“ My USC freshman biology teacher, Ed Callahan, had the most direct impact on me being interested in science and technology.”
rooting firmly in the Upper St. Clair community. His father, who grew up in Shaler, was the minister of education at Westminster Presbyterian on Route 19 for 17 years. His mother worked for ASSET, a STEM education initiative that helped to produce science kits for schools, including the Upper St. Clair School District.
Davison, along with his brothers Scott and Tim( RE2’ s chief engineer), thrived in the Upper St. Clair area. He has fond memories of playing on the Baker Elementary School grounds and sledding on the nearby three-hole golf course. In school, he wrestled, played soccer and then switched to swimming. He played alto sax in the high school marching band, participated in crosscountry and pole vaulted for the track team in the spring.
He credits the time spent at Upper St. Clair High School for sparking his interest in science and technology. He says his biology teacher, as well as his AP physics and calculus teachers, had the biggest influence on his future career.
“ My freshman biology teacher, Ed Callahan, had the most direct impact on me being interested in science and technology,” explains Davison, 42.“ I spent a lot of time with him outside of class because he started an A. V. club, which made programs for the local public television station. I ended up helping to lead it and was the director of the weekly TV news show we produced.”
After graduating from high school, Davison attended Allegheny College, where he earned his B. S. in physical chemistry with a minor in behavioral psychology. Following graduation, he moved to Chattanooga to work as a programmer and analyst for various companies, including the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Davison returned to Pittsburgh in 2010, first joining RE2 Robotics as a senior software engineer. He was promoted to principal software engineer in 2013 and was named director of software engineering in May. He has managed numerous projects during his tenure at RE2, including two drop-in robotic systems currently in development with the U. S. Air Force.
“ I think Pittsburgh’ s transformation has been happening over my entire career, even though I have only been present for part of it,” he says.“ The speed of the change has only heightened since I moved here from Chattanooga in 2010. It is invigorating to be around so much new technology.”
His love of solving hard problems led him to a career in robotics.
“ At TVA, I helped to optimize the $ 3 billion TVA spends every year on fuel and power from other utilities. I also worked on the system that predicted the resource load of the energy grid,” Davison explains.“ The complexity of all of these systems makes them fascinating to me. I think the complex systems that are foundational robotics are a logical extension to the work I’ ve done throughout my career— it marries mechanical, electrical and software engineering into a single, cohesive unit.”
Today, he’ s helping to lead some of RE2’ s most innovative projects, including the creation of a robotic kit that will allow the Air Force to use existing construction ground vehicles as tele-operated vehicles. He enjoys the“ varied and interesting” days his career provides.
“ Some days I get to put my head down and focus on a single project, and other days I’ m pulled into multiple projects with different requirements or on different phases of the project. Other days, I’ m looking into why something is taking 350 microseconds in the morning, and then spending the afternoon working on a control station on a Windows computer. All of these days are awesome,” he says.
“ Working with all of the other engineers at RE2 is also a giant plus. We’ re teaching each other all the time, and with this team, there isn’ t much we can’ t accomplish.” n
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