Contest Judges


    Ross Bordchart

    • Employed by Accuray Incorporated, Madison, WI
    • Previously held positions at Orbital Technologies and Boeing Company Satellite Development Center as a Flight and Control Engineer and as a Systems Engineer
    • Interned with Buffoli Transfer S.p.A. Brescia, Italy.
    • Technical experience includes mechanical design, analysis, fabrication, assembly, test, and verification. Past projects have involved aerospace power systems, controls technology and simulation, and life support systems.
    • Past UW-Madison Activities
      • Flying Badgers Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Project: Jet Turbine and landing gear team leader
      • Vice-chair of the Wisconsin Section of AIAA
      • Lace Master(2007-2008)
        • Schoofs Contest for Creativity- 4th Place
        • Tong Prototype Competition- 2nd Place
        • Patent Pending
      • Sea Squad-Luxury Submersible: Designed a luxury submersible to an operating depth of 100 meters.

    Ed Gisske

    • Education
      • BSEE UW-Madison 1970
      • BSME UW-Madison 1973
      • Thirteen postgraduate credits in Thermoscience and Fluid Dynamics at UW-Madison
    • Registered professional engineer in Wisconsin since 1979
    • 15 US and foreign patents issued, 8 applications pending. More than 50 US Patent citations
    • Owner Gisske Engineering, Mt. Horeb, WI
      • Sole-practice that designs and develops electrical and mechanical products for forensic analysis and testing
      • Participated in bringing more than 150 products to market since 1978
    • Served as a Lecturer/Specialist in the UW-Madison Mechanical Engineering department teaching Manufacturing Processes, Welding Engineering, Instrumentation and various short courses
    • Taught ME349 (Mechanical Engineering Senior Design) as an adjunct lecturer in 1997
    • Interests
      • Amateur radio: First licensed in 1961, Amateur Extra class license
      • Aviation: Commercial, Instrument, and Multi-engine ratings
      • Precision metalworking and machine tool renovation
      • Home brewing beer

    Ryan Knipple

    • Education
      • BSEM UW-Madison 2012
      • MSEM UW-Madison 2014
      • PhD Candidate Engineering Mechanics UW-Madison
    • Former TA for ME349/EMA469
    • Particular experience in Rotating capacitors for power transfer applications, Wound Field Synchronous Machine structural design and validation, and Hydrodynamic thrust bearing design, modeling, and validation
    University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Engineering Physics
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Revised: 12/09/2015