[[DEWBOT VI Mechanical Team]] (mentor)<br>
+
<gallery widths=125 heights=125 perrow=6>
[[DEWBOT VI Competition Team]] (coach, strategy, scouting mentor lead)<br>
+
Image:DB3_alterarm_install_Siri_070218_csm.jpg|I wasn't sure what I'd gotten myself into at first!
[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm DEWBOT VI NEMO Member]<br>
+
Image:DB3_Duel_Delaware_Heather_Siri_pit_071013 csm.jpg|But I got used to it, and made pit crew all 3 years
 
+
Image:DB3_PARC_Dave_Siri_Cassie_070512_csm.jpg|And drive team, too!
[[DEWBOT VII]] Mechanical Team (mentor)<br>
+
Image:DB4_Maley_under_robot_080204 csm.jpg|I even made team captain in my 2nd year (for 2 years)
[[DEWBOT VII Design Team Page | DEWBOT VII Design Team]] (mentor, strategic analysis, arm design)<br>
+
Image:DB4_PARC_Siri_alliance_captain_080510_csm.jpg|Plus, we're getting better now.
[[DEWBOT VII Drive Team Page | DEWBOT VII Drive Team]] (coach, strategy)<br>
+
Image:DB4_Siri_@_Sugartown_Elementary_081024_csm.jpg|I do outreach,
[[DEWBOT VII Scouting Team Page | DEWBOT VI Scouting Team]] (mentor lead)<br>
+
Image:DB5_Davis_Feartherman_Maley_090216_csm.jpg|Lead build projects,
[[DEWBOT VII Chairmans Award | DEWBOT VII Chairman's Team]] (mentor lead)<br>
+
Image:DB5_Maley_frame_welding_090118_csm_2.jpg|Do the welding,
[http://www.firstnemo.org/about.htm DEWBOT VII NEMO Member]
+
Image:DB5_GETT_Siri_Heather_090328 csm.jpg|And public speaking! ([[Girls Exploring Tomorrow's Technology (GETT) |GETT]])
 
+
Image:DB6_Wk4_Siri_Clem_Scott_20100131_SMW_0071.jpg|''Hey, I'm a mentor?''
 
+
Image:DB6_Matt_Siri_welding_frame_100124_csm.jpg|On the mechanical team...
=Photos=
+
Image:DB7 Champ drive team dance 110429 csm 2.jpg|And coaching!
I'll refrain from showing the hundreds (no, [http://wiki.team1640.com/index.php?title=Special:Search&ns6=1&redirs=0&search=Siri&limit=500&offset=0 really]) of photos I've been in during my tenure, but in summary:
+
Image:DB7 Siri 110128 csm.jpg|Leading CAD...
<gallery widths=230 heights=230 perrow=3>
+
Image:DB7 Practice Kickoff 110917 csm-1.jpg|Teaching...
Image:DB3_alterarm_install_Siri_070218_csm.jpg|DEWBOT III: ''What on Earth have I gotten myself into?''
+
Image:BoB2012_Siri_Molly_Lucy.JPG|and Volunteering!
Image:DB3_Duel_Delaware_Heather_Siri_pit_071013 csm.jpg|But I got used to it. And made pit crew! (for 3 years)
+
Image:DB7_defense_setup_Phila_110409_csm.jpg|We've been in some tight spots...
Image:DB3_PARC_Dave_Siri_Cassie_070512_csm.jpg|And drive team! Yay! (also 3 years)
+
Image:DB7 Phila alliance 110409 csm.jpg|But it's worked out!
Image:DB4_Maley_under_robot_080204 csm.jpg|DEWBOT IV: ''Yeah, I think I'm pretty used to this build stuff.'' I also made team captain (2 years)
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Image:DB7_DD_111022_csm-9.jpg|Through hard work...
Image:DB4_M²_Siri_080531 csm.jpg|''Yep, definitely used to it.''
+
Image:DB7_DD_111022_csm-34.jpg|And stiff competition...
Image:DB4_Siri_080210_csm.jpg|''...Ok, used to it, guys.''
+
Image:DB7_RR_111112_csm-2.jpg|We're getting a lot better!
Image:DB4_PARC_Siri_080510_csm_1.jpg|''Jeez, we do this a lot.''
+
Image:DB7_Champ_drive_team_dance_110429_csm_3.jpg|What's not to love?
Image:DB4_PARC_Siri_alliance_captain_080510_csm.jpg|But we win stuff now! (Alliance captain at PARC XI)
+
Image:DB8 HH 120303 csm-37.jpg|We're getting it now,
Image:DB4_Siri_@_Sugartown_Elementary_081024_csm.jpg|And we've diversified! (demo for Sugartown Elementary FIRST LEGO League I helped start)
+
Image:DB8 Philadelphia 120413 csm-10.jpg|And it's pretty incredible.
Image:DB5_Davis_Feartherman_Maley_090216_csm.jpg|DEWBOT V: ''Hey, I working right with the mentors.''
+
Image:DB8 Philadelphia 120414 csm-16.jpg|We're on our way up!
Image:DB5_Maley_frame_welding_090118_csm_2.jpg|''And welding, cool!''
+
Image:DB9_HH_130302_csm-15.jpg|Up...
Image:DB5_GETT_Siri_Heather_090328 csm.jpg|''And presenting the program'' (presentation for [[Girls Exploring Tomorrow's Technology (GETT) | Girls Exploring Tomorrow's Technology]])
+
Image:DB9_SCH_130315_csm-4.jpg|Up...
Image:DB6_Cole_Siri_Jen_kicker_100213_csm.jpg|DEWBOT VI: ''Hey, I *am* a mentor.'' (working with new students)
+
Image:DB9_SCH_130316_csm-3.jpg|And away!
Image:DB6_Wk4_Siri_Clem_Scott_20100131_SMW_0071.jpg|DEWBOT VI: ''How did I become one of those?'' (mentor check of pivot drive)
 
