I'm Julia, co-founder and CEO of Fantastic Voyage Labs. As a scientist, educator, and entrepreneur I have focused on making science engaging, accessible, and practical. My career began at the City of Hope National Medical Center, where I completed my Ph.D. in cancer biology. After completing my training as a postdoctoral scholar at the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and the University of Alberta, I joined Purdue University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences. At Purdue I directed a research program studying the mechanisms of cancer development and metastasis. My work, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, has been published in prominent journals such as PNAS, JBC, Cancer Research, and Blood. In 2014, I founded zPREDICTA, a biotechnology startup focused on developing human 3D cell culture models for cancer drug testing identifying new compounds most likely to benefit cancer patients. I took the company from an early-stage concept (Y Combinator S15 batch) to a successful multimillion-dollar exit.

Throughout my career, I have prioritized teaching and mentoring, training many students from high school through graduate level. I’ve taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Purdue University, Santa Clara University, and California State University, emphasizing active learning strategies. Most recently, recognizing the growing demand for effective hands-on training, I founded Fantastic Voyage Labs, an education technology company dedicated to creating interactive and adaptive learning solutions that prepare a future-ready workforce.

I am Sergey, co-founder and CTO of Fantastic Voyage Labs. I am a machine learning expert with 20 years of experience as an educator, scientist, and an engineer both in industry and academia. Over the past decade, I was primarily developing recommender systems for e-commerce, improving product search recommendations for hundreds of millions of online shoppers at Amazon and Facebook Marketplace. I also built a platform for online ad campaigns at Walmart and worked on one of the first enterprise machine learning platforms at Skytree. Prior to that, I was a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Department of Statistics at Purdue University where I taught, supervised, and mentored undergraduate and graduate students while directing multiple projects including a study where I collaborated with atmospheric scientists to build statistical models to forecast precipitation. My research has been published in top machine learning venues and atmospheric science journals. I earned my Ph.D. in Information and Computer Science from the University of California at Irvine back in 2005.

I'm passionate about using my expertise to build products that actually help people learn. As I observed first-hand how machine learning can be effectively applied to user interaction data to influence shoppers in ecommerce, I strongly believe that applying machine learning to the learner interaction data can be used to improve the learning outcomes. I am excited about building a learning platform that uses extended reality, learning engineering, and generative AI to help people acquire practical, hands-on skills.

Hi, I'm Pavlo, a software developer with more than ten years of experience spanning game development, XR, and full-stack engineering. I've worked on projects ranging from mobile games for major franchises to VR training simulations built in Unity, and later grew into leading distributed teams and designing backend systems in Python and FastAPI.

My expertise includes XR/VR development, system architecture, and team leadership, along with hands-on experience in rehabilitation tech, healthcare simulation, and enterprise training tools. Having worked in small teams and larger distributed organizations alike, I enjoy adapting to new environments, and I'm excited to bring my experience to projects where XR and technology create real impact.

Hi, I'm Marko, a software developer with more than ten years of experience in the video game industry. I've worked on published titles for both mobile and PC platforms, primarily using Unity, though I've also had the opportunity to build with custom in-house engines and development environments.

My expertise includes system architecture, optimization, AI, physics, networking, and multiplayer systems, as well as VR solutions for both commercial and entertainment applications. Having contributed to projects in both small indie teams and larger studios, I enjoy adapting to different environments and I'm excited to apply my skills in the impactful world of science and education.

Hi, I'm Taras Voznyi, a 3D environment and props artist based in Lviv, Ukraine. I’ve been working in the 3D and XR space for nearly a decade, creating everything from realistic environments to stylized assets for interactive experiences. My interest in 3D began back in high school, blending my love for video games with my studies at the local School of Fine Arts. I later pursued a degree in architecture, where I started creating 3D visualizations.

