Martini uses robotics to drive student achievement

Editor’s note: The City Wire seeks to recognize accomplishments of those living and working in the Fort Smith region. Special recognitions, accomplishments, philanthropic support and input from The City Wire readers are considered when selecting a person to profile.

story by Aric Mitchell
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John Martini, assistant professor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS) and New Jersey native, had a good feeling about the community the moment he arrived.

“The first person that I met was my wife,” Martini laughs. “I came to Fort Smith in 1973. She was working for the Arkansas State Health Department at the time, and they were located in my building. We were married a year and a half later and have been ever since.”

The building Martini  speaks of was shared with his employer, Dictaphone Corp. out of Memphis, Tenn., and it was where he took the first step in a career that has flourished within the River Valley. A product of the GI Bill, Martini discovered that he was good at electronics while serving in the Air Force during the tensions in Vietnam.

“My draft number was six, so I thought why not just enlist? I could use the opportunities presented to pursue my education there. I took the tests they wanted me to take and was told I’d be a good fit for the electronics field. My first reaction was, ‘What is electronics? I have no idea what you’re talking about.’”

But Martini would soon discover he knew more than he thought. In 1977, he finished his associates degree in electronics technology at Westark Community College. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies at the University of Oklahoma, and a master’s degree in management through Webster University.

While pursuing his education, Martini maintained his career, working 21 years for St. Edward Mercy Medical in medical electronics and eventually as director of Facility Services. He also rejoined the military, qualified as an officer while working with the 188th Fighter Wing, and later accepted the position as assistant professor at UAFS.

ROBOTICS PUSH
The versatility and passion he’s shown in his career are two attributes he tries to instill in young students from all over the country through his management of the annual Frontier Trails BEST Regional Robotics competition.

BEST features two parallel competitions: a robotics game, based upon an annual theme with four teams competing at once in a series of three-minute, round-robin matches. Also, the BEST Award is presented to the team that “best embodies the concept of Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology. Elements include a project summary notebook, oral presentation, table display, and spirit and sportsmanship,” according to the organization. (Link here for info and photos from the December 2010 BEST Regional competition.)

“It’s not just about engineering,” Martini adds. “It’s multidisciplinary and a lot more than number crunching. Students have to be able to do research and document their findings. They have to develop a marketing presentation, an oral presentation, a display or exhibit. In many ways, it’s like going to a trade show. They have to interview with judges and work together. They learn it’s as much about how you play the game and treat others as it is anything else.”

Continuing, Martini noted: “BEST is a great workforce development tool, and it fills the engineering niche in a way that other robotics championships don’t. What students find is that there may be more than one way to find a solution. And that’s what employers want. They don’t want to know how much knowledge you have; they want to know what you can do with that knowledge. BEST teaches that.”

‘THESE KIDS’
Martini has been a driving force for the growth of the regional competition in the River Valley since 2003.

“Chancellor (Joel) Stubblefield asked me to go to Fort Smith Southside and check out the competition, which at the time was being overseen by Northwest Arkansas BEST. I was a judge, and I remember watching these teams compete in a game where their robots had to climb up a steel ramp. The first round, there was this team of junior high students, who were having a difficult time getting their robot up the ramp. At break, I witnessed a senior high student show them how to do it. He said, ‘You’ve got to angle the robot and not try to go straight up.’ When those kids came back they nearly won the competition. And that’s when I fell in love with it. I thought, this is what it’s all about, working together and mentoring each other.”

Martini continued: “I love sports. I’m a golfer, love to play it. But when you see a student, who is not into sports eager to put his talents to the test and compete, and you’ve got a big football player cheering him on, it’s just a great thing to see, because many of these kids are not the ones that normally get the recognition.”

“These kids” Martini refers to hail from a number of states including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, and North Dakota.

“In fact,” Martini notes, “the group traveling from North Dakota has to spend $10,000 just to get here and compete. In many cases, the schools don’t sponsor. That means you’ve got these kids, their teachers, and their parents, raising all this money just so they can make it here.”

When the competitors arrive, they must be able to acquire meals, accommodations, and spending money. The Fort Smith Visitors Bureau estimates that each year, BEST Robotics Regionals competitors account for a minimum of $135,000 to the local economy, Martini says.

‘CYCLE OF LIFE’
And while Martini is proud of the impact BEST has on the region, he says his proudest achievement is being involved with a program that excites students about applied learning, especially when those students later become mentors to others.

“It’s the cycle of life, really. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen it. A BEST student graduates high school, comes to college, and pays back through volunteer work. Same goes for many of our sponsors. They give to the program because they either have, or have had, a son or daughter, who competed. They liked it so much, they just kept on giving.”

Martini says his involvement with BEST has opened his eyes to the educational situation in America, and that while he is concerned, he is also very encouraged.

“We cannot relax. We need to make learning a top priority. We may not be able to compete with wages, but we can compete through our innovation. We can be smarter. We can customize in ways that others can’t. An associate of mine at Baldor was showing a prospective student a good example of this the other day. He was working on a few patents for a motor, which are still pending so I can’t talk about them specifically. But he told her, ‘We may not be able to manufacture this as cheaply as some other countries, but we can use our knowledge to meet specifications that other countries can’t.’”

And for Martini, “That’s how we win.”