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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Team for Fall 2014

	Sergio Gonzalez, UAV Team Leader Gonzalez is a sophomore Computer Science and Engineering major at UC Merced. He joined the UAV Service Learning Team this semester seeking the opportunity to expand his leadership skills through the organization and management of an interdisciplinary group of students. Gonzalez also joined this team because of the great opportunity of taking part in pioneering the use of drones for scientific research at UC Merced.
	Viridiana Navarro, Communications Officer Viridiana Navarro is a second year student pursuing her Bachelor’s degree as an Environmental Engineer. She has been one of the founding members of the UAV Team and still holds the position of communications officer. Navarro returned for her second semester with the team because she enjoys learning about UAV's and likes participating in project that will ultimately help local farmers in the valley with crop management.
	Tom Thayer, Imaging Team Leader Thomas Thayer is a fourth year Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering major. He is one of the founding members of the UAV Engineering Service Learning team at UC Merced. Thayer joined the team to gain professional experience in the design process and to hopefully make an impact on the use of UAVs in the commercial and scientific world. He enjoys taking things apart to learn how they work and tinkering with components to improve their performance. In the future, Thayer hopes to involve himself in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
	Justin O’Rourke, Platform Team Leader O’Rourke is a senior who is pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree. He joined this team so he can share his experience working with electronics with his fellow students. O’Rourke also hopes to get better educated with UAV possibilities and its integration in other fields besides Mechanical Engineering. His optimal career is to focus on UAV/Robotic platforms for either civilian uses or for Military uses.
	Walter Vasquez, SAC Officer/Webmaster Vasquez is a senior Mechanical Engineering major. He joined the UAV team to become a professional. Vasquez hopes to achieve this goal by taking on more tasks and completing them in best manner. He has always been interested in building things and watching them work. Vasquez’s curiosity sparks his imagination which helps him find simple solutions to complicated problems.
	Christopher Reps, Deputy Leader Reps is a freshman Material Science Engineering major at UC Merced. He really enjoyed the experience in robotics at his high school and wanted to continue on that path. In addition to that, Reps wanted to gain relevant engineering experience and work on a team. In his future he would like to create and discover new materials and possibly start his own company down the line.
	Phoskrit Manikalak, Inventory and Finance Officer Manikalak is a sophomore Mechanical Engineering major. He joined the UAV Service Learning Team in hopes to gain professional skills, research UAV's, and grow as a leader. He also finds drones fun to play with. Joining the team would allow Manikalak to design and fly UAVs. It is without doubt that he will gain knowledge about drones and grow professionally under the UAV Service Learning Team.
	Avery Berchek Berechek is a freshmen interested in a Bioengineering major. He believes that UAV's are becoming a very popular term nowadays, and he wanted to be a part of a leading technology. However, this is not any old UAV team to Berechek. This team is creating an autonomous drone to help out farmers and he wanted to learn more about engineering and help people. This UAV team fits that description perfectly to Berchek. He plans to work on robotics mechanisms that help people.
	Patrick Thavornkant As a senior at UC Merced, Thavornkant works on his Computer Science and Engineering major. As a part of the requirements to graduate, he figured this team would be the most interesting to participate in. Thavornkant believes that this is the only team where he felt he could flex a bit of the Computer Science knowledge he’s gained over the years at UC Merced.
	Francis Espiritu Espiritu plans to obtain his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He joined the UAV team because he always found the drones to be very interesting. It reminds him a lot of the RC vehicles he would play with as a child, but on a grander scale with limitless applications.
	Eric Harmon Harmon is a senior Mechanical Engineering major. He believes that UAVs are at the forefront of technology in the Central Valley and all around the world. Harmon finds the ability to work hands-on with them will be awesome.
	Cesar Ramos Ramos is a junior Mechanical Engineering major. He joined the team because he wanted to gain experience with UAVs. Ramos’ interest is in the aerospace and defense industry. He hopes to work in that field once he graduates from school.
	Joseph Kotlarek Kotlarek is a freshman Computer Science and Engineering major at UC Merced. He was inspired by a great speech given by Chrisopher Butler at the ASCEND conference, which featured the experience and professional skills that Kotlarek would to gain by involving himself in this program. He intends to get his master’s degree in a field related to CSE, and enter the workforce in the lucrative field of software development.
	Adrian Jose Hernandez, Intellectual Property Officer Hernandez is a senior Mechanical Engineering major. The reason why he joined this service learning team was to further his knowledge in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Hernandez hopes to get a career in the Automotive Industry.