Ben Matzke

I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011 with both my Bachelors and Masters in Mechanical Engineering.  After school I continue to reside in Pittsburgh, PA enjoying the city and the surrounding area. Before college, I grew up in Palo Alto, CA where I began and cultivated my robotics interests.

I am an avid gamer of many types. I spend a lot of time playing games through Steam and expanding my library with every sale. Nintendo is what I grew up on and my Wii still gets plenty of use. The shelves around me are also stacked with plenty of board games for whenever electricity just won't cut it.

Photography for me started as a hobby when I got my camera. As I started going to larger events I began to get the hang of my camera and the pictures I took just got better and better.

Volunteering

While I live here in Pittsburgh, I volunteer some of my time to a few organizations in the area. The two I work with most are CMU's Buggy Alumni Association (BAA) and the local FIRST robotics community.

Buggy Alumni Association

At the Buggy Alumni Association (aka cmubuggy) I have become the head writer and photographer for the site. It is my job to write the news posts and reports that get displayed and I attend as many practice weekends as possible so that I can inform the community on the current state of CMU's one of a kind sport.

Because of my involvement as the primary reporter, I write much of the BAA's Raceday Preview which is released to members only before the races every year. This preview summarizes the year's events for each team and lays out our predictions for the outcome of the races which happen during CMU's Carnival in the spring.

Recently I have become more involved with the leadership of the organization where I help planning events and assist the student group with fundraising and mentoring. 

FIRST Robotics

FIRST Robotics is a nationwide organization that promotes STEM education through robotics competitions. These competitions start as early as kindergarten with programs covering the gaps up through high school. I am primarily involved with the High School level known as FRC. In recent years I have been assisting the regional planning committee with events in the area and filling the role of field Manager during the competitions.

Projects

Being an Engineer by training and having an interest in many things, I have worked on a lot of different projects over the years. If you want to check out anything more in-depth, follow the link above.