Coaches & Mentors

Kirsten Jahn Richardson, Head Coach

Kirsten Jahn Richardson is Daisy’s official paparazzi, biographer, videographer, photographer, webmaster, visual designer, and mass organizer. She’s come a long way since joining the team as a student in 2001: Kir has earned her B.S. in Digital Media Arts from Canisius College, gotten married, and found a daytime job as an UX/UI Design Director for DiD. Other than that, though, not much has changed. Kir still spends her nights slaving for the Daisy, only now in a more managerial role. She has brought her professional skills, personal obsessions with organization and efficiency, and vast (too vast??) knowledge of Apple computers to the students.

Hobbies: Photography, tracking her car, traveling, CrossFit
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food: Spaghetti/Anything Pasta
Average Amount of Time Spent Staring at a Computer: 12 hours/day

Adam Nedorezov, Programming and Electrical

Aloof to us all, Adam Nedorezov first joined the team in 2002 after his 9th grade physics teacher, Mr. Ostrow, kept showing team propaganda in class and rejoined us as a mentor in 2014. On the team, he was an operator of the robot, and now mentors our electrical and programming subteams. Adam got his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering. He currently works as an R&D Engineer at The Applied Research Lab.

Hobbies: Bowling, gaming, searching for Decepticons, crocheting
Favorite Color: Plaid
Favorite Food: Cheesesteak
Trademark Facial Expression: Stare of Unamusement™

Sean Stevens, Game Strategy and Mechanical

Sean Stevens graduated from Wissahickon in 2012 and received his B.S. and M.S. from Drexel University for Electrical Engineering. He now works as a product engineer at ASI Drives, where he does electronics and programming for their autonomous vehicle. Sean came back to the team because he can’t leave; he loves the environment and wants to give back to the community. In the shop, he mentors the build subteam through design and manufacturing, and acts as our drive coach at competitions.

Hobbies: Robotics, gaming, 3D printing
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Food: Cheesesteaks
Fun Fact: He rearranges his house every three months.

Lou Orehek, Mechanical

Lou Orehek began his journey with the team after seeing several of his students join and pass through the program. After seeing the success of both the team and his children, he felt inclined to offer his help wherever necessary. With a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, he is currently employed at Comcast. He offers video services and is equipped to take on a variety of challenges. On the team, he helps with programming, the pit display, and assisting students carry out their goals.

Hobbies: Fishing
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Pizza
Looking forward to…deep analysis of the game

Kara Bakowski, Mechanical

Kara Bakowski moved to Philadelphia from Michigan, where she was an FRC student on Team 1189, the Gearheads. With a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Michigan Technological University, she was more than ready to come be a part of the FRC scene once more, and used the FRC team tracker to find a team to mentor. She works as a metallurgical engineer for ArcelorMittal, and is a mechanical/build mentor on our team.

Hobbies: CrossFit, doing her cats’s bidding, and napping
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Food: Mozzarella Sticks
Fun Fact: She owns fifteen flannel shirts.

Frank Gorham-Engard, Secretary of Energy

Frank Gorham-Engard started working with the team in 2014 when Comcast asked him to serve as a mentor. As an Ambler native, he enjoys helping the younger generations in his community succeed in developing technical and planning skills. He dedicates much of his time to ensure that team operations run smoothly. Frank uses his software and computer-embedded systems background to assist the team in many ways.

Hobbies: Card games
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: BBQ Ribs
Biggest Accomplishment: Married for 39 years & taller than 5 feet

Scott Richardson, Media

Scott Richardson has been hanging around Miss Daisy since 2007. He quickly realized that in order to see his wife, Kirsten, from January to April each year, he would need to embrace the robotics team. Taking it all in stride, Scott decided to put his Bachelor of Science in Digital Media Arts from Canisius College to use and come on part-time as a media coach. He states that “no one likes to watch a horrible video,” and offers his production knowledge and graphical skills to assist media team students in the production of their projects. When he isn’t working behind the scenes of a Daisy media project, Scott works full-time as a motion graphic designer and videographer.

Hobbies: Hiking, traveling, photography
Favorite Color: #0185A9
Favorite Food: Tacos
Trademark Pose: Leaning against a table, arms crossed

David Leff, Mechanical

David is new to the world of FIRST^® Robotics, after being introduced to the team in 2016 by Jenni Herchek. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. David currently works for Globus Medical, designing spinal implants. When he’s not working or helping the design and CAD subteams, he enjoys traveling around the U.S. visiting new places.

Hobbies: Running & Reading
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Food: Fried Okra
Fun Fact: Grew up in a barn

Scott England, Mechanical

Scott England’s journey with FIRST began when the World was young, when FRC was a more savage place. Before COTS parts, before bumpers, even before alliances.  In that time he’s worked with 4 different teams (122, 401, 118, and 341).  Scott got his B.S. and M.S. in Engineering Science & Mechanics from Virginia Tech. He spent the first 11 years of his engineering career at NASA Johnson Space Center playing with Astronauts and can personally verify that microgravity is as much fun as it sounds.  Scott took a job doing human factors engineering for Johnson & Johnson to be closer to his ancestral homeland of the Northeast.  With Miss Daisy, Scott can usually be found huddling over a 3D printer or working with students to prototype overly-complicated mechanical systems.

Paul Shaffer, Mechanical

Paul was introduced to the team in 2019 after his son joined, and has been hooked ever since. He has a B.S. in Chemistry from UVA, and a PhD in Biochemistry from Duke. He works in preclinical drug discovery as a scientist at a pharmaceutical company. On our team, he can usually be found making our mock game field each year.

Hobbies: Woodworking
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Fajitas
Biggest Accomplishment: Being published in both the Journal of Science and the Journal of Nature

Alan Ostrow, Founding Coach

Mr. Ostrow began as a small child. He then grew up. After spending his time gathering various degrees (B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Education from Drexel, and a 2 year Associate Degree in Drafting and Design from the American Institute of Design), working as a draftsman for an engineering consulting company, engineer for Keebler Company (think delicious snacks), and an engineer for Gemini Bakery Equipment, Mr. Ostrow finally decided to settle down and start a family…. a robotic family. After teaching at Wissahickon High School for only one year, Mr. O became inspired. Thanks to a random promotional email, Mr. O stumbled into his first FIRST^® competition. The rest is history. Now, more than 15 years later, he can be found in the shop, in the classroom, or on the computer (but never sleeping) still working to help Daisy succeed and grow. Whether he’s telling stories of his days as a Keebler Elf, searching for bargain bulk plane tickets, sketching robot designs, or hosting team meetings, Mr. Ostrow has been (and will always be) a driving force behind Daisy’s success.

Hobbies: Ice hockey, hiking, drawing, sending emails when the recipient is most likely to be sleeping
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Build Season Pizza
Average Amount of Sleep During Build Season: 4 hours/night

Evan Ostrow, Mechanical

Evan Ostrow has a long history with Team 341. With his father as the team founder and former head coach, he was introduced to the world of FIRST® Robotics in elementary school. He joined the team in high school, and became a part of the Strategy, Design and Build subteams, and he gained leadership experience as team captain in 2011. Evan earned his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Drexel University, and has two years of work experience on humanoid robotics at Drexel. Now, he works as a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin in the Space Systems Company. As a mentor, his focus is in helping the build subteam and he says he is happy to be able to give back to the team that was so instrumental in his growth as an engineer and a person

Hobbies: Ice Hockey, Ultimate Frisbee, Hiking/Camping, travel when I can
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Food: Pizza with WD40 and aluminum shavings on a build season night … actually though, pizza is pretty good
Favorite Quote: “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” – John Wooden