The Mobius, WFA and WFFA site

[Andy Baker]

All,

The WFA group have put together a website named "The Mobius". It is mostly complete, and could be especially useful to recognize this year's WFFA winners (http://themobius.wordpress.com/2012-wffa-winners/). Also, it has pages for all WFFA (http://themobius.wordpress.com/wffa-winners/) and WFA (http://themobius.wordpress.com/championship-wfa-winners/) winners. There are also a page each for Dr. William Murphy (http://themobius.wordpress.com/dr-william-murphy/), founder of the WFA award, and of course Dr. Woodie Flowers (http://themobius.wordpress.com/dr-woodie-flowers/). Hopefully, we can bring light to these two wonderful gentlemen. If anyone going to the South Florida Regional has a chance to talk to Dr. Murphy at that event, it would be a great experience.

Please, please, please find these WFA and WFFA winners at your events and give them the recognition and appreciation they deserve.

Also, please check the site out and respond with what you think. If you find edits are needed, feel free to PM me. It's just a wordpress site, and not very fancy. But, it is a start of something that we can build upon.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[Akash Rastogi]

Great site! I've always wanted to see this information organized in one place. Thanks to the WFA winners for putting it together.

[Taylor]

That site is superb. I would also like to see bios on the WFFAs if possible, or perhaps the teams' submission essays where available.

I noticed the listing shows the WFFAs' current teams - nice touch.

I'm sure this was very labor-intensive. Thanks for putting it all together.

[EricLeifermann]

Not to be a stickler but(as an alumnus of Michigan Technological University) shouldn't the school be Michigan Technological University and not Michigan Technical University for Ken and Kyle, unless I am mistaken and there is a Michigan Technical University?

Other than that this site is very cool, hope to see my name on it someday.

[Andy Baker]

Not to be a stickler but(as an alumnus of Michigan Technological University) shouldn't the school be Michigan Technological University and not Michigan Technical University for Ken and Kyle, unless I am mistaken and there is a Michigan Technical University?

Oops! Got it right now, thanks!

Andy

[JaneYoung]

I'd love to see the reasoning and story of the design behind the trophy, itself. Or, did I overlook it?

Thank you so much for creating this website! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Jane

[Peter Matteson]

Arrgh!

Wordpress sites are blocked from my office. I'll have to actually log on at home to see this.

[EricLeifermann]

Oops! Got it right now, thanks!

Andy

No problem, but you only fixed Kyle's profile it still says Technical in Ken's. :p

Thanks for all the hard work you and the other WFA's have put in to this!

[Rich Kressly]

Namaste, Mr. Baker!

1. Incredible. A home for the heroes. Thank you.

2. I agree with Jane on the mobius design info. Maybe the header graphic could also include the WFA/WFFA trophies in addition to/instead of FRC medals? To me both of these pieces are vital info in addition to being critical to understanding the web address.

3. Many of the WFA's/WFFA's have their actual entries published on the web. Is it possible to link to the actual essays to show as many strong models to teams as we can? I'll even volunteer my services to help weed through and collect info. :P

[Travis Hoffman]

I'd love to see the reasoning and story of the design behind the trophy, itself. Or, did I overlook it?

Thank you so much for creating this website! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Jane

I also would like to know who makes them, and how they are made. Who is the designated ball bearing popper-inner? :)

[Mark McLeod]

Andy's design explanation
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=258529&postcount=9

[RMiller]

Just an FYI: you appear to be missing the 2009 Minnesota (North Star and 10k) winners.
North Star: 1816 - Mark Lawrence
10k: 2177 - Kurt Aschenbeck

[Mark McLeod]

I see a bunch missing (maybe 14 or so), but I'm sure that'll improve.

Just looking at 2004 the first WFFA year, the missing include:

Dave Kelso (team 131) who won WFFA in 2004 at GSR (and who subsequently won WFA later).
Paul Copioli (2004-Detroit)
Robert Mainieri (2004-CA)The (post 2003) WFA's themselves seem to have been left out of when they took a WFFA. I suppose that's reasonable.
I attached a comparison I started in case people want to help to verify.
I have to go setup a field now...

[Carol]

I love! Would it be possible to put pictures of the WFA winners? So we can recognize them when we see them?

[RoboMom]

Thanks Andy. This is a great site.
Is Mark Koors entry correct? 2012 Rookie number in 2006?

[Taylor]

Thanks Andy. This is a great site.
Is Mark Koors entry correct? 2012 Rookie number in 2006?

Mark is currently with 3940. He was with 45 when he earned the award.
I've noticed a couple mentors who have changed teams since earning WFFA have their most recent teams listed. Makes it easier to congratulate them. I think it would be nice to have a footnote, though.

[jblay]

NY seems to be left out

Jeanne Boyarsky 694 was the winner
woot^

[Libby K]

What a great idea. I am so glad for this - we need to celebrate these winners as much as possible. :) Thank you for putting this together.

