Our Team
Stephen Daire
He founded Protean in 2018. He has worked in systems engineering, remote sensing, robotics, emergency response, human factors, astronautics, cave diving, and life support systems (LSS) with organizations including National Geographic, Northrop Grumman, The Aerospace Corporation, and others. He has >300 submerged hours scuba diving and FAA High G-Force and Hypoxia flight training. He holds a BSc in Evolutionary Anthropology from Rutgers University, a MSc University of Southern California, and is working on a MSc in Systems Engineering with Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on human-robotic ocean and space exploration. Under his leadership Protean has participated in NSF iCORPS, and has become a contributing member of The Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS), Hague Institute for Global Justice, International Standards Organization, AIAA, NASA COSMIC, Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium.
Adam Tannir
Adam Tannir is the Chief Robotics Officer and brings over a decade of experience in software development, root cause analysis, and prototyping to Protean Industries. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Rutgers University. Research interests include autonomous systems and computer vision with a focus on resource-constrained platforms. Additionally, he aims to develop improved human-machine interaction for robotic control systems and articulate interfaces.
Andrew Bodiford
Andrew Bodiford lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of CUNY School of Law and also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. Andrew Bodiford is admitted to the bar in the State of New York. Andrew is the author of The Economic Reformation, a book on political economy. Andrew has also written articles including Cities in International Law in CUNY Law Review and a forthcoming article on the role of property in space. Andrew has attended CONFERS Policy Working Group with Protean Industries to assist in the development of standards and uniform codes for commercial space operations.
Thomas Blum
Thomas is the Chief Mechanical Engineer of Protean Robotics. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo and is pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. He has prior experience at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory and University at Buffalo Nanosatellite Laboratory. Areas of interest include space systems engineering, additive manufacturing and advanced materials.
Jesse Cristofaro
Jesse Cristofaro is the chief electrical engineer of Protean Robotics. He lives in Maryland and holds an electrical engineering Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Buffalo. He has experience with verification and test of digital systems as well as designing analog and radio frequency circuits. Areas of interest include PCB, analog and radio frequency circuit design for embedded systems applications.