Our Mentors
Our mentors bring over 40 years of combined FIRST Robotics Competition experience across seven teams and scores of volunteer roles. Beyond the competition, our mentors have over 100 years combined industry and education experience.
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John Adams
John Adams retired as an Executive IT Architect from IBM after 30 years working on large, complex systems integration efforts including flight software for the Space Shuttle and the Space Station Freedom programs. Following his retirement, he began teaching math, engineering and computer science at Dripping Springs High School in 2014 and was the faculty sponsor for a number of student activities. He was a mentor and later the faculty sponsor for FRC Team 6357 The Spring Konstant which qualified repeatedly for both the state and world championship competitions. During his 9 years at DSHS, he was selected several times as the most influential teacher by a number of honor graduates. He retired from teaching in 2023.
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Dr. Jeff Erickson
Jeffrey Erickson is a former FIRST Robotics Competition student. Recoil is the fourth FRC team he has mentored over the past 20 years. Previously he has worked with FRC 41 in New Jersey and FRC 2789 in Manor Texas. He was a founding mentor of FRC 6357 The Spring Konstant. As a Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner, his communication skills have been recognized by prior students. As they have put it, “his passion to create is infectious.” He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Engineering from Rutgers and UMDNJ. His career has focused on embedded control systems. Currently he works in FPGA Software Solutions Architecture.
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Marguerite Erickson
Marguerite Erickson has been an advocate of science education in every community she has ever been a part of. She has played a role in mentoring or founding 5 FIRST Robotics Competition teams in the past 10 years. A graduate of Cornell University, Marguerite taught chemistry and physics in the public school system for 8 years before becoming a stay-at-home mom with her two young children. She loves to plan -- and her new plan is to create an Open Innovation Tech Space in Dripping Springs.
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Danae Kay
Danae Kay is a Mechanical Engineer with experience in building design, project management, thermal-fluid simulation and semiconductor manufacturing equipment design. Mrs. Kay received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Baylor University and her MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, with a concentration in Thermosciences, Fluid Mechanics, and Mechatronics. Most recently, she taught at Texas State University as a Lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Industry 4.0 program. She established the Introduction to Digital Mechanical Engineering lab, which introduces freshmen students to programming, mechatronics, and the interfacing of Mechanical Engineering with the digital world. Mrs. Kay is passionate about helping young people apply engineering principles and taking ideas from concept to reality.
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Mike O'Brien
Mike was a founding mentor of FRC 1511 Rolling Thunder in Penfield NY for 5 years and a mentor of FRC Team 6357 The Spring Konstant for 6 years. He has experience mentoring FRC, FTC, and FLL teams in Western NY, and in Central Texas, was known as "MR. LEGOMAN" for starting and supporting 15 FLL teams, and receiving the "Outstanding Adult Mentor" Award. Mr. O'Brien holds a B.S. in Computer Science, and a career focused on software development for Embedded Systems. He is currently working as a robotics and code Instructor in Dripping Springs.
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Tom Parker
Tom holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an MBA from the University of Vermont. His engineering background includes being a Software Engineer and an Applications Engineer for ASIC design. He later held roles in marketing, business development, sales, operations, and strategy. He has been in product management for about 15 years. Tom has been mentoring FRC teams for 10 years, across both North Carolina and Texas.
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Dave Wilson
Dave has worked or played in software for over 40 years. He gained a B.Sc. in Physics and Electronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow in Scotland before starting his career writing firmware for IBM graphics controllers. After a move to Texas in 1997, he has worked in computer graphics, digital TV, microcontrollers and test infrastructure development. He currently works for Apple's Silicon Engineering Group in Austin. While working for Luminary Micro in 2009, Dave spent time traveling to FRC regional competitions and supporting FRC teams who were using motor controllers from the company. He was hooked and has been involved in FIRST or other robotics competitions in some capacity ever since, culminating with 6 years as a software mentor for FRC Team 6357 The Spring Konstant.