OUR MENTORS

Mentors are an essential part of our team. They help keep our team together, and also help sustain knowledge and learning throughout the years. Without the mentors none of what we do would be possible. Our team likes to keep a high student to mentor ratio to promote student learning while still gaining valuable knowledge from our mentors.

Lead Mentor

Howard Evans

Howard Evans is a graduate of The Ohio State University where he studied electrical engineering. While attending college he worked for the OSU Physics Department where he helped design, build, and test electronics for the ZEUS particle detector at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. Howard has been working for Nordson Corporation since 1997 and is currently a Staff Engineer where he designs control and power electronics for the Packaging and Product Assembly division.

Howard joined the Techno Titans as a mentor in the spring of 2007 after watching the team compete in the FIRST Championship in Atlanta. Having always been fascinated with robotics as a child, he now lives vicariously through the students he mentors.

Administrator

Theresa Dixon

Theresa handles all the “behind the scenes” for the team – handling all the paperwork, day to day financials, travel for the team and helping wherever needed. She also assists with drive team selections and finalization of the essays and presentations for grants and awards.

Theresa works for Yeoman Technology Group as an Amazon Merchandiser. When not working or with the Techno Titans, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, watching college sports and traveling. She lives in Suwanee with Howard and their dog, Jake and cat, Scarlet.

Mentor

Andrew Booth

Andrew and Joyce are the proud parents of Olivia Booth (Northview Class of 2013), now of Denver, Colorado and Calvin Booth (Northview Class of 2019), a four-year Techno Titan, who presently attends The University of Alabama and is a member of the five-time national champion Astrobotics team. Roll Tide.

Mr. Booth has served as a mentor to the Techno Titans since the 2018-2019 season but has been an involved parent since the 2016 season.

Mr. Booth retired as Assistant Tax Commissioner in DeKalb County, Georgia in 2018, after a career that spanned four decades and four Tax Commissioners. Presently, Mr. Booth is a partner with BAB Tax Consulting and also is a School Bus Driver for Fulton County. He has had experience in television news and radio in Florida and Atlanta and holds a Master's degree in Communications.

Programming Mentor

Matthew DeLuca

The 2019-2020 season was Matthew's first with the Techno Titans. Currently, he is helping evaluate new cameras for use by the vision processing team, assisting with the construction of field elements, and assisting with the programming team. He is a certified expert on the contents of aisles 13, 21, and 22 of the local hardware store. By day Matthew is a data analyst for Cox Communications. By night he enjoys tinkering on various projects in the basement, maintaining his vintage Ford truck, and annoying his two dogs. He lives in Johns Creek with his wife Julia and son Dominic.

Mentor

Calvin Booth

Calvin Booth is our team's first mentor alumni. He spent four years on the team working in mechanical design and fabrication, eventually leading those sub-teams. After his FRC experience, Calvin went on to study mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama. Continuing his passion for robotics, he is on the five time national championship winning Alabama Astrobotics team. This team competes in NASA's Robotic Mining Competition every year. Currently Calvin is leading the mechanical subsystem working on the design and fabrication of a fully autonomous rover. Calvin hopes to join the space industry after college and continue helping people pursue their passions of engineering.

Business Mentor

Julia DeLuca

Who says you need to know about robots to be a robotics mentor? If that was a requirement, Julia would not be here. Julia first volunteered with the Techno Titans in the 2019-2020 school year, beginning her education about robotics, drivetrains, CAD, and more acronyms than a person should ever try to learn. Julia will be assisting the business team stay organized and on track to complete all their tasks and duties. In real life, Julia has been a research librarian at the CDC for the last 20 years. At home Julia enjoys photography, knitting, and reading, and lives in Johns Creek with her husband Matthew and their son, Dominic.

Faculty Sponsor

Brian Downey

Our principal at Northview High School has been a supporter since his arrival and has been the official liaison at the school for the last several years. During our times of hardship, he has helped us tremendously ensuring our team could still exist to this day. We are so grateful for everything he has done for our team.

Mentor

Sunny Patel

Sunny is a former Techno Titan and new alumni mentor. He is currently remotely attending Auburn University in their aerospace engineering program. Sunny will be assisting with the fabrication and business subteams. He is an avid 3D printer and UPS store expert.

Programming Mentor

Peter Estelle

Growing up in Maryland, Pete enjoyed both science and the outdoors. He was a Boy Scout and later joined an Electronics Explorer Post. Pete went to GA Tech and has an MS in Electrical Engineering.

Pete is a Chief Engineer at Nordson Corporation. Nordson designs industry-leading equipment and sells it globally. He designs embedded control systems and hold 22 US Patents. Nordson is a sponsor of several FIRST robotics teams, both financially and via support of its employee’s involvement. Pete has been a robotics mentor with the Techno Titans since 2008.