Meet Our Team

Colleague AI unites educators, researchers, engineers, and business talents to harness the power of AI technologies to elevate all learners’ K-12 education.

Dr. Min Sun

Co-Founder in Product Development and Business

Kevin He

Co-Founder in Technology and Operation

Dr. Lief Esbenshade

Head of Product and Research

Alex Liu

AI Edu Research; Marketing and Business Strategy

Dr. Shawon Sarkar

AI/ML Data Scientist

Anthony Hill

Manager of Strategic Partnership

Zachary Zhang

Software Engineer

Thomas Han

Senior Software Engineer

Shengxing Chi

Senior Software Engineer

Victor Tian

AI/ML in Education

Tim Chalberg

Training and Educator Development

Hayley Spohn

Training and Educator Development

Diego Meza Perez

UX/UI Designer

We’re hiring!

Advisors

Chris Crane

Business Advisor LP and member of Investment Board at the VentureUS Former Senior Director at Microsoft

Steve Kessel

Business and Technology Advisor Former Senior VP at Amazon

Telca K. Porras

School Relationship Advisor Former Gates Foundation Program Officer and Policy Advocate

Affiliated Researchers

Dr. Lorraine Males

Math Education and Teacher Development Julie and Henry Bauermeister Associate Professor in Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Melissa Boston

Math Education and Teacher Development Professor of Mathematics Education, Duquesne University

Dr. Joshua Rosenberg

STEM Education
Associate Professor, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Dr. R. Benjamin Shapiro

Learning Sciences and Computing Education Research
Associate Professor, University of Washington

Dr. Wei Ai

ML and Data Mining
Assistant Professor of Information Studies, University of Maryland

Dr. Jing Liu

AI in Education
Assistant Professor, University of Maryland

Funder Partners

Colleague AI gratefully acknowledges our funding partners who support our research and development initiatives. The opinions expressed are those of the Colleague AI and do not represent views of the funders.

Research-Practice Partners

Colleague AI’s research and development thrives through partnerships with leading schools and districts. Our product innovation and implementation strategies are shaped by the invaluable expertise of dedicated educators, school leaders, and students.