Our Mentors

Our mentors act as the team's most valuable and trusted resources. Volunteering their time and energy to help our team, we would not be where we are today without their knowledge and advice.

David Dobervich
Co-Head Mentor & FRC Software Mentor - 2010
Mr. D studied cognitive science, computer science and philosophy at Berkeley as an undergrad, and after working briefly as a backend developer, got a Master's in math education from Stanford. He has worked as a teacher a Fremont High School ever since and continues to work on personal programming, robotics, and other projects.

Sohini Stone
Co-Head Mentor & BaM Mentor - 2012
Sohini is a physician and has been working in the Health Tech space as a Medical Director of Global Well-Being for the past 6.5 years at Google. She has been part of FIRST robotics since 1997 as a former member of FRC Team 151 and a former mentor of FRC Team 246.

Sean Stone
FRC Design and Manufacturing Lead Mentor - 2012
Sean has a BS in Electromechanical Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology. He has worked in the Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Medical and Consumer Electronics industries for large global companies and small startups. He was a student member of FRC Team 151. Before mentoring the Firebots, he mentored FRC Team 246 and FRC Team 1922.

Madhuri Ramanathan
FRC Software Mentor - 2014
Madhuri got her Bachelor’s degree in Instrumentation Engineering and her Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University. She was in video conferencing technology, but it lead her to a software CRM job. When her son joined FHS Robotics, she became a mentor the same year and has enjoyed working with the students each year since.

Jim Vaughn
FRC Electrical Lead Mentor - 2017
Jim got a Bachelor's degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 1992 and a Master's in Machine Vision in 1998. He has recently specialized in robotics and autonomous vehicles. He is also parent to our former VP of Mechanical Design, Adam.

David Stallman
FRC Manufacturing Mentor - 2021
David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He's worked on Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Xi and Ion platforms and is now part of Google's Everyday Robot Project.

Kenneth Nguyen
FRC Electrical Mentor - 2022
Kenneth was formerly part of the electrical team at FHS robotics and graduated in 2015. He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly. He has worked at a few Silicon Valley Startups since graduating in 2020.

Arunita Kar
FRC Mentor - 2021
Arunita is an optical engineer that worked at Honeywell Aerospace and Zygo Extreme Precision Optics. She received her Graduate's degree in electrical engineering with a specialization in photonics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also an FRC alumna who co-founded and led the state of Kentucky's first FIRST robotics team, Team 2856.

Rajiv Sreedhar
FTC Team 16532 Mentor - 2017
Rajiv graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a MS and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. He has worked at Intel, McAfee and multiple startup in the high tech industry for the past 25 years. He was a mentor for our FRC team and currently for FTC.

Igor Ziper
FTC Team 16532 Mentor - 2018
Igor was an Electrical mentor for FRC 3501 for two prior years. The 2020-2021 season was his first year mentoring FTC. He has a MSc in electrical engineering. He has been working as a chip designer for over 15 years. He is also parent to our former organization President, Daniel, and current VP of Mechanical Design, Nika.

Arie Vayner
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2016
Arie first mentored the FRC 3501 team for two years and moved to FTC for the 2018-2019 season. He holds a BS in computer science and works at Google as an Engineering Manager.

Matt Smith
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2021
Matt has previously been a member of and mentored FRC Team 2172. He first participated in FIRST in 2008. Outside of robotics, Matt is a software engineer at Google and enjoys playing Japanese taiko drums.

Deepak Patil
FTC Team 18223 Mentor - 2020
Deepak holds a Master's degree in computer science & works at Cadence Design Systems in the Printed Circuit Board division. He has been an FLL coach for several years before mentoring FTC. Deepak is an avid hiker & fitness enthusiast, loves backpacking and outdoor adventures. At home he enjoys playing Indian musical drums called Tabla.

William Busler
FTC Team 16532 Mentor - 2022
Will is currently taking a gap year from studying Industrial Engineering at Rutgers University to be an intern at Tesla as a Plastics Manufacturing Engineer. He has been involved in FIRST for the last 9 years and has competed in FLL, FTC, and FRC on Team 303. He has also mentored FTC Team 756 and FRC Team 8513.

Aparna Bhargava
BaM Mentor - 2013
Aparna has been a mentor since her son first joined FHS Robotics. She is a parent to two Firebots alumni, one of which was our former VP of Business and Marketing, Manan. She was a member of the PTA and was a mentor for FLL teams before mentoring the BaM team.

