OUr Coaches
Mike Corsetto
head coach / Lead Technical mentor
Head Coach Mike Corsetto has been mentoring our team since 2008 and is a FIRST alumni from team 114. A graduate of UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, he's a Systems Engineering Manager with advanced.farm in Davis. Mike wanted to give back to the FIRST community through mentoring other robotics students and supports the team in robot planning and design, as well as leadership and management.​ He's also a winner of the 2016 Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.
2016 sacramento woodie flowers award winner.pdf
Brook Ostrom
head coach / business and media
Brook Ostrom has mentored our team since 2014 and has more than 35 years of experience in public relations, marketing and graphic design, and writing and editing for a variety of publications. He graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and Business Management. He started mentoring as a parent and has continued to expand his involvement with the team in retirement. For Brook, it's an opportunity to work with students to help build their writing and communication skills using a variety of media and platforms.
Steve Harvey
Founding mentor
Steve Harvey co-founded our team in 2004 and served as Head Coach before retiring from teaching at the end of the 2021 season. He spent 17 years as a consulting geotechnical engineer prior to becoming a classroom teacher, spending more than 20 years teaching mathematics in Davis. He also started a series of robotics classes that helped establish a Career Technical Education pathway at Davis High School and led to a State grant to build a new robotics facility at DHS. He was the recipient of the 2015 Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.
woodie flowers 2015 sacramento regional winner.pdf
Kanwardeep Singh
Lead teacher
​Kanwardeep Singh began mentoring Citrus Circuits in 2021. She is the Advanced Robotics teacher at Davis Senior High School and teaches Multimedia, Robotics, and Computer Science at Holmes Junior High. She received her bachelor's and master’s in Education from UC Davis. Kanwar’s interest in programming began when she worked in a UC Davis research lab affiliated with the MIND Institute. She pursued her interest in programming by teaching a Robotics and Coding class at Holmes Junior High School.
Hardware
Jennifer Bullockus
Jennifer Bullockus joined our team in the offseason of 2019 as a Hardware Design mentor. Jennifer’s initial encounter with FIRST was through her brother, who had been the Head Strategist on team 5199 Robot Dolphins From Outer Space. She has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Davis with an emphasis on material sciences and mechanical design. For Jennifer, Citrus Circuits is an opportunity to help students with the knowledge she acquired in college and mediate the engineering mentors and the students. She looks forward to seeing the creativity of the students and helping them continue to excel at Championships.
DEvin castelLucci
Devin joined the team during the offseason of 2005 as student on the team and after graduating high school became a mentor that specializes in fabrication. He’s the Lead Fabricator at Advanced Farming Technologies that build robots that harvest strawberries and apples. In his spare time he mentors Team 5458 Digital Minds from Woodland. He's always wanted to work with robots, and after seeing a demo by the team felt a moment of discovery and joined the team instantly.​
Anthony diAZ-VIGIL
Anthony is a Hardware mentor who joined the team as a student in 2010 and began mentoring in 2012 after graduation. His responsibilities include manufacturing and prototyping, and some design support. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Sacramento State University. Anthony has had an interest in robotics since junior high, and while sitting in Steve Harvey’s math class heard about the team. From there he joined as a student, and after graduation came back as a mentor during college.
Matt golman
​Matt Golman has mentored our team since 2022. Prior to joining 1678, he was a student and later a mentor for Team 2102. He graduated from Lafayette College with bachelor's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Studio Art, and is now a mechanical engineer at Advanced Farm Technologies designing autonomous fruit harvesters. On the team he does design training, CAD reviews, and prototype testing, and enjoys watching students grow in confidence and competence as they advance through the team.
Avery Phimmasehn
Avery is a hardware mentor who joined the team as a student in 2014 and began mentoring fall 2022. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Avery works at Advanced Farm Technologies in Davis as a mechanical engineer. He enjoys seeing the creativity that the students bring to the team and wants to help students gain new and meaningful experiences through their time in FIRST.
