Meet the team
Dr. Santanu Bag, President
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
Mr. Christopher Royse, Sr. Business Advisor
Founder and President of AsterTech LLC, brings extensive experience in leadership, business development, program management, and technical advocacy, particularly in Microelectronics, System Engineering, and Renewable Energy. With a successful track record in defense contracting and technology development, Dr. Bag has won and managed new
Founder and President of AsterTech LLC, brings extensive experience in leadership, business development, program management, and technical advocacy, particularly in Microelectronics, System Engineering, and Renewable Energy. With a successful track record in defense contracting and technology development, Dr. Bag has won and managed new research contracts exceeding $250 million. His track record includes successful ventures in microelectronics manufacturing process development, supply chain security, and working experience in industry giants like IBM and Air Liquide. Dr. Bag holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Northwestern University and has received numerous awards for his innovative research, resulting in over 25 patents and publications in prestigious journals, including Science and Nature.
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Mr. Christopher Royse, Sr. Business Advisor
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
Mr. Christopher Royse, Sr. Business Advisor
Christopher "Chris" A. Royse brings nearly 4 decades of experience in planning, budgeting, executing, and delivering client visions and user needs. With a background in military and civilian service, including the United States Army Special Forces and the FBI, Chris has achieved client successes and built a global network of subject matte
Christopher "Chris" A. Royse brings nearly 4 decades of experience in planning, budgeting, executing, and delivering client visions and user needs. With a background in military and civilian service, including the United States Army Special Forces and the FBI, Chris has achieved client successes and built a global network of subject matter experts. He holds graduate degrees from Wright State University and George Mason University, a Graduate Certificate in AI Management from Georgetown University, and completed a Residency at Cambridge University on Bioscience in Europe.
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
A serial entrepreneur with extensive marketing experience; Inventor of several 3D printed manufacturing technologies.
Mr. Trent Fisher, Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Mr. Trent Fisher, Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Mr. Daniel Clark, Principal Hardware Engineer/Marketing Director
Previously founded SAS Automation, a leading international manufacturer of robotic end-of- arm tooling components, custom gripper systems and automation equipment, located in Xenia, Ohio. Mr. Fisher holds a Professional Engineering license from the State of Ohio and an Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Toledo.
Dr. Yong Gao, Staff Scientist
Mr. Trent Fisher, Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Ms. Gabriella Motley, Chemical Engineer
Dr. Gao brings over 15 years of experience in materials research and development, with a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Florida International University. His research spans oxide ceramics, non-oxide ceramics, and composites for applications including structural materials, nanomaterials, and new energy materials..
Ms. Gabriella Motley, Chemical Engineer
Mr. Trent Fisher, Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Ms. Gabriella Motley, Chemical Engineer
Gabriella is a recent chemical engineering graduate from the University of Alabama who has been instrumental in our hypersonics project. Her strong technical foundation and dedication to advancing high-temperature materials research have made significant contributions to our cutting-edge aerospace initiatives.
Mr. Arnaud Cabello, AI Engineer
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Mr. Arnaud Cabello, AI Engineer
Arnaud is a computer science master's student at the University of Cincinnati who is developing our agentic workflow for high-impact defense projects. His innovative approach to AI automation and expertise in building intelligent systems are driving critical advancements in our defense capabilities.
Mr. Yuval Noiman, AI Engineer
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Mr. Arnaud Cabello, AI Engineer
Yuval is pursuing his master's in materials science at the University of Cincinnati, with a bachelor's in computer science. His unique cross-domain expertise has been instrumental in applying AI to aerospace R&D, bridging the gap between advanced materials development and cutting-edge computational intelligence.
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Ethan is a student at the University of Dayton working on data curation for our hypersonics knowledge agent. His meticulous approach to organizing and structuring technical data is helping build the foundation for intelligent aerospace systems.
Ms. Prachi Chheta, AI Engineer
Ms. Prachi Chheta, AI Engineer
Mr. Ethan Mason, Chemical Engineer
Prachi is a recent graduate with an MS in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati. She has contributed to AI projects involving recommendation systems, language generation, and self-supervised learning, demonstrating strong expertise in building scalable models and experimenting with advanced neural architectures.
Our Past Members
Lauren Doorley, Chemical Engineer 2025
Reagan Maddalone, Chemical Engineer 2024
Quinn Hasse , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Lauren is a recent graduate from the University of Dayton, currently pursuing her PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. She made tremendous contributions to our chemical reactor design and simulation work for hypersonics, as well as our critical minerals extraction project.
Quinn Hasse , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Reagan Maddalone, Chemical Engineer 2024
Quinn Hasse , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Quinn is a computer science student from UW-Madison who builds AI tools using transformer models, OpenAI APIs, and full-stack frameworks like Flask and React. He made great contributions to our space cargo logistics system, bringing passion for multi-agent systems and practical AI solutions to our innovation-driven team.
Reagan Maddalone, Chemical Engineer 2024
Reagan Maddalone, Chemical Engineer 2024
Vignesh Ponnam , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Reagan is a recent graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, currently working at McKinsey & Company. She worked on our new coating materials for hypersonics project, bringing strong technical expertise to advance our materials development efforts.
Vignesh Ponnam , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Vignesh Ponnam , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Vignesh is a computer science graduate student at SUNY Albany with experience at AWS and Salesforce. He has developed AI-powered apps across sectors from agriculture to cybersecurity, and worked on building our AI/ML platform for semiconductor process automation.
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Chaitanya is a computer science graduate student at Binghamton University, NY, with valuable experience from IBM and Vodafone. He worked on our space cargo logistics system development and image processing work, bringing expertise in generative AI, applied ML workflows, and DevOps automation.
Ricardo Mota, Robotics Engineer 2021
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Chaitanya Mishra , AI Engineer (Intern) 2025
Ricardo is a master's student in Robotics Engineering at the University of Dayton who led the automation efforts on our solar blind projects. His technical expertise and drive for innovative automation solutions have been instrumental in advancing our cutting-edge robotics capabilities.