Dr. Chen-Ping Yu is the co-founder and CEO of Phiar, with over 10 years of cutting-edge research and innovations in computer vision, machine learning, and AI. He was previously a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University researching neuro-inspired deep learning. Prior to that and armed with an MS/PhD in Computer Science, he focused his research on computer vision, machine learning, and brain-inspired vision models. He is the recipient of numerous honors and fellowships, including National Science Foundation. His AI research has appeared in top-tier venues in computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, cognitive science, and neuroscience that includes ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS (formerly NIPS), and PNAS.

Aaditya leads the mobile software infrastructure and device-level deep learning model optimization efforts at Phiar, and brings in 10+ years of software optimization and graphics engineering experience. Prior to joining Phiar, Aaditya was a Staff Engineer at VMware and led the graphics platform development, and also worked at Apple as a Senior Software Engineer on XCode-Simulator graphics platform. Aside from these roles, he was the co-founding CTO of Push Computing which was acquired by MobileIron in 2012. Aaditya holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and his undergraduate thesis on computer graphics techniques focused on ray tracing.

Jim is the Technical Lead at Phiar. He has hands-on experience with 3D geometry, image processing, localization, Augmented Reality, 2D and 3D maps. Prior to joining Phiar, he was an Advanced Algorithm Engineer at Apple Maps, in the 3D Vision team, where he worked on multiple large-scale projects from prototyping to production support. With a background in Electrical Engineering, Jim owns a Ph.D. in Computer Vision for Augmented Reality with a focus on semi-transparent screens. His work led to publications in renowned international conferences such as ICCV, BMVC and 3DV.

Dora leads recruiting efforts at Phiar. She worked as a full cycle recruiter with a boutique agency prior to joining Phiar. She loves learning about other people’s talents, passions, and matching them to opportunities where they can excel. Dora graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in Religious Studies and Global Studies. When not recruiting, she enjoys getting out in nature, a good book, and very strong coffee. She adores the team at Phiar and can’t wait to meet more brilliant people!

Dr. Mohammadhussein Rafieisakahei (Mohammad) is the path planning research engineer at Phiar. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, and obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He has over 7 years of research experience in Robotics Motion Planning under Uncertainties of Process and Observations in Multi-Agent Dynamic Environments. He has established the Decoupling Principle for robotics path planning and control, and has created optimization-based planning methods, such as T-LQG, and decentralized multi-agent solution of MT-LQG. He previously has worked in AutoX, Inc. on path planning for self-driving cars, and currently leads the efforts at routing, navigation, path planning and related technologies, such as sensor-based localization and mapping at Phiar. He has published in serval top-tier venues in robotics such as IEEE ICRA, CDC, TASE. In his free-time he enjoys playing the violin, exploring nature, and learning new languages.

Victor is an experienced digital designer with a deep affinity for storytelling. He specializes in experience and visual design and has worked for Microsoft and on projects with the NFL, Minecraft, Xbox, Seeing AI, Bonnaroo, and the British Premier League for, web, mobile, tablet, desktop and console space. More recently, Victor has been pushing the boundaries of design with emerging technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality for HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality, and HoloLens.

Yash is a Senior iOS Engineer at PHIAR who works on the Front-End and Navigation portion of the application. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a Mathematics degree with an emphasis in Linear Algebra and Probability Theory. Working as an engineer for the last 5 years, he’s worked with multiple platforms and programming languages, but developing iOS applications has always been his favorite. In his spare time, he loves to learn about Deep Learning and GPU programming, and when he’s away from the computer you can find him either playing basketball, globetrotting, at concerts or just relaxing at home with his cats and dogs.

Utilizing his experience from his last entrepreneurial venture, James co-founded Phiar with Chen-Ping after learning about and seeing the excitement surrounding the technology that would be utilized at Phiar. He performs whatever technical work needs to be done in order to advance Phiar’s goal of effortless Augmented Reality navigation, all with a smile. His previous work includes experience in delivering software for hedge funds, then to reverse-engineering and modernizing insurance software. His last venture was in directing software at a successful e-commerce operation sporting state-of-the-art ordering and pricing logistics. When not behind the keyboard, he’s off travelling the world or studying Japanese.

Lan is a software engineer at Phiar with interests in image processing, computer vision and deep learning. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in signal and image processing. Prior to Phiar, he worked with a startup in Vietnam to develop an image processing algorithm to determine the blood glucose level from glucose test strips. He is now responsible for the testing and deployment of computer vision algorithms on the app as well as assisting in developing and maintaining the app’s software infrastructure.

Roxy Stephens is an Administrative Assistant who works with the Phiar team to facilitate office operations, as well as human resources, accounting, and travel planning. Roxy received a Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Business at The Los Angeles Film School and is a member of the National Honor Society of the Entertainment Arts. Roxy is married to her best friend, Adam, and they love catching up on their favorite TV shows, thrifting, and long walks in the Bay Area fog.