Dan Frank

Dr. Daniel Frank earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Arizona State University. He was introduced to FIRST Robotics in 2012 as a graduate student at the University of Florida when one of his professors asked the class if they would like to help mentor a rookie FRC team. For seven years he mentored FRC Team 4118: Roaring Riptide and earned the 2017 Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at the Orlando Regional. During the same time, he helped win two collegiate international autonomous boat competitions and helped found multiple robotics teams on the Navajo Nation. After graduating, he moved to Arizona where he currently volunteers with the Si Se Puede Foundation to provide high-quality opportunities to learn engineering for populations that are traditionally marginalized in the field, including working with students who identify as a gender minority such as the all-women collegiate robotics team, Desert WAVE. In addition to teaching students about engineering and robotics, he also introduces them to assistive technology projects. By showing students that learning engineering skills and concepts can help improve someone's life, he believes it is possible to encourage more students to become interested in engineering.