Mentors

Name: Bryce McLean aka. Big Kahuna
Occupation: Teacher
What inspired you to join FIRST: I wanted to give the students in the engineering classes an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they were learning in class.
What do you love about your job: I get the opportunity to inspire and motivate the next generation to find their passion in life.
Most exciting project: Whatever the next one is.
Favorite drink/food/band: Mt Dew/Anything bad for me/Bob Marley and the Wailers
What do you like about working with the team:  What I like most about working with the team is seeing the dedication, innovation and just pure joy the students have when participating in FIRST team 2996.

Name:  Dr John Wood
Occupation:  Professor of Mechanical Engineering, United States Air Force Academy
What inspired you to join FIRST:  Interest in robotics combined with a love of teaching while helping young students work hard and succeed
What do you love about your job:  Teaching students about engineering and about life
Most exciting project:  Design and test engineer for the F-22 Raptor weapons bay
Favorite drink/food/band:  Pepsi / Pizza / Eagles
What do you like about working with the team:  I really enjoy the energy level of the students and the excitement when the students learn something new.  I enjoy seeing the students mature and gain confidence in their abilities, even to the point to becoming teachers themselves.

Name: Richard Painter, P.E.
Occupation: Engineer and entrepreneur
What inspired you to join FIRST: Three years ago a call went out in the local engineering community asking for FIRST Engineering Mentors. I have for many years been very involved with IEEE educational activities, especially pre-university. So I saw this as an opportunity to make additional contributions to enhance STEM interest and encourage engineering careers in our local area.
What do you love about your job: As an engineering consultant I enjoy the wide variety of technical challenges and the opportunity to work on many exciting projects. I own and operate two specialized companies.
Most exciting project: One of the most interesting, challenging and exciting projects in recent years has been the development of a math library for embedded microcomputers.
Favorite drink/food/band:
What do you like about working with the team: I enjoy teaching technical matters to the FIRST team and watch them expand their skills that they will hopefully use in the pursuit of an engineering career.

Name: David Murphy aka. Murphbomb
Occupation: Laser Manufacturing Engineer
What inspired you to join FIRST: The opportunity to work with young men and women and help them better understand how to apply engineering principles to real life situations.
What do you love about your job: Knowing that what I engineer may someday save someone’s life.
Most exciting project: Automated run-in system used in mass production of personal computers.
Favorite drink/food/band:  You guess
What do you like about working with the team: Never quite knowing what these amazing young people will think of and helping them to bring it to reality.

Name: Dan Christian
Occupation: Electrical engineer, programmer, and entrepreneur
What inspired you to join FIRST: I had recently moved into the area and I joined FIRST to become more connected to the community.  I get to see a much wider cross section of the community than I would otherwise.
What do you love about your job: I have the creative freedom to pick what challenges I want to work on.
Most exciting project: The most exciting project would have been developing a robot to rappel into an active volcano in only one year.  I was the technical lead for electrical, power distribution, and servo control.  Dave Lavery and I got to spend several weeks on an active volcano.
Favorite drink/food/band: I mostly drink water, but – when you turn 21 – we can enjoy some good red wine.  Food is tricky when you are gluten free and casein free – the “brown flaxies” that I just invented are delicious. It’s hard to pick one favorite band, but Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler) was the first thing to come to mind.
What do you like about working with the team: Building robots is great fun (even if the kids do most of the work). It’s great watching FIRST alumni come back and seeing how much confidence and knowledge that the picked up from their time on the team.

Name: Matt Von Thun
Occupation: Electrical Engineer
What inspired you to join FIRST:  My son’s interest in FIRST robotics.
What do you love about your job: I love thinking up creative solutions to challenging problems and then seeing them work.
Most exciting project: The current one (whatever that may be).
Favorite drink/food/band: Orange Juice or Milk / Chicken Parmigian  /  Mannheim Steamroller
What do you like about working with the team: I like seeing all the innovative robot designs and seeing growth in students throughout season and from year to year.

 Name: Mr. Donahue
Occupation: 
What inspired you to join FIRST:  
What do you love about your job:
Most exciting project: 
Favorite drink/food/band: 
What do you like about working with the team: 

Special Thanks goes out to Mrs. Elizabeth McLean for mentoring our CEO and CFO in project management and Mr. Bob Holmes for mentoring our sponsor presentation team.

and Mr. Edward Pedersen