Koji I.

Koji I. has extensive work experience, beginning in 2007 as a Researcher at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. In this role, they worked with a diverse group of engineers and scientists to develop and program a cooperative human-robot team, designing and coding search and following algorithms for a mobile robot team, designing and building mobile field backpack systems for communication and control of robot teams, and assisting other engineers with implementation of various components. Koji then moved on to Ford Motor Company in 2009, working as a Sustainable Business Strategies. Later that year, they also worked as a Function Engineer at Philips Oral Healthcare. In 2009, they Co-Founded and served as the Chief Operating Officer of viaCycle. Koji then Co-Founded and served as the Chief Technology Officer of Shift Labs from 2013-2019. Most recently, they have been a Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund since 2019 and will be the Director of Solutions Engineering at Ridecell beginning in 2022.

Koji I. attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 to 2006, where they earned a B.S. in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering (General Engineering). Koji then attended the Georgia Institute of Technology from 2007 to 2009, where they earned an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Koji also attended Y Combinator and obtained a certification in An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python from Coursera in June 2013.