Members

Meet the Students

  • Adam Cohen is a senior at Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. This is his fourth year on the team. He is the captain, and is one of the head machinists. He will be graduating in the spring and attending Tufts University come fall of 2009.
  • Gabriel Ruiz is a senior at Morris Academy in the Bronx. This is his second year on FIRST and is using this opportunity to learn as much as he can for a future career in engineering.
  • Mayra Garcia is currently a senior at Morris Academy and it is her first year on the robotics team. She is very thrilled to be on 2Train as a student and a member of the electronics team. She is a very hardworking and dedicated student who is also known as “Arigato”.
  • Noah Kleinberg is a senior at the Fieldston School in the Bronx. It is his fourth year on the team. He works on the programming aspect of the competition and has been the driver for the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
  • Alexandra Rojas is a senior at Morris Academy in the Bronx. She loves everybody on the team, helps out with the robot, and gives the best hugs.  In her spare time she likes to paint and hang out with her besties.  This is her second year doing FIRST robotics and she is hella awesome.
  • Carmen Marrero is a junior at Morris Academy and this is her second year doing FIRST Robotics. She is known as the “drilla” on the team.  Carmen likes to be involved in many aspects of the team including robot design, spirit, and cart making.  In her free time, she’s either in art club, drama or out eating pizza with friends.  She is also a ROCK STAR!!!! =]
  • Naya Gary is a sweet and intelligent person who loves ICE CREAM. She is currently a junior at Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies High School. She also has a squeaky voice which makes her AWESOME!
  • Bryan Pimentel is currently a senior at Morris Academy and this is his first year on robotics. He enjoys helping out the team with drilling and working on the shooter. In his free time, he usually sleeps, listens to music or is with his family and friends having the best time ever.  No0 Lo0 To0y!
  • Kevin Smith is currently attending the Bronx Aerospace High School and is in his second year on the team. Kevin is on his way to becoming a pilot, and hopes to gain knowledge in engineering.
  • Steve Thomason is a Sophomore at Morris Academy. This is his second year working on FIRST robotics and has the highest attendance rate on the team. He has a passion for learning and competing on and off the team whether in robotics or basketball. He likes to volunteer, collects buttons and help other team members, and brings a smile wherever he goes!
  • DeQuan Ellis is currently a sophomore at Morris Academy. 2009 will be his first year on the team and he enjoys designing and constructing the cart and practicing shooting as the human player. Outside of 2 Train, his friends call him “Dan” and he likes to play basketball and football.
  • Daniela Garcia is currently a sophomore at Morris Academy. As a first year, she is already a driver on the team and working on the electronics board too, which is fun! She is signed on to do the electronics board until graduation from high school. That’s going to be exciting! She is known as “Domo”.
  • Eric Castillo is a sophomore at Morris Academy. He was always interested in the programming aspect of the competition. In his second year, he is now a student programmer who can edit the site and is learning more about different programming mechanics. He hopes to be a programmer for the rest of his years on the team. He is also a gamer and goes by the alias on many gaming forums as “DragonFE”.
  • Nick Barker is a senior at High School for Excellence. This is his first year on the team. Nick hopes to expand and learn more about himself by taking up different activities outside of his comfort zone. Nick likes to spend his days at Barnes & Noble’s buying and reading multiple books at a time.
  • Criss Serrano aka knows as co0kie is a current student in Bronx Aerospace. Criss is a star football player who takes his time to practice for the Evander Tigers. Born in P.R he struggle to adapt, through hard work he became a great honor student . Criss is a great robot driver and has a lot of talent. To him is not that he should get ready for the future but the future to get ready for him….GO 2 Train…=)
  • Preston Ohta is a current high school junior at the Loyola School.  He joined 2Train Robotics this year, but has been a member of FIRST robotic teams for a total of three years.  He is also a member of the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), is a First Honors student, and intends on pursuing a career in physics and engineering.
  • Abner Donado is a freshman at morris academy. This is his first year on the team and is interested in learning many new things about the team. He plans to be a part of the team for the rest of his years in high school and has a great attitude for helping the team.
  • Parish Maynard is a sophomore at morris Academy. He enjoys playing football, wrestling and basketball. He joined robotics to develop skills in electronics and loves to travel. He is also known as “PoloP”.

Meet the Mentors

  • Robert “The Bob” Stark is the coordinator of the Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Lab at Columbia University and the backbone of every robot. He was born and bred in New York City and is now heavily involved in FIRST Robotics with the best robotics team in the world—2Train Robotics.
  • Reuben Antron Bridges started as student in 1999 when 2Train was called the Bronx Bull Dogz. He is now a senior mentor of the team. He enjoys being a part of FIRST because he feels the program makes a difference in the lives of students. Reuben is current working at the Children’s Hospital at Montetiore(CHAM) located in the Bronx New York. The name of the department where Reuben works is called the Carl Sagan Discovery Program, where he coordinates educational lessons (science and technology) with patients ranging from 3 to 22 years. Reuben is going back to college to study Automotive Technology.
  • Marshall Fox is a third year head mentor for 2TrainRobotics. He is a senior at Columbia University where he studies Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.  He likes watching romantic movies and enjoys smiling. His favorite food is Lays Potato chips (Ruffled) and is also a member of the fox family, Canidae Vulpini.
  • Crystal Zhou is a senior MechE at Columbia University and is excited for her second year as a head mentor for 2Train. She was pulled onto the team by geeks but has since loved every minute of greasy sweat and hard work that goes into building a robot with 2Train. Aside from engineering, she enjoys photography, snowboarding, and re-runs of classic Simpsons.
  • Weade Williams has been a member of 2TrainRobotics for 3 years. Currently attending The Art Institute of New York City studying Graphic Design and is a freelance graphic designer and creative force behind WVWDesigns. Being a part of 2TrainRobotcs, Weade has learned a lot about robotics and has gained many long-lasting relationships.
  • Heather Flay is a second year math teacher at Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies.  She is from Buffalo, NY and in her free time likes to kayak, travel and spend time with friends.
  • Kristian Bruno is currently a student at Bronx community college studying computer science. He joined 2Train as a Morris High school freshman and has since graduated to become a dedicated mentor who heads up the controls system each year. He is known as “Mr.Roboto”.
  • Phillip Dupree is a second year mechanical engineer/political science major at Columbia University. He is from Maryland and hopes to work at NASA after he graduates.  When he’s not building robots and taking time off from plans for world domination, he involves himself in karate, the Scholars Program, social justice projects, biking around the city, and reading comics in various bookstores around the city.
  • Gary Israel is the “legendary” veteran mentor and has been the backbone of the 2Train operation since 1999. He was awarded the 2008 FIRST Outstanding Volunteer award for his dedicated efforts towards FIRST and his presence in nearly every aspect of the program whether through 2Train or other competition teams. He is a retired teacher from Morris Academy who introduced FIRST to the Bronx, enjoys (really enjoys) traveling, and plays tennis like a pro.
  • Jie Qi is currently a junior studying mechanical engineering at Columbia. As a first year mentor, she is enjoying all aspects of FIRST from animation to robot design. In her spare time, she is the residential artist on and off the team and specializes in varying forms of art from sculpture to drawing.
  • Victoria Barbosa is sometimes mistaken for a high school student due to her small nature, but is a mentor (granted a past student on the team) for 2Train Robotics. She is currently a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute for Technology.
  • Hans E Hyttinen
  • Henry Jones
  • Paul Lucien