Image:DB6_Matt_Siri_welding_frame_100124_csm.jpg|A welding mentor, no less.
 
Image:DB6_RIT_Carly_Siri_100306_csm.jpg|And a coach
 
Image:DB7 Siri 110128 csm.jpg|And a very tired CADer (is there any other kind?)
 
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
=Experience=
+
=Experience & Travel=
I'm currently at Penn State - University Park, where I'm a Schreyer Honors College Scholar (<2% of all PSU undergraduates) and mechanical engineering major with minors in engineering mechanics, political scienc, and military studies (AFROTC). I plan on commissioning into the U.S. Air Force upon graduation as an active engineering officer. I am also a student member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
+
I'm currently a Penn State Schreyer Honors College Scholar (<2% of all PSU undergraduates) and mechanical engineering and political science double major with concentrations revolving around international relations and humanitarian engineering. I currently work as an in-house reviewer in the Humanitarian Engineering & Social Entrepreneurship program at Penn State, where I do some curriculum writing and teaching in addition to working on getting peer-review articles to publication. I will be taking graduate bridge courses at Penn State until 2014 before moving on to graduate school for engineering. I am also a student member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an honored member of [http://www.tbp.org/pages/main.cfm Tau Beta Pi]. Additionally, I have traveled rather extensively in my work and study for international relations and humanitarian engineering.
==Places I've Been==
+
{|style="width:30%"
===United States===
+
!colspan = "2"|United States
Pennsylvania - I live here<br>
+
!International
Illinois - I was born here<br>
+
|-
Maryland<br>
+
|Arizona<br>
 +
Colorado<br>
 
Connecticut<br>
 
Connecticut<br>
Massachusetts<br>
+
Delaware<br>
 +
Wash, D.C.<br>
 +
Florida<br>
 
Georgia<br>
 
Georgia<br>
Vermont<br>
+
Hawaii<br>
Colorado<br>
+
Illinois<br>
New York<br>
 
 
Indiana<br>
 
Indiana<br>
Florida<br>
+
Maryland<br>
 +
Massachusetts<br>
 +
Michigan<br>
 +
Missouri<br>
 +
|Nevada<br>
 
New Jersey<br>
 
New Jersey<br>
Michigan<br>
+
New York<br>
Texas<br>
 
 
North Carolina<br>
 
North Carolina<br>
 +
Ohio<br>
 +
Pennsylvania<br>
 +
Puerto Rico<br>
 +
Rhode Island<br>
 
South Carolina<br>
 
South Carolina<br>
Nevada<br>
+
Texas<br>
Washington, D.C.<br>
+
Vermont<br>
West Virginia<br>
 
 
Virginia<br>
 
Virginia<br>
Hawaii<br>
 
New Mexico<br>
 
Arizona<br>
 
 
Washington<br>
 
Washington<br>
Minnesota<br>
+
West Virginia
Puerto Rico
+
|Canada<br>
 
 
===International===
 
India<br>
 
Canada<br>
 
 
United Kingdom<br>
 
United Kingdom<br>
 +
France<br>
 +
Switzerland<br>
 +
Germany<br>
 +
Austria<br>
 
Greece<br>
 
Greece<br>
 +
Kenya<br>
 +
Uganda<br>
 +
India<br>
 
Singapore<br>
 
Singapore<br>
 
Indonesia<br>
 
Indonesia<br>
 
Malaysia<br>
 
Malaysia<br>
 
+
.
----
+
|}
[[Category:Students]][[Category:Mentors]] [[FRC Team 1640]]
 

Latest revision as of 13:22, 12 May 2014

I am currently a mentor and alumna of team 1640, having been a student on the team from 2007 (Rack 'n Roll) until I graduated from Downingtown East in 2009 (after Lunacy) and a mentor from 2010 ( Breakaway) to present.

