Christian LaRosa

Founder & Chief Designer

A student, Christian studies Aerospace Engineering while working with ASU’s Daedalus Astronautics as well as the Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory (SDSL). He has previously assisted development of competition-spec hybrid propellant rocket systems and served on a small team to develop a Pulsed-Plasma Thruster (PPT) under support from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Raytheon. In 2019, he designed and prototyped mass-market turbofan engines using metal additive manufacturing processes. It is a key belief of his that art and beauty are as important to design as function.

Austin Thurman

Project Manager

Austin is a business student at Arizona State University, who believes in scaling the most powerful ideas from concept to market. He values integrity, as well as a razor-sharp attention to detail in achieving any milestone. Austin has experience in accounting, having worked in the past analyzing and organizing financial records for a restaurant corporation. Through studies in both management and entrepreneurship, he clearly understands the societal impact of ideas. Fascinated by the future potential of swarm manufacturing, Austin now serves in upper management at Rosotics.

Jason Steinberg

Business Strategist

Jason is a veteran marketing, social media & content creation specialist with 15 years’ experience in the marketing capital of the world, New York City.  Jason has a diverse background in technology, start-ups, marketing, sales, serial business development, and growth hacking.  He has served in the past to growth-hack several capital-intensive, high-technology ventures. Jason is also a former firefighter, having earned degrees in emergency management and disaster relief. Capable of excelling in high-stress, no-failure environments, Jason is a powerful tech entrepreneur.

Chandan Yadav

Director of Machine Learning

Chandan is a graduate student at ASU with experience at Pegasystems - where he built a facial recognition system with a haar cascade classifier based emotion detector. He also carries significant research in robotics and deep learning, having developed a voice-controlled robotic wheelchair for the physically disabled while working at the Indian Institute of Science. His research in highly intelligent navigation systems was received well at the ICAMMAET and published in IEEE. He is passionate about creating new products and technologies that can positively impact the world. 

John Walling

Chief Financial Officer

John is a business student at Arizona State University, with a notable interest in scaling groundbreaking ideas from concept towards market. Skilled in delivering progress within stated deadlines and utilizing resources to maximize efficiency, John has a proven track record. Able to think creatively and find novel ideas to achieve results, he is a valuable asset to the Rosotics team. John is also passionate about just causes, an active volunteer with experience in feeding children from third-world countries. A futurist, John believes in enabling inventions with a high potential for growth.

Jared Sanborn

Business Strategist

Jared is an experienced tech marketing and business development professional with well over 15 years of hard working, self-motivating, nose to the grindstone entrepreneurial experience. Coffee pales in comparison to Jared’s inspiring, no-fail attitude. Having founded and owned over 5 previous companies, he has worked in virtually every role of a startup's structure. Jared has raised a $1.83M Series-A investment series for a previous tech startup, and has helped deliver fundamentally disruptive technologies in the technology sector to market over the span of his career.

Chris Hochman

Development Advisor

An experienced scientist, Christopher has degrees in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, and Chemistry. He also graduated from Naval Nuclear Power School before serving 6 years in the US Navy. He is experienced in NPPO welding as well as designed programs approved for DOD contracting by the US Navy.

Brent Sebold

Business Advisor

Brent Sebold is the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship + Innovation Training and Development Network within the Arizona State University's Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. In this role, Brent leads a variety of enterprise-wide startup support initiatives for student, faculty, and community-based entrepreneurs.

Devin Venhuizen

Manufacturing Advisor

Devin is a strongly machine-focused mechanical engineer, graduating from CSUN in 2017. He has background in vehicle drivetrain design through Formula SAE and machining using a 5-axis Haas VF-4. His curiosity with machines has since led him to a career working in robotic industrial manufacturing at Haas Automation.

Amit Sharma

Machine Learning Advisor

Amit Sharma is a strongly motivated professional who is currently working with machine learning and deep learning to solve complex problems in early cancer detection research. He is also a faculty advisor of Arizona State University's Artificial Intelligence Club, having years of experience in complex software algorithm development.

Zach Hamze

Insights Analyst

Zacharia Hamze is an Information Technology student at USF with experience in programming computer databases.. He is interested in pursuing a master's degree in computer science and joining teams dedicated to solving big problems, A motto of Zach's is 'If a product doesn't give more than it advertises, it shouldn't exist at all'.

Meet the Team