Lisa C. - Construction, Marketing

email: lisa@fightingcalculators.org

Lisa has been a part of FIRST since sixth grade, when she was in FLL.  She has learned a lot about robotics and how to be a part of a team through FIRST.  She has been part of prototyping, scouting, and building team during her three years on the Fighting Calculators.  After recieving the nickname of “Minion” the past two years, she has taken on more leadership roles this year.  At the North Star regional, she took scouting lead and was the team representative during alliance selection, despite her fear of public speaking.

Peter I. - Driver, Electrical Lead, Construction, Outreach, Web Team Lead, Marketing Lead

email: peter@fightingcalculators.org

Peter is a third year member of the Fighting Calculators. This year he is honored to be one of the team's Captains this year. FIRST Robotics is one of the most fun activities that MSA has to offer. Other than devoting 6 weeks of his life to robotics, Peter is in Cross Country, Nordic Skiing, Track and Field, Orchestra, Wind Ensamble, NHS, Tri-M (Modern Music Masters), Coumputer Club, all while being employed by one of the teams sponsors: JR Computer Associates Inc.

Tim S. - CAD Lead, Pneumatics Lead, Drive Team, Web Team

Email: tim@fightingcalculators.org

Tim is the leader of both the CAD and Pneumatics teams. He is probably a Junior but also takes college classes for fun. The part of his life not dedicated to robotics is dedicated to nordic skiing, cross country running, track and field, orchestra, jazz band, wind ensemble, mentoring FLL teams, writing in the third person, wishing for a Dacia Double Cab Pickup, and also slabbing off. Tim enjoys living in the world of CAD and CNC machined things, where everything is perfect and there are no mistakes. His favorite part of FIRST is the part where you build and design a robot. He also likes watching matches as a human player.

Will Preska - Lead Mentor - 2011 Woodie Flowers Finalist

email: will@fightingcalculators.org       

Lead mentor Will Preska helped launch the Fighting Calculators in 2006.  He sincerely believes in the FIRST program which gives so many opportunities to students.  He holds degrees in Mechanical and Software Engineering.  From the start he has been a driving force of the team, from finding places to use as shop space, to securing corporate sponsorships, to being a great mentor and friend.  He has mentored many students and helped build some incredible robots.  Will won the Woodie Flower’s Finalist Award in 2011, an award given by FIRST to outstanding mentors.

Mentor Will and FIRST Co-Founder Woody Flowers

Tom Crump - Build Mentor

Tom Crump has been a mentor with Team 2175 for 5 years.  A Civil Engineer by training, Tom skips most of the Mechanical Engineering duties and concentrates on project management and administrative details.  The thing that most impresses Tom about FIRST is the passion that the students have for both sides of Coopertition.  The passion to spend hundreds of hours in the shop to build  a competitive robot but also the passion to help other teams to field the best robot they can.  Our students are awesome!  Go Fighting Calculators!

Jim Irvine - Electrical, Build Mentor

Jim Irvine is a very involved mentor for 2175. He is an Electrical Mentor and a Build Mentor. He works at Boston Scientific in Cardiac Test Engineering. He knows how to use pretty much any machine in the shop. Jim has attained a perfect record for 2012 build season.

Ilja Siepmann - Build Mentor

Ilja Siepmann is one of Team 2175 newest mentors after graduating from the duties of chauffeur.  By training he is a theoretical chemist doing research in the field of statistical mechanics.  This makes him eminently qualified to help in all the hands-on activities needed to support Team 2175 during build season.  His favorite tool is the tape measure.  Ilja also really likes Flower Power (his VW Beetle Convertible).

Mark Siekmeier - Build Mentor

Mark Siekmeier has four years experience mentoring the Fighting Calculators.  He hopes the fluid dynamics courses from his Aerospace Engineering training will finally payoff when FIRST has a water game.  In the shop you are likely to hear him say, "I don't know, let's look at the CAD."  His favorite thing about FIRST is seeing a student take on something they know nothing about, figure it out, and become the one others ask for help.  Mark is concerned his involvement in FIRST may be developing into a more serious condition as this year he began referring to other teams by their numbers. 

Aren Siekmeier - CAD, Code and Build Mentor, 2175 Alumnus

Aren comes from 8 years of FIRST experience in FLL and FRC, and has always enjoyed using mathematics, physics, and creativity to find unique solutions to problems.  As a mentor on Team 2175, he enjoys showing students the power of these tools and helping them develop the skills to succeed.  As a mathematics and physics major (with an additional focus in computer science and engineering), he is pursuing a career in research and teaching, for the expansion of human knowledge and the education and inspiration of the next generation.  In his spare time, when it exists, he can be found programming, designing, reading theoretical Wikipedia articles, solving mathematical models, browsing Chief Delphi, playing the piano, or playing frisbee.

Paul Cobian - Summer Project and Build Mentor

Alex Miller - Build Mentor, 2175 Alumnus

Alex Miller is a junior at the University of Minnesota studying Electrical Engineering with minors in Management and Astrophysics.  He is the treasurer for GO FIRST, a student group at the University of Minnesota dedicated to helping FIRST Robotics.  He joined the team as a sophomore the year it was started.  He currently works at 3M and is an assistant coach on the MSA baseball team.

