David Mayo is bringing Mechatronics to the new 4C Academy

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the eighth in a series of 10 stories profiling non-traditional teachers at the 4C Academy.

ALBANY — When 4C Academy mechatronics instructor David Mayo tells people his chosen teaching field is in mechatronics, he laughs and says you can see many of their eyes glaze over.

“I get asked that question a lot,” Mayo said. “It’s always been a difficult field of study to describe.”

According to the web site www.tryengineering.org, “mechatronics is a combination of the terms ‘mechanical’ (“mecha” for mechanisms, i.e., machines that ‘move’) and ‘electronics.’ The word reflects the basic nature of this field, to integrate electrical and mechanical systems into a single device. Mechatronics is said to be the junction where concepts from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science are merged to design, build and operate products.”

Mayo, however, has been asked to explain what he teaches so many times he’s grown accustomed to the question.

“Most people have never heard of mechatronics. It’s a hybrid term that combines mechanical and electronics,” Mayo, a Montezuma native, said. “It’s a subject that has become very popular lately especially with these college and career academies. Industry sees a need for people who can work with electronics and the mechanical things it controls. If you have someone who goes into a plant or a facility with a lot of automation, they are not only dealing with the mechanical systems, they are also dealing the electrical side which makes it a system.

“The automation is not doing it by itself. It’s actually being controlled by programmable object controllers, programmable micro controllers and all different kinds of controllers. Anything that’s out there has electronics in it,” he said.

Mayo, 51, stressed the thrust of his classes will be in systems control electronics.

“These systems control everything from air-conditioning systems, automotive systems, communications systems, biomedical systems which are used in hospitals, and all of these systems use actions to perform a goal along with the electronic circuitry which goes into the systems,” Mayo said.

“What I’m looking to do here is to train these students, or at least the beginning stages of, install, maintain, repair, set up program and possibly go into engineering and possibly design the thing. We are moving from an analog world, where we can see hear and touch, into a new digital realm.”

Mayo graduated from Bacon County High School in 1984 and immediately enrolled in electronics at South Georgia Technical College.

“I knew electronics was something I really wanted to get into,” Mayo said. “I hopped on the technology bandwagon early and never got off. Within a year, I was on an internship with Warner Robins Air Force Base working in avionics. I was at Warner Robins for 14 years. And then I got this very odd opportunity to teach and something drew me to it. I laugh because I actually happened to see a want ad for an electronics instructor at South Georgia Tech and spent 18 years there.”

So, what drew him to the 4C Academy?

“Over the years I’d dealt with teaching young kids fresh out of high school, and there were things I was seeing in beginning students I did not feel were in place,” Mayo recalled. “I always wondered what it would be like if I could just get to the kids a little earlier, just to get the basics down because if you know the basics and the fundamentals, it can take you a long way.

“The opportunity here at the 4CA came through a common acquaintance. My niece is a counselor here and knew they were looking for someone for this position. I was contacted and after 18 years of teaching you sorta hit a point of equilibrium. So I thought this opportunity might be a good change for me.”