In 2016, I began my professional journey as a hard surface artist at a game outsourcing company, focusing on detailed models of armored vehicles. Over time, I expanded my skillset, freelancing on projects ranging from mobile AR apps to stylized environments for businesses. Eventually, I joined a creative studio producing immersive VR/AR applications and interactive visual solutions across various industries. I contributed to everything from concept design and asset creation to animation and engine integration, including a VR training platform for industrial technicians. Now, I’m excited to be part of Fantastic Voyage Labs, where I’m building life-like 3D environments, props, and characters for Destination Lab, a hands-on VR training platform for bioscience labs.

My name is Sergiy Putiak, and I am a Unity developer based in Lviv, Ukraine. Over the past ten years, I have worked in both game development and the XR interactive industry. I built a foundation in both 3D modeling and programming early in my career studying precision devices and systems at the university. I actually started out on my current path as a 3D artist, contributing to several AAA racing games. Working closely with game engines sparked my curiosity to go beyond just creating 3D models. I wanted to bring them to life in the virtual worlds! That's what motivated me to dive deeper into programming, and Unity in particular. As a Unity developer, I've focused primarily on VR learning platforms and other interactive VR experiences. I’m really excited to join Fantastic Voyage Labs to work with such a great team on creating a state of the art learning platform.

Hi, I'm Justin, a business administration student from sunny California. As an intern at Fantastic Voyage Labs I split my time between QA and social media marketing. On the QA side I test new features, document and track issues, and work with the engineering team to reproduce and resolve bugs so our VR simulations work reliably across multiple headset models. On the marketing side I help craft content, manage our posting calendar, and analyze engagement to make sure our outreach resonates with instructors, lab managers, and training leaders. I'm excited about the intersection of learning and technology and enjoy translating user feedback into improvements that make training safer and more effective.

Elizabeth is a Silicon Valley C-suite veteran, with a track-record in industry and government. She has extensive global experience scaling businesses, establishing public and private partnerships, and building highly specialized technology, from concept to market, primarily to enable biotechnology. She is recognized as a strategy creator and implementor, advising companies and serving on corporate boards. Elizabeth served on the YPO Global Board from 2020-2024, and was appointed the organization's first female finance chair from 2022-2024.

In 2018, Elizabeth and her husband moved to Oklahoma from San Francisco because they were attracted to the transformation occurring around economic development and the values embodied in the Oklahoma Standard. Upon arrival in Oklahoma, she was introduced to government service. Because of her background in RNA and DNA technologies, she played a key role in Oklahoma's Covid-19 testing strategy. In 2020, she was appointed Cabinet Secretary of Science and Innovation for Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. In this role, she published Oklahoma's Science & Innovation Strategic Plan and testified for the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. As a Cabinet Secretary, she worked across key technology sectors important to the state that include One Health, Advanced Mobility, and Energy. She also served as Chair of Oklahoma's Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology - helping the agency grow from $17M to $225M AUM, establish a venture fund, and prominent accelerator programs.

Today, Elizabeth is focused on enabling new innovation, leaders, investment in economic development, and the future of technology. In addition to her board and advisory work, she is a Venture Partner with iGrow Venture Partners, an international venture capital firm focused on pre-seed through series C investments in high growth transformative markets - Health, Advanced Mobility, Energy, Fintech, and AI. In her role, she scouts the globe for disruptive technologies for the firm's investment.

Elizabeth previously served on the advisory board of zPredicta, founded and led by Dr. Kirshner, marking a successful collaboration that culminated in the company's exit.

Steve Ritter is Founder and Chief Scientist at Carnegie Learning. Dr. Ritter earned a doctorate in cognitive psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and was instrumental in the development and evaluation of the Cognitive Tutors for mathematics. Dr. Ritter is the author of numerous papers on the design, architecture and evaluation of adaptive instructional systems and is recognized as an expert on educational analytics and on using Artificial Intelligence in education. He is lead author of an evaluation that is one of the few to be judged by the US Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse as meeting their standards without reservations. He has received several awards, including the Best Paper award at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining. At Carnegie Learning, Dr. Ritter leads a research team devoted to using learning engineering to improve the efficacy of the company’s products. Current funding focused on such issues as algorithmic bias in educational AI, support for teaching math to struggling readers and the UpGrade tool for supporting rigorous field tests of educational software.