For many MATE alumni, their time with the competition helped give them skills and experience to launch a career, whether in marine robotics or another field. For Adam Simko, the influence feels a little more direct.
He was researching thrusters for his college robotics team’s ROV when he stumbled across a kickstarter for a new company, Blue Robotics. A few months later, he applied to work as an engineering intern there—and now, he works for Blue Robotics full time.
“I have the job I have because of my time at MATE,” Adam said.
He discovered his future employee while researching for his team, but it was his actual experiences competing that helped him land that internship. Adam decided to see what MATE was all about after hearing about a club meeting on the morning announcements his freshman year of high school. He joined the team and ended up competing all four years until graduation.
His team wasn’t very good at first, he says, but over the years, they grew in experience and know-how and went on to place third in Hawaii his junior year and first in Houston when he was a senior. That Houston competition at the NASA Neutral Buoyancy Lab was a special memory for Adam. He’d always had an interest in aeronautics, so to suddenly be casually working on his ROV next to an Orion spacecraft mock-up in the pool was exciting.
“Looking back, the main thing I remember from high school is working with my team on our vehicle and competing,” Adam said. “It was really exciting as a high school student to be in that environment. I always looked forward to it every year.”
Adam went on to study mechanical engineering at University of California, Davis, and now works as a design engineer at Blue Robotics. In his spare time, he still likes to volunteer with MATE in whatever ways he can.
“The competition has given so much to me that I want to do what I can to give back,” he said.