Brian B. - CAD, Construction, Electrical, Video, Web Team

Brian is a freshman at the Math and Science Academy.  He joined the Fighting Calculators in his freshman year, and loved the experience.  In his rookie season he became the third member of our CAD team.  Brian joined FRC Team 2175 because he has always loved engineering and design.  Brian believes FIRST is teaching him valuable life skills and can’t wait till next season.  In his free time Brian enjoys playing basketball, soccer, and practicing his saxophone.

Charlie B. -Construction

Charlie was introduced to FIRST when he joined FLL in sixth grade. He is now a freshman at MSA who wishes to pursue a career in mechanical engineering. This is his first year in FRC. His favorite classes are mathmatics and english. In his free time Charlie enjoys running, playing soccer, and hanging out with his friends.

Contessa B. -Contruction

Carl C.

Daniel G.

Daniel Glick began his FIRST career in the FIRST Lego League in seventh grade. He has since then became a sophomore and joined FRC. This is his second year in Robotics.  Daniel enjoys helping to build the robot and tossing around concept ideas. In the future, Daniel would like to learn the basics of programming and CAD.  In his spare time, Daniel enjoys downhill skiing, running, Teakwondo, and band.

Rachel G. - Construction, Marketing

Rachel Glick has been participating in FIRST since ninth grade and is still loving it! She really enjoys getting creative with the prototypes and using bandsaws. During competitions, you will probably see her walking around with a plethora of buttons on her pants. Her absolute favorite thing about robotics is sharing the feeling of accomplishment created by the building of a working robot with the team.

Sam G. -Construction

Sam is in 9th grade and is trying out his first year of robotics. He likes to help around in building, but would really like to try out wiring the robot. Some other activities Sam does includes cross country, track, playing the piano, and down hill skiing. So far robotics is the best thing to do after school for him because of all tools and other professional looking equipment. Sam hopes to stay in robotics for a long time and maybe become team captain.

Jake H. - Construction, Electrical, Web Team

Jake Hjort is a sophomore at the Math and science academy, and has been a part of FIRST since he joined the FLL in sixth grade. This is Jake's second year on the fighting calculators. Jake's favorite things to do on the team are build robots, practice welding (which he hopes to someday be able to do on the actual robot) and mascot at the competitions. Outside of robotics, Jake enjoys running, alpine skiing, reading, and enjoying nature. Jake also volunteers at the Minnesota zoo, and someday aspires to be a zoologist or conservation biologist.

Julia I. - Construction, Marketing

FIRST has given Julia an opportunity to explore many career options.

Julia's favorite color is Blue. Julia like's many different kinds of foods.

When we were in the shop Julia liked testing our creations. Also, drilling is pretty fun too! This is Julia's first year on the Robotics team and Julia is looking forward to continue in the future.

Laura I. - Saftey Captain, Construction

This will be Laura’s first official year on the team. Last year she had the opportunity as an 8^th grader to come to the shop almost every day to learn about FIRST and help out with building, doing odd jobs around the shop, and giving demos to small children.  She is also thrilled to be the Safety Captain again this year. When not at the shop, Laura loves running, cross country skiing, playing the violin and French horn, as well as being in 4-H. Her favorite part of robotics is hanging out with her friends. 

Charter J. -Code, Web Team, Construction

Charter Jacobson is a 9th grader at MSA, and this is his first year in FRC after 3 years of FIRST. He likes programming in a multitude of languages, Web Design and Development, and linguistics. He is in Boy Scouts, ski club, and computer club, and is joining track in the spring. His jobs in the team include programming the bot and website development.

Paul J. -Construction

Paul is a Junior at the Math and Science Academy. This is his first year on the Fighting Calculators, or Robotics of any kind. He has primarily worked on construction, with some peripheral CAD work, but he'd like to learn a lot more about CADing. In school, his favorite classes are Brit Lit and Physics. He participates in MSA's cross country team, and in his free time is a major comic books nerd. He hopes to one day be a surgeon or a physicist.

Megan J. -CAD, Construction

Riti K. - Construction, Marketing

Hi my name is Riti and I am currently a sophomore at the Math and Science Academy. This year was my first year participating in FIRST however I have been a part of FLL since I was a 6th grader. My favorite subjects include history and science. When I'm not doing robotics you can find me dancing, reading, or just hanging out with my friends:)

Jake M.

Hello, this is the web team. Jake was too lazy to write his own bio (even though we gave him 2 months to do so), so he is making us do it for him. He will be going into his junior year, and has been on the team for 1 year.

Kiran M. -Construction, Web Team

Kiran Mekala is a freshman at the Math and Science Academy. He has been on the FRC team 2175 for one year and enjoys it a lot. Kiran thinks that he would like to be some sort of engineer when he grows up, but is not quite sure. Other things Kiran likes to do are run, eat, play basketball, watch Dragonball Z, and do math. His favorite food is pizza because it tastes good.

