Your hosts for OptoVideos in the Watch section are:
Alexi Beck Gray
Alexi holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, where she worked as a research assistant and studied fluid dynamics at the Garfield Thomas Water Tunnels. She also has a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, where she received a full fellowship, researched active control of combustion, and found the control side to be her real interest.
At Opto 22, Alexi learned about our products as a Product Support engineer and then moved into training. Over her 12 years at Opto 22, she's worked on a number of projects, including the creation of the Prove It To Me Toolbox and its subsequent incarnations (the latest being the SNAP PAC Learning Center), as well as 349 Training, a program that brought a day of hands-on training directly to customer sites.
Now Opto 22's Director of Training, Alexi creates the curriculum for the company's product training classes and co-teaches the hands-on classes held several times a month at Opto 22 headquarters. She also develops and presents online tutorials and instructional videos. In addition, Alexi heads the OptoCertified Training Program, which certifies qualified individuals to teach Opto 22 classes and provide factory training around the world.
In her spare time, Alexi develops product seminars and has lectured around the country on the topic of industrial Ethernet networking—in locales as varied as a decommissioned battleship in New Jersey, the media room at a NASCAR track, and a yacht in Newport Beach Harbor.
Kelly Downey
Kelly received her Bachelor's of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside (UCR), spending her summers working in the oil fields of Southern California. She also holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from UCR. During graduate school, she worked as a research assistant in the field of embedded systems; her research focused on medical equipment and sensor networks.
Kelly started her career at Opto 22 doing hardware and firmware design. She developed the Profibus SNAP I/O module, which is used primarily in Europe to communicate directly with Profibus systems. She was also heavily involved in the company-wide energy management plan, which utilized Opto 22 products to more closely monitor and control corporate water and power usage. As part of the plan, Kelly developed OptoTerminal interfaces, using Qlarity Foundry, to add flexible control to the lighting system. Most recently, Kelly developed the Lunch Seminar Toolkit.
Kelly used her enthusiasm and knowledge to provide hands-on training to customers who come for our free SNAP PAC System product training classes. She also developed and presented instructional videos about Opto 22 products. These videos are available for free download in the Learn section of our website.
Norma Rodriguez
Norma earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Engineering from California State University, Long Beach, interning at Hughes Aircraft Radar Systems Group. Hired by Opto 22 in 1991 as a Product Support Engineer, Norma has become familiar with all our product lines over the years.
In the Product Support Group (PSG), Norma started answering pre-sales as well as post-sales technical calls and later provided international product support for our foreign distributors (she's fluent in Spanish). She worked in Engineering for a year, developing SNAP Ultimate I/O firmware, but ultimately decided she missed the customer contact in PSG. Currently she provides support for both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking customers.
Always interested in writing, Norma was involved early on in improving Opto 22 documentation. Tasked with finding a way to track issues in Opto products and inform customers about them, she developed the Opto 22 KnowledgeBase (OptoKB) in a series of timely articles, each describing an issue and its workaround or resolution. Originally a separate OptoSupport Blog, Norma's OptoKB articles are now in a searchable database used by both customers and Opto employees. Norma is completing her Technical Writing Certificate from the University of California, Riverside.
As an OptoCertified Trainer, Norma teaches the Troubleshooting section of our free SNAP PAC System training classes in both English and Spanish. Combining her teaching and writing skills, she's currently updating the SNAP PAC System Training Manual used in the classes.
And as you see here, Norma also translates and hosts Spanish-language versions of our OptoMinute videos and product screencasts.
Surge Yu
Surge holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering and an M.E. in Electronics Science from prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. Formerly Technical Marketing Engineer at National Instruments in China, Surge joined Opto 22 in 2008 as our Chief Representative in China.
With automation expertise in water, power, semiconductor, and machine building, and extensive experience with programmable automation controllers (PACs), Surge has a broad range of skills and knowledge. The Opto 22 China office is in Shanghai, but Surge has already traveled to several cities to give a series of PAC Summits, attended by local engineers and technicians interested in learning about the new programmable automation controllers.
On a recent visit to Opto headquarters in California, Surge recorded a series of OptoMinute videos in Chinese (Mandarin). He has also arranged for translations of other videos. In addition, he's working on a new Opto 22 website in Chinese, with translated data sheets and other product information.
Ben Orchard
Ben joined Opto 22's Pre-sales Engineering staff after extensive field experience in automation in Australia. With an electronics background and a B.S. in Engineering Management, Ben spent over 18 years as a Plant Control Technician for Ballarat Health Services in Victoria.
Ben's experience there included a variety of Opto 22 products, from Optomux to SNAP PACs. Ben integrated products from various manufacturers with his Opto 22 systems to develop power, HVAC, refrigeration, and emergency response systems for a large group of hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and other healthcare installations. In the process, he handled serial, ARCNET, and Ethernet networks and migrated from Cyrano, our first control software, to FactoryFloor and later to PAC Project. In fact, we wrote a case study about the hospital system.
Now at home in Temecula, California, Ben answers Opto 22 customers' questions about which products to use for their applications and how to use them. He also helps teach our free SNAP PAC System training classes and seems to be constantly in demand for other projects—like how-to videos, for example. We're glad he's here.