I'd love to see the reasoning and story of the design behind the trophy, itself. Or, did I overlook it?

Thank you so much for creating this website! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Jane

There is some description of it in a "25 Years of DEKA" publication (that currently exists at Dean's house / DEKA / is given to invited guests of Dean's), as one of the DEKA 'christmas gifts' (a geeky-cool present secretly designed and built by DEKA engineers each year for Dean) was a mobius similar to the WFA trophy and is featured in the book. I will try and see if I can get a copy that snippet and send it to Andy so that it can go up on the site.

[Katie_UPS]

I created a quick code that sorts through the data (allowing me to finally get WF stats!)

With this data (http://themobius.wordpress.com/wffa-winners/) (not taking into account for team switches), the most WFFA(+WFA) winners any team has is 3.

The teams with 3 WFFA winners are as follows:

103
116
155
341
357
469
612
987
1114
1538
1574
1675

This does not include teams with a WFA (which does not beat the 3 mentor record).

If you include the WFA, these teams are added to the list:
111
131
188
234
365
812

Isn't data fun? If anyone wants any more numbers, let me know.

[Dancin103]

Andy,

The site looks great and it is nice to see a representation of all the past and present WFFA and WFA winners. All of these folks deserve a grand amount of recognition because they all truly inspire us each and every day.

Cass

[Ian Curtis]

Thanks Andy. This is a great site.
Is Mark Koors entry correct? 2012 Rookie number in 2006?

I believe that is Andy & Mark's rookie team. The distribution of WFFA winners is interesting, some pretty big peaks and they aren't just due to one team. Glancing through it looked like multiple teams had 3 WFFAs, but I didn't see more than that. Also I love the bios, really interesting to see what WFAs do for their day jobs, and it's cool to see a pretty even mix between teachers and people that mentor in addition to another type of day job.

http://i.imgur.com/CSIKml.png

[Kims Robot]

Awesome Awesome Awesome site!! I've been hoping to see something like this for a verrry long time!! (exciting especially since 1511 has their first WFFA this year! Go Jeff! hehe)


3. Many of the WFA's/WFFA's have their actual entries published on the web. Is it possible to link to the actual essays to show as many strong models to teams as we can? I'll even volunteer my services to help weed through and collect info. :P
I really like this idea too, I would love to see the essays linked and would also be happy to help dig up/collect them. If the wordpress site cannot handle them, we can probably host any that aren't on teams sites on 1511's site.

I love! Would it be possible to put pictures of the WFA winners? So we can recognize them when we see them?
I second this idea too... Might be a lot of work, but I think it was a fun idea with the Unsung FIRST heros that actually helped you recognize the people. Perhaps if we got super creative we could even do them in a design that looked like a button format (Hmm time to pull out my photoshop skillz! or borrow some!)

But thank you immensely for putting this together!!!

Now... we should get some of those Deans List students to pull together something similar before we have to "go digging" years from now...

[Joe J.]

Great website Andy! Thanks for sharing this!

[Billfred]

This is a great step forward...and the obvious ties to the WFA winners gives me hope that this site will have legs in the future. Count me among the folks who'd love to read the submissions as well. (I imagine the kids writing them wouldn't mind some direction, either.)

Keep it up!

[Rich Kressly]

...oh one more picky thing ... the drop down list of all the WFA is a little too long. Is it possible to put the names in two columns?

[DCA Fan]

This is great, I'd love to see some of the essays as well. I can contribute the few that I have if you'd like them.

[JamesBrown]

Mark is currently with 3940. He was with 45 when he earned the award.
I've noticed a couple mentors who have changed teams since earning WFFA have their most recent teams listed. Makes it easier to congratulate them. I think it would be nice to have a footnote, though.

It may be worth adding another column, one for team when they won, and one for current team.

It doesn't appear that everyone's teams have been updated, Pat Fairbank is still listed as 1503 but is now with 254. Obviously mentors moving between teams is tough to track since their is no database of team members or mentors.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I also would like to know who makes them, and how they are made. Who is the designated ball bearing popper-inner? :)All I know is that they aren't cheap. The year I won, my kids had mine on display in the pit at Lone Star, when it fell and slightly broke. It's fixed now and you can't see the crack at the back of the base unless you're handling it, so I don't need your sympathy, honest. Anyways, I'm not always above taking advantage of having a mother that's an RD, so I asked her if she could check with FRC HQ for the cost of replacing the mobius part. It's not four figures, but it's a significant multiple of three. So I've decided that I'd rather keep my money and the story, heh.

[Barry Bonzack]

Isn't data fun? If anyone wants any more numbers, let me know.


Ha, I just did the same analysis, to find out it was already done. I didn't use a code data sorter, just a microsoft excel pivot table.

Awesome site, I'll be sure to take the time to meet Dr. Murphy and thank him for his many contributions to society.

[JaneYoung]

Awesome site, I'll be sure to take the time to meet Dr. Murphy and thank him for his many contributions to society.