Payton Wong
Payton joined our team in the summer of 2021 and was a mentor for Team 846, The Funky Monkeys, for over 18 years. He graduated San Jose State University with a Baccalaureate in Nursing and is a retired critical care trauma nurse and worked in organ donation most of his career. Prior to his 2nd career in nursing, Payton was (and still is) a R&D machinist with over 30 years of machining experience in the medical device, aerospace, thermoforming and tech industries. He enjoys teaching others how to "fish" by sharing his manufacturing experience, and guiding the students in safe and efficient methods of machining. Payton also encourages students to enhance their critical thinking and communication skills.
woodie_flowers_finalist_award_essay_-payton.pdf
software
steve cohan
Steve Cohan began mentoring in 2022 after retiring from a 35 year career in robotics and mechatronic systems. He has worked in domains such as aerospace, nuclear, surgical robotics, and most recently subsea robotics, where his last position was Vice President of Product Development at TechnipFMC Schilling Robotics in Davis. Steve is a strong believer in mechatronic design and implementation, in which the mechanical, electrical, and software disciplines develop concepts, design, test and iterate together. This approach helps teams overcome siloed thinking and gain common, in depth understanding of the solutions they create. He hopes to help the team experience working in this way during this first experience in FIRST mentoring.
James Deacon
James Deacon began mentoring in 2024 after learning about the team from his colleague Mike Corsetto. He graduated from Caltech with a BS in Computer Science, a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and a MS in Electrical Engineering. James has been passionate about robotics from a very young age. He was the software lead of an FLL team that placed second in California, a member of the Caltech Robotics Team for 5 years at Caltech making autonomous submarines, and has worked as a Robotics Software Engineer focusing on controls and Behaviors for Advanced Farm since 2020. James is coaching the Software Robot subteam and hopes to bring his experience with autonomous decision making to Citrus.
Austin Haddox
Austin Haddox joined the team during the 2018 offseason as a Strategy and Hardware mentor. He has had experience at team 2085 RoboDogs for two years, and is a FIRST alumni of the same team. He has an Associate's Degree in General Mathematics and a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Solano Community College. He also works as a data analyst for an insurance company. He joined the team to learn from the mentors of 1678 and to hopefully apply what he learns to his own team when he moves.​
Richard mccann
Richard McCann has mentored both the Software Scouting and Business and Media subteams since 2011. He’s a resource economist with over 30 years of experience and currently does statistical analysis and strategic planning, as well as cost accounting. He attended UC Berkeley for his Bachelor of Science in Political Economy of Natural Resources and Doctorate in Agricultural and Resource Economics and University of Michigan for a Master of Public Policy. Richard joined after his son joined the team as a senior and originally planned to work solely with fundraising. He grew interested in the scouting aspect of the team during the season and has continued to mentor both subteams since.
Business and Media
Sangho Byun
​Sangho Byun started mentoring our team in 2024 as a parent of two members. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania with dual degrees in engineering and business, and brings decades of experience leading teams and solving problems at enterprise software companies and management consultancies. Sang loves coaching the Business and Media subteam because of the wide variety of tasks and challenges, ranging from logistics/process to artistic/creative.
Jackson Durham
Jackson was on the team from offseason of 2013 till 2016. He started mentoring the team in 2022. He has an A.A in photography. With this, he freelances for various companies. In 2017 he also started pursuing videography with his photography skills, and also works at a prototyping incubator at Sacramento city college called the maker space. His goal is to help people learn media and how FRC Games work.
Outreach
Kristine Harvey
​Kristine Harvey has been on the team since 2014 when we presented our first Chairman’s submission. She’s been a French teacher for 27 years and has spread ideas of FIRST in multiple other countries, making contacts from around the world. She attended UC Davis and received a Bachelor of Arts in both French and English, as well as a Masters in Applied Linguistics. She joined the team to work with former students in a new capacity and to meet new students. She’s encouraged students to join the team for years and enjoys seeing where they end up on the team. ​
David Solomon
David Solomon joined the team as an outreach mentor during the 2018 offseason. He received a Bachelor of Art in Architecture from UC Berkeley in 1987, where he served as a teaching assistant in Structural Engineering for Architects. He taught STEM through an architects-in-schools program, and ran the outreach for an urban development and infrastructure program in Vientiane, Laos. He is currently a supervising architect for the State of California and has extensive experience in project management. His kids' involvement in DYR encouraged him to volunteer with 1678 to help with outreach activities.
workshop
uwe Rossbach
Uwe Rossbach joined the team as a mentor in 2025 after volunteering as a team parent. He retired from a career in computer services at UC Davis. Uwe enjoys woodworking and maintaining the field in top playing condition. He loves helping students discover new skills and grow their talents.
dan Tolson
​Dan Tolson is a former General Contractor who rejoined the team in 2023. Dan’s primary role on the team is to facilitate and oversee the construction of the field elements and to make improvements to our facilities wherever and however he can. A graduate of DSHS, he is thrilled to be helping students solve problems, prototype designs, fab parts, learn new approaches to building things, and streamline their production processes.