Mentor

I serve as the team's field coach and co-lead designer (CAD), in addition to helping manage the shop and ensure students have and understand their jobs.

Field Coach
As field coach, I'm responsible for training the drive team (and currently the scouts), negotiating qualification and elimination strategy, serving as the chief at-event contact for other teams, liaising between the drive team and pit crew (and the rest of the team), and of course coaching the drivers during matches. The longest-standing coach and drive team member (and one of the long-running team members in general), I have been coaching 1640 regularly since I graduated in 2009 and have coached 5 of our 7 competition championships.
Co-Process Manager
As process manager, I am responsible for the CIP or continuous improvement process on 1640. Generally, this is seen a endlessly bugging people to examine how we can better fulfill our mission (of inspiring and educating our students) and operate more optimally. I facilitate these discussions, mull over the SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) issues brought up, and then return to our other process managers and team members with more suggestions, questions and improved structures with which to bug them. It's worked out well enough so far. This has been the mechanism for most of the team's recent restructuring. I am also responsible for some more in-the-moment issues, including running some meetings (particularly for student feedback), post-mortems, one-on-one interviews and other administrative and management activities.
Co-Lead Designer
During build season, this role generally entails teaching, supervising, and coordinating mechanical design, prototyping and fabrication. Unfortunately, a dearth in student CAD/design experience required me to step into a lead hands-on CAD role in 2011 before doing the bulk of the CAD work in 2012 and much of 2013. My main job, however, is to work on remedying this inexperience, leading to my initiation and teaching of multiple design projects as the team's design process teacher. I hope to take a more guiding, tutoring and coordinating role as a design leader, though I expect there will still be some hands-on CAD walkthroughs for eager students in my future.
Pit Supervisor
Though students now proudly organize and execute the pit work for 1640, I currently serve as the most-regular adult pit supervisor, coordinating troubleshooting efforts and advising the student crew where needed, including facilitating communication, planning priorities and keeping members on task. (While not actually informal, this position is largely extemporaneous and derived from the collision of my coaching and process management roles with my student experience as pit captain.)
NEMO Mentor
As an official and active member of FIRST's Non-Engineering Mentor Organization, I had also assisted with the team's Chairman's and and Woodie Flowers submissions and created maost of the team's media handouts. As our student and mentor base grows and more NEMO talent arises, I have been able to take a less active role in some of our own NEMO activities, though I still have some project responsibilities and remain active in some NEMO proceedings outside of 1640.

Volunteer

I am proud to say I am a veteran FIRST volunteer with 15 events under my belt in 4 years (11 in the last 2). I serve primarily as a referee, though I'm becoming a common judge for FLL/FTC, and will continue to will fill other roles in FRC, VEX, FTC and FLL.

Current Qualifications
FRC (Aerial Assist): Referee, Inspector
FTC (Block Party): Hardware Inspector (trainer)
FLL (Nature's Fury): Head Referee
2014 Season
  • FRC Clifton District - Referee
  • FRC Bridgewater District - Referee, Inspector
  • FRC New York City Regional - Referee
...

2013 Season

  • FRC Bridgewater District - Referee, Inspector
  • FRC New York City Regional - Referee
  • FTC NJ Qualifier
  • FLL DAR Tune Up - Head Referee
  • FLL DAR Qualifier - Head Referee
2012 Season
  • FRC Chestnut Hill District - Referee
  • FRC Mount Olive District - Referee
  • FRC Battle o' Baltimore - Referee, Teardown
  • FRC Brunswick Eruption - Referee
  • VEX Delaware State Championship - Referee, Setup/down
  • FLL DAR Tune Up - Game Announcer, Setup/down
  • FLL Chestnut Hill Qualifier - Judge
  • FLL DAR Qualifier - Head Core Values Judge, Setup/down
2011 Season
  • VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Co-Lead Queuer, Setup/down

2010 Season

  • FRC Big Apple Breakaway - Referee
  • VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Field Controller, Logistics, Setup/down

2009 Season

  • VEX Eastern Pennsylvania Regional - Referee, Setup/down

Student

In my time as a 1640 student, I served as captain-manager, pit captain, design team lead student, head mechanical student, head (and only team) welder, co-driver, and outreach lead. However, several of these names would now be re-classified to include media lead, logistician and finance student, among others under the team's current, more detailed organizational scheme.

