Mentors
Tim Buss
Tim Buss is our founding mentor. He has 3 decades of experience in the software industry and was instrumental in the founding of our club by providing our first pieces of equipment. Two of his children were also a part of the robotics team. His experience in software coupled with his guidance helps the students learn to program and operate the robot, making him crucial to this club.
Mike Sousa
Mike Sousa is one of our other club's founding mentors. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz majoring in both biology and bio-chemistry, going on to be a fleet manager at UPS for 27 years. Since then, he has worked at San Marin High School as the auto shop teacher, and is now in retirement. He has a lifelong enthusiasm for automotive mechanics, and his engineering knowledge and boundless charisma helps lead us through every year.
Chris Fehring
Chris Fehring has been a Penguin Empire Robotics mentor since 2015. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering and now is a co-founder of a startup. Three of his kids have been members of our robotics team and his engineering knowledge helps us build and test our prototypes.
Chris Hohman
Chris Hohman is a new Penguin Empire Robotics mentor for the 2025 season. He graduated from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in mechanical engineering and currently runs a consulting firm that helps companies implement AI solutions. His son is currently on the robotics team and hopefully at some point in the future his daughter will join as well. Chris is very hands on with all aspects of design and fabrication of the robots and is excited to help Penguin Empire grow as a club.