Our Team & Community

Meet the leaders, advisors, and research fellows dedicated to making social robotics accessible, open, and impactful.

Leadership Team

Guiding the organizational direction, product engineering, and nonprofit initiatives at Peerbots.

Saad Elbeleidy

Saad Elbeleidy

saad.phd

Executive Director & Board Member

Saad completed his PhD in Computer Science researching Human-Robot Interaction with the MIRRORLab at the Colorado School of Mines. Saad researched how to design tools for people to more effectively control robots and is working on Peerbots implementing much of those research findings and continuing its presence in the research space. Aside from his educational background, Saad has worked with various startups in renewable energy, e-commerce, social media analytics, and natural language processing.

Board Member, Treasurer, Founder & Lead Developer

John is the lead app developer and Treasurer of Peerbots. Having graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Art from Carnegie Mellon University in 2017, John specializes in rapidly prototyping hardware and software for experimental cutting edge technologies in AR/VR/MR, robotics, telepresence, AI and everything in between. John is also the Founder and CEO of Choitek LLC, an educational robotics technology company in Pittsburgh, PA.
Dan Liu

Dan Liu

Board Member, Design & User Experience

Dan is leading the product design and user experience design of Peerbots. As a graduate student at University of Colorado Boulder's Creative Technology and Design program, she is passionate about empathizing with users and incorporating their stories and needs. She is a creative designer who advocates for empowering and intuitive concepts. She has long-established design history working closely with users, non-profit organizations, researchers, and developers.
Tess Lojacono

Tess Lojacono

Board Member

Tess is CEO of Fine Art Miracles, Inc. and a member of the Peerbots Board of Directors. She supports Peerbots' community development and user feedback.
Flannery Currin

Flannery Currin

Board Member

Flannery is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science department at Denison University. She has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Psychology from Earlham College and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Iowa. Her research is in the area of Human-Computer Interaction, with a special focus on supporting children's play and learning. She is interested in developing accessible and socially responsible technologies with and for young children and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Aubrey Shick

Aubrey Shick

aubreyshick.com

Founder

Aubrey is the Founder of Peerbots. Aubrey has been developing peer-like robotic teaching assistants to aid in the wellness and education of children with challenges since 2010. Today, open-source derivatives of these Peerbots are used regularly by facilitators and teachers at Fine Art Miracles, Inc., a non-profit based in Pittsburgh, PA. Aubrey has been Executive Director of Peerbots, Research Affiliate in the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder and also continues to serve as Head of Technology and Research at Fine Art Miracles, Inc.

Advisory Board

Distinguished leaders, clinical professionals, researchers, and advocates guiding our governance and impact.

Molly K. Rearick Day, EdD

Molly K. Rearick Day, EdD

Educational Consultant

Molly was previously Executive Director of Peerbots and is an Educational Consultant; Founding Director and Board Member of IGNITE Collective, Inc.; Adjunct Faculty and Co-Director of the Explorers Program at California State University, Northridge; Adjunct Trainer & Advisory Board Member at Elevatus Training; Board Member & President of MountainQueers, External Advisory Board Member for the Colorado School of Mines Robotics Program; and a qualitative researcher focusing on supported communication.
Julie Artigliere Cavalier, Ph.D., CCC/SLP

Julie Artigliere Cavalier, Ph.D., CCC/SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Julie Artigliere Cavalier is a speech-language pathologist with over thirty years' experience as a healthcare and education professional. She was the founder of two businesses providing speech pathology services for children and adults with diverse needs. Julie has taught at the graduate level at universities throughout the Front-Range and has served on several non-profit boards.
Amy Brooks, M.Ed.

Amy Brooks, M.Ed.

Inclusion & Transition Specialist

Amy Brooks holds a Master's in Education specializing in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling. As an individual born with Cerebral Palsy, Amy has thrived by adapting and welcomes growth opportunities to educate herself and others. Career highlights include Graduate Assistant Transition Coordinator for Kent State University's Center for Innovation Transition and Employment, Independent Living Skills Camp Director for IGNITE Collective, and Advisory Board member for Elevatus Training.
Tim Enwall

Tim Enwall

Head of Misty Robotics, Inc.

Currently the Head of Misty Robotics, Inc. based in Boulder, CO, building Misty II—the personal platform robot designed for software developers and schools. Tim leads vision and strategy for personal robotics in business, research, and education.
Jason Lynch

Jason Lynch

COO & General Counsel, Foundry

Jason Lynch is Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Foundry, a venture capital firm based in Boulder, Colorado. Prior to Foundry, Jason was a partner at Davis, Graham, & Stubbs and worked at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in NY. He previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Temple Grandin School, serving middle and high school students on the autism spectrum.
Yasser Nadeem

Yasser Nadeem

Senior Data Analyst & Tech Consultant

Yasser is a senior data analyst at a Fortune 25 healthcare company. Prior to data analytics, Yasser spent over 7 years working as a therapist with autistic children, developing a strong passion for technology-assisted therapy solutions. Yasser holds a BS in Psychology and an MBA from George Mason University.
Lea Anne Paskvalich

Lea Anne Paskvalich

Executive Director, Autism Society of Colorado

Lea Anne Paskvalich is Executive Director of the Autism Society of Colorado, Founder of Next Steps Consulting LLC and former Director of Admissions for Temple Grandin School. For over 20 years she has worked to connect autistic individuals and their families to education, employment, resources, and relationships.

Peerbots Research Fellows

Early career Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) scholars conducting studies and advancing open-source assistive robotics.

2026 Peerbots Research Fellow

Cornell University

Fellowship Focus: Hyunju is replicating and extending HRI work on robot face perception using Vizij.ai - the framework Peerbots is adopting for our free robot faces. Her fellowship work examines how expressive robot faces influence people’s perceptions of robots in interaction, and what these perceptions suggest for the design of robot identities, social cues, and expressive behaviors.

Hyunju Kim is a PhD student in Information Science at Cornell University. Her research sits at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction, where she designs and studies telepresence robots, avatars, and Mixed Reality (XR) systems for embodied remote collaboration. Her work explores how remote users can participate in shared physical spaces through proxy bodies, and how embodiments shape people’s experiences in collaboration. Her work has been published in venues including CHI, CSCW, and UIST.

Dylan Thomas Doyle

Dylan Thomas Doyle

View Research Paper

2025 Peerbots Research Fellow

University of Colorado Boulder

Fellowship Focus: Dylan conducted a qualitative study examining the adoption of expressive faces, like the Peerbots face, for humanoid robots in industry and academia. Dylan focused on understanding the needs that 'decision-makers' are taking into consideration about the facial expression of the robots they are designing.

Dylan Thomas Doyle is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. As an HRI researcher, Dylan's work focuses on values-based design for robots and the impacts of socio-technical contexts on the perception of robot identity. Outside of research, Dylan is the Founder and Executive Director of The All Tomorrows Institute. Dylan received his PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder, Masters of Divinity from Columbia University, and BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to a career in technology research, Dylan served as a Unitarian Universalist minister and hospital chaplain.