Take along some people that are new to FRC/FIRST and introduce them to him, too. He would love that.

Jane

[kmehta]

I created a quick code that sorts through the data (allowing me to finally get WF stats!)

With this data (http://themobius.wordpress.com/wffa-winners/) (not taking into account for team switches), the most WFFA(+WFA) winners any team has is 3.

The teams with 3 WFFA winners are as follows:

103
116
155
341
357
469
612
987
1114
1538
1574
1675


You can now add 604 to the list! Jim Mori won at Silicon Valley tonight, in addition with Helen Arrington (Sacramento 2010), and Maggie Best (Sacramento 2011). Threepeat!

I will try and post some pictures on our website later taken after Andy Baker presented it to Jim Mori. Edit: Photos are posted here (http://604robotics.com/Blog/2012/03/30/2012-google-silicon-valley-regional-day-2/).

[Andy Baker]

OK, I was able to make a few changes.

I also would like to know who makes them, and how they are made. Who is the designated ball bearing popper-inner? :)

Met-L-Flo out of Rockford, IL makes them. Also, I added a "trophy design (http://themobius.wordpress.com/trophy-design/)" page.

Just an FYI: you appear to be missing the 2009 Minnesota (North Star and 10k) winners.
North Star: 1816 - Mark Lawrence
10k: 2177 - Kurt Aschenbeck

Thanks, they are listed now.

I love! Would it be possible to put pictures of the WFA winners? So we can recognize them when we see them?

Some of them have pictures and bios. I've written most of the WFA bios, and could use some help here. If anyone has more pics and wants to give input on a bio, that would be great. Just sent me a PM.

NY seems to be left out
Jeanne Boyarsky 694 was the winner
woot^

The Sunday thing messed me up here, and I missed listing Jeanne. Sorry 'bout that. She is listed now.

There is some description of it in a "25 Years of DEKA" publication (that currently exists at Dean's house / DEKA / is given to invited guests of Dean's), as one of the DEKA 'christmas gifts' (a geeky-cool present secretly designed and built by DEKA engineers each year for Dean) was a mobius similar to the WFA trophy and is featured in the book. I will try and see if I can get a copy that snippet and send it to Andy so that it can go up on the site.

Whatever you can get, Libby, would be very appreciated.

I created a quick code that sorts through the data (allowing me to finally get WF stats!)

With this data (http://themobius.wordpress.com/wffa-winners/) (not taking into account for team switches), the most WFFA(+WFA) winners any team has is 3.

Dina Campagna moved from team 341 to team 357 a couple of years ago, but I never updated the list so she is with the three guys on 357. She brings the WFFA total on team 357 to 4 winners. They are now alone in the lead.

I updated the list tonight (excel file and html list), and I captured about 10-12 WFFA mentors who have changed teams. From Scott Ritchie and his new team (3947) to Dave Scarcella moving to team 231, there are various changes.

...oh one more picky thing ... the drop down list of all the WFA is a little too long. Is it possible to put the names in two columns?

Um, I dunno how to do that yet.

This is great, I'd love to see some of the essays as well. I can contribute the few that I have if you'd like them.

Yes, feed me any info you guys want to provide, and I can make WFFA pages with essays included.

It may be worth adding another column, one for team when they won, and one for current team.

It doesn't appear that everyone's teams have been updated, Pat Fairbank is still listed as 1503 but is now with 254. Obviously mentors moving between teams is tough to track since their is no database of team members or mentors.

Yep, got it. A "notes" column is added. If anything needs to be added there, please let me know. This is also a good place to list that a few of these wonderful mentors have sadly passed away.

Sincerely,
Andy

[Carol]

I created a quick code that sorts through the data (allowing me to finally get WF stats!)

With this data (http://themobius.wordpress.com/wffa-winners/) (not taking into account for team switches), the most WFFA(+WFA) winners any team has is 3.

The teams with 3 WFFA winners are as follows:

103
116
155
341
357
469
612
987
1114
1538
1574
1675

This does not include teams with a WFA (which does not beat the 3 mentor record).

If you include the WFA, these teams are added to the list:
111
131
188
234
365
812

Isn't data fun? If anyone wants any more numbers, let me know.

Well, if you want to be technical about it, (since you love playing with data) the last list should be on the list with 3 WFFA, since all the WFAs had to win a WFFA first.

Although I can see the rationale about leaving them off the WFFA list since it is long already.

[efoote868]

Heh, I recognize that exact WFFA trophy on the design page (BMR 2008). That was one of the highlights of my senior year.

I also remember going to the grocery store shortly after on a short bus, getting a blank b-day cake, and laughing as my teammates struggled to put icing on it themselves as we drove back to Earhart dining court for dinner.

:D

[Joe Ross]

Are there plans to update the site this year? Do you need any help?

[DonRotolo]

Ditto.
Oh, and the spreadsheet is missing the MAR WFFA winner from 1676, who won last year. :o