Nick Hammes
BaM Community Impact Mentor - 2022
Nick studied Computer Science, Philosophy, and Linguistics at the University of Minnesota, and is a Technical Program Manager at Google. He has previously been a business mentor on FRC teams 254 and 2855, competed in the short-lived college-level FIRST demo, and frequently volunteers as an Emcee or Game Announcer in all FIRST programs, including Game Announcing FTC at FIRST Championships since 2017.

FREMONT HIGH ROBOTICS

Our Mentors

Jim Vaughn
FRC Electrical Lead Mentor - 2017
Jim got a Bachelor's degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 1992 and a Master's in Machine Vision in 1998. He has recently specialized in robotics and autonomous vehicles. He is also parent to our former VP of Mechanical Design, Adam.

David Stallman
FRC Manufacturing Mentor - 2021
David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He's worked on Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Xi and Ion platforms and is now part of Google's Everyday Robot Project.

Kenneth Nguyen
FRC Electrical Mentor - 2022
Kenneth was formerly part of the electrical team at FHS robotics and graduated in 2015. He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly. He has worked at a few Silicon Valley Startups since graduating in 2020.

Arie Vayner
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2016
Arie first mentored the FRC 3501 team for two years and moved to FTC for the 2018-2019 season. He holds a BS in computer science and works at Google as an Engineering Manager.

Matt Smith
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2021
Matt has previously been a member of and mentored FRC Team 2172. He first participated in FIRST in 2008. Outside of robotics, Matt is a software engineer at Google and enjoys playing Japanese taiko drums.

Aparna Bhargava
BaM Mentor - 2013
Aparna has been a mentor since her son first joined FHS Robotics. She is a parent to two Firebots alumni, one of which was our former VP of Business and Marketing, Manan. She was a member of the PTA and was a mentor for FLL teams before mentoring the BaM team.

FREMONT HIGH ROBOTICS

Our Mentors

Jim Vaughn FRC Electrical Lead Mentor - 2017 Jim got a Bachelor's degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 1992 and a Master's in Machine Vision in 1998. He has recently specialized in robotics and autonomous vehicles. He is also parent to our former VP of Mechanical Design, Adam.

David Stallman FRC Manufacturing Mentor - 2021 David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He's worked on Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Xi and Ion platforms and is now part of Google's Everyday Robot Project.

Kenneth Nguyen FRC Electrical Mentor - 2022 Kenneth was formerly part of the electrical team at FHS robotics and graduated in 2015. He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly. He has worked at a few Silicon Valley Startups since graduating in 2020.

Arie Vayner FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2016 Arie first mentored the FRC 3501 team for two years and moved to FTC for the 2018-2019 season. He holds a BS in computer science and works at Google as an Engineering Manager.

Matt Smith FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2021 Matt has previously been a member of and mentored FRC Team 2172. He first participated in FIRST in 2008. Outside of robotics, Matt is a software engineer at Google and enjoys playing Japanese taiko drums.

Aparna Bhargava BaM Mentor - 2013 Aparna has been a mentor since her son first joined FHS Robotics. She is a parent to two Firebots alumni, one of which was our former VP of Business and Marketing, Manan. She was a member of the PTA and was a mentor for FLL teams before mentoring the BaM team.

Jim Vaughn
FRC Electrical Lead Mentor - 2017
Jim got a Bachelor's degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 1992 and a Master's in Machine Vision in 1998. He has recently specialized in robotics and autonomous vehicles. He is also parent to our former VP of Mechanical Design, Adam.

David Stallman
FRC Manufacturing Mentor - 2021
David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He's worked on Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Xi and Ion platforms and is now part of Google's Everyday Robot Project.

Kenneth Nguyen
FRC Electrical Mentor - 2022
Kenneth was formerly part of the electrical team at FHS robotics and graduated in 2015. He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly. He has worked at a few Silicon Valley Startups since graduating in 2020.

Arie Vayner
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2016
Arie first mentored the FRC 3501 team for two years and moved to FTC for the 2018-2019 season. He holds a BS in computer science and works at Google as an Engineering Manager.

Matt Smith
FTC Team 16533 Mentor - 2021
Matt has previously been a member of and mentored FRC Team 2172. He first participated in FIRST in 2008. Outside of robotics, Matt is a software engineer at Google and enjoys playing Japanese taiko drums.

Aparna Bhargava
BaM Mentor - 2013
Aparna has been a mentor since her son first joined FHS Robotics. She is a parent to two Firebots alumni, one of which was our former VP of Business and Marketing, Manan. She was a member of the PTA and was a mentor for FLL teams before mentoring the BaM team.