Joe is one of the founding parents of Cedarville Elementary robotics, was instrumental in starting the Leo Elementary School (ES) robotics program. He coached 26194B last year and the year before. As students have aged out of the ES program, he started the Middle School (MS) program for 6th (ES), 7th and 8th grade (Leo Jr. High) students. He inspires teams to strive towards success and enjoys strategic collaboration, brainstorming, and mentoring. He is a strong advocate of openness, transparency, and accountability to balance vision and pragmatic need.
His latest solutions include architecting the flight critical (DO-178C with supplements and FAA Certification Authorities Software Team (CAST) compliance) and weapons safety critical (MIL-STD-882E) software solutions for DoD unmanned air, surface and underwater vehicles.
Joe has lead teams through a wide variety of software re-architecture efforts for many product lines, including working through multiple code bases of significantly more than one million lines of code.
Over the past several years Joe has worked with Larry Linson (at Cedarville Elementary) and Shelley Crozier (at Leo Elementary), coaching and leading the team to Vex Worlds multiple times.
He has taught computer science for Central Texas College, developing and presenting college-level courses in fundamental and advanced programming techniques.
Engineering Notebook Coaches
- Rayna Kaczmarczyc-Babb
- Mrs. Rayna Kaczmarczyc-Babb is a second year Vex IQ Robotics coach. During the 2018-2019 season she worked with the Leo Elementary team 26194A, The A-Team, achieving 6 regional titles, 3 bids to Worlds, and finishing in the top 25% in Robot Skills globally. In addition to her work with Leo MS 141B, Mrs. Babb serves as a parent coach for Cedarville Elementary 17432A-E with her husband Phillip, their three boys, Killian (141B), Vance (17432C), and Marek (17432E) are all involved in the program. Mentoring has given Mrs. Babb the opportunity to share her knowledge and assist both schools' programs with their Engineering Notebooks, which have been successful. Mrs. Babb earned her Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Hazardous Materials Management from the University of Findlay.
- Kirin Kennedy
- Mrs. Kirin Kennedy is a Kindergarten Prep teacher at the Leo United Methodist Church Preschool. She is from Wales, United Kingdom and has lived in many places all over the world. She has been guiding and supervising students on the engineering notebook and assistant coaching 141A this year and 26194B last year and the year before. She decided to become a mentor when her daughter joined the first robotics team in Cedarville Elementary during the 2016-2017 season, seeing how important STEM is for the future. Her method of doing the engineering notebook has been very successful, winning many design and excellence awards over the past two years. She enjoys mentoring because she believes that it is nice to watch the students learn from challenges and grow when they succeed.
Team B Coaches
- Phillip Babb
- Mr. Phillip Babb is a first year coach with Leo MS 141B and in his third year with Cedarville Robotics. Phillip instructs students in design and build, and provides introductory coding mentorship at the elementary level. He brings enthusiasm and excitement to the classroom and is instrumental in aiding the students in engineering and strategic concepts as it pertains to game play. His wife, Rayna, also serves as a coach with both schools. All three of their boys, Killian, (141B), Vance (17432C), and Marek (17432E) are involved in the programs. Phillip earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Findlay as a Physician Assistant. He is employed as a Pharmaceutical Rep with Allergan.
- Boyd Foulk
- Mr. Boyd Foulk is a first year coach with Leo MS 141B and in his second year with robotics as he helped 26194A by coaching autonomous programming. He also served in the US Navy as an Avionics Technician where he serviced F-14A, B, D communications, navigations, and radar systems. He graduated from the U.S. Navy Electronics Academy and from Purdue University with a B.S.E.E. While there, he minored in Computer Science and took several Mechanical Engineering courses. He has worked in the Robotics and Automation industry for 24 years, and has taught Automation at I.U.P.U.I. (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) as an associate adjunct professor.