Captain
In 2008 I became the first 1640 student to be named lead captain for two years, serving as captain-manager of FRC Team 1640 for the 2008 (Overdrive) and 2009 (Lunacy) seasons before graduating Downingtown High School East Campus. At the time, the job entailed being representative and student liaison, media and PR lead, student logistician, contact point person, scheduler and organizer, and finance officer. It also earned me the first student slot on the [[Steering Committee], created in 2009.
Design Team & Mechanical Lead
In the 2009 season, I became the first student member of the just-created design team as the team's pit captain and lead mechanical student. Student slots have since been significantly expanded, but at the time the enhanced student-mentor coordination helped lead to the team's then-most unique (and effective) drive system, as well as our first official award (turns out the judges really would rather hear from a student).
Pit Captain
After an ill-defined 2008 pit hierarchy, I found myself in the definitive capacity of pit captain in post-season 2008 through 2009. Luckily, nothing much went wrong in 2009 (allowing me to focus on driving and wooing judges).
Co-Driver
As a sophomore in 2007, I became the team's youngest official driver by operating the arm at the Pittsburgh Regional. I drove in every event in 2007-2009 afterwards, including serving as alliance captain at PARC 2008, making the finals at Duel on the Delaware and winning PARC 2009. I also did some coaching in those years before becoming the team's main coach for 2010-Present.
Lead Mechanical Student & Chief Welder
As I took over as lead mechanical student in post-season 2009, one of the main changes I found myself in was in rapidly becoming the chief, first and only team welder (student or adult) in 2009. Somehow I managed to figure out what I was doing well enough to weld a 2009 robot that weathered 6 competitions (tied for our record at the time) with only one broken weld. I also served as lead mechanical student (design, though I also did fabrication) for the rest of the award-winning 2009 robot.
Outreach Lead
As the team's representative in 2008, I had the wonderful opportunity to help start a robotics club at Sugartown Elementary School in the nearby Great Valley School District, with whom we still remain in contact. Also in pre-season 2008, the team leadership began pre-kickoff classes (we were previously basically dormant before kickoff), several of which I taught to both the FRC team and our VEX outreach.


Team Roles & Photos

Below is a list of my sub-team memberships and roles throughout my student and mentor years (reverse chronological, each by precedence), along with a photo summary of my tenure.

Mentor Tenure Responsibilities Student Tenure Responsibilities
DEWBOT
IX
FRC 1640 Co-Shop (Job) Manager DEWBOT
V
Steering Committee Captain-Manager
Design Trainer & Kickoff Lead, CAD Co-Lead Design Student Lead
Competition Play Coach, Scouting Adviser Mechanical Student Lead
Competition Pit Superviser Pit Crew Pit Captain
Mid-Atlantic FRC Referee Competition Operator, Off-Season Coach
NEMO Member
DEWBOT
IV
Management Captain-Manager
DEWBOT
VIII
FRC 1640 Process Manager Mechanical Student Co-Lead
Design Trainer & Kickoff Lead, CAD Co-Lead Competition Operator, Off-Season Coach
Competition Play Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser Pit Crew Student Co-Lead
Competition Pit Adviser
Mid-Atlantic FRC Referee DEWBOT
III
Mechanical Rookie
NEMO Member Competition Operator
Pit Crew
DEWBOT
VII
Design Kickoff Lead, Arm Designer
Competition Play Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser
Competition Pit Adviser
Chairman's Adviser
NEMO Member
.
DEWBOT
VI
Mechanical Mentor
Competition Play Coach, Strategy-Scouting Adviser
NEMO Member

Experience & Travel

I'm currently a Penn State Schreyer Honors College Scholar (<2% of all PSU undergraduates) and mechanical engineering and political science double major with concentrations revolving around international relations and humanitarian engineering. I currently work as an in-house reviewer in the Humanitarian Engineering & Social Entrepreneurship program at Penn State, where I do some curriculum writing and teaching in addition to working on getting peer-review articles to publication. I will be taking graduate bridge courses at Penn State until 2014 before moving on to graduate school for engineering. I am also a student member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an honored member of Tau Beta Pi. Additionally, I have traveled rather extensively in my work and study for international relations and humanitarian engineering.

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