Jack M.-Construction

Jack loves to be a member of 2175 almost as much as he likes not writing bios, even when being warned of this moment for 4 months. Thus, the webteam must write his bio for him. Jack has been in robotics for two years, and is going to be junior next year. Jack's favorite part of robotics is the part where you build robots and then do stuff with them.

Aaron N. -Construction

Aaron is currently a freshman at MSA. He is very excited for his first year doing FIRST robotics. In his free time he enjoys playing basketball and making electronic circuits. He also loves playing trumpet, guitar and ukulele. He is an excellant programmer and loves writing code for many different devices ranging from tiny microcontrollers to Iphones and Ipod touches. More often than not, he is building, fixing, or sometimes breaking things. 

Keith N. -Construction, Electrical 

Keith is a sophomore at the Math and Science Academy. He really enjoys FIRST robotics because building robots is fun! He enjoys manufacturing lots of parts of the robot. His favorite thing to do while at the shop is to use the mill. He also likes hanging out with friends and eating food at the shop. Keith plans on going into either electrical engineering or mechanical engineering after high school is over. He has been in FIRST for two years now and really enjoys it; he also learns a lot about engineering while at it.

Mew R. -Construction

Mew is the exchange student that came from Thailand to study at Math and Science Academy in 10th grade. He thinks that robotics is a very interesting activity to do during his exchange year, and robotics is the activity that he cannot do in his homeland. In his free time, he likes to swim for exercise and play piano. He hopes to learn about robotics as much as he can, and enjoy his year here.

Greta S. - Construction, Marketing

Freshman Greta Siekmeier was blessed this year to be able be a part of team 2175. In her rookie year, she has learned many things from the encouraging mentors and veteran members of the team. Some of her favorite things to do are using the drill press and staple gun, searching through the “gold mine,” and just hanging out with the team and eating food. In her spare time, Greta loves to run, ski, bike, play violin, and just hang out with friends. She hopes to continue to learn more about FIRST robotics and become more involved in the team.

Jacob S.

Jacob Siekmeier, a junior, has been on FRC Team 2175 for three great years. He enjoys being able to do a little bit of everything,  and especially working with new recruits. Jacob also enjoys running, basketball, skiing, real music, and classic Japanese automobiles.  

He would like to become a pilot and/or engineer, and ponder how " the subject is interpolated into a patriarchialist libertarianism that includes art as a totality" Hamburger, Stefan L. Rudolf M. U. Brophy.  Constructivism, dialectic postpatriarchial theory and socialism" 

Department of Peace Studies, Oxford University. http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/. Thank you to all the parents who brought food to the shop! Live long and prosper. (yes, he can use 2nd person in his bios well)

Ines S. - Construction, Marketing, FLL Mentor

Ines S., a freshman, has been on the team for one year. She's been a member of FIRST activities for the past five years, and it has influenced her in many ways. She's interested in pursuing a STEM career, loves to spend time at the shop, and has met lots of other great people with the same interests. Ines doesn't have a favorite color, but she loves rainbows and ice cream. At the shop, her favorite thing to do is weld. She's so glad she's a part of team 2175. 

David S.

Hi, this isn’t David Smith speaking, as he was lackadaisical and missed the deadline by two months. Therefore, he forced us over at the web team to do it for him. David’s favorite part of robotics is building the bot. in his spare time, David does the homework that comes with being a freshman. This year was his first year in robotics.

Noah S. - Web Team Content Lead, Drive Team, Construction

Noah is a sophomore and is in his second year on the team. He enjoys his time in the shop very much. Outside of the shop he enjoys running, playing basball, martial arts, and snowboarding among many other things. Noah is employed by one of the teams sponsors, JR Computer Associates Inc. Noah plans on becoming an electrical engineer in the future and enjoys learning about it very much.

Benjamin V. - Weapons Officer, Code Lead, Website Design

Ben is a homeschooled junior who joined the Fighting Calculators for the 2010 game, Breakaway. This is Ben's fourth year on the team, and has moved from only managing the team website to being the lead programmer for the team. During the 2012 season, Ben acted as the team Weapons Officer, in control of the robot's basketball shooter and other mechanisms.

Daniel V. - Shop Helper, Chainmeister

Dan is a homeschooled student in 9th grade. The 2012 season was his first year on the team. Daniel helped out however he could with the robot, eventually earning the title of "Chainmeister" for his work with the new chain tool the team received. He made all the chains for Blue Thunder. He is proud to be, technically, the youngest member of the team.

Han Yong W. - Construction

Han Yong is a Senior on the team who has been on the team for two years now. He enjoys building and designing the robot and is relieved that he no longer has to file cut pieces of metal as he is no longer a rookie. In the future, he plans to either enter a field in actuarial sciences or chemical engineering. Han Yong participates in many extracurricular activities including Science Bowl, Math Team, Asian Club, Spanish Club, National Honors Society, Cross Country, Nordic Skiing, and Track and Field; however, when he has free time, he enjoys staying up late to watch movies, browsing various wiki pages, running, skiing, freestyle rapping, and proof reading all the Sophomores' papers. He would like to use his bio as an opportunity to thank all the parents for volunteering their time and bringing in food as well as his teammates for making robotics such a memorable experience.