Our Team
AI research expertise meets engineering know-how.
Michael Zellinger
Michael holds a PhD in Computing & Mathematical Sciences from Caltech, where his thesis focused on deploying LLM systems in a reliable and cost-effective manner. He earned his Sc.B. in mathematics from Brown and holds additional graduate degrees from ETH Zürich (Switzerland) and the University of Oxford. He previously integrated AI into investment processes at Oaktree Capital Management and pioneered novel causal inference methodologies supporting expansion of Novartis' best-selling drug Cosentyx.
Volkan Gurses
Volkan is an AI and systems researcher specializing in the physical infrastructure that powers AI at scale—high-performance computing, photonic-electronic integrated circuits, and next-generation processor design. His work includes research at NVIDIA on fundamental limits of computing and hybrid classical-quantum data centers, development of next-generation HBM memory at Micron, and building large-scale photonic-electronic integrated circuits for quantum information science at Caltech. He also teaches the Caltech AI Bootcamp, a workshop on machine learning and data science for researchers. A recipient of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists prize from CERN, he holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Caltech and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and is completing his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Physics at Caltech.
Karthik Harihar Reddy
Karthik is an applied AI engineer with deep experience building AI agents, data infrastructure, and production ML systems. He previously built AI agents and talent intelligence products at Rippling, and spent several years as a staff engineer building data platforms—including features for Google Dataprep and cloud integrations across AWS, Azure, and GCP at Trifacta. His background spans the full stack of productionizing AI, from distributed systems and data pipelines to machine learning research, including work on ML-based haplotype phasing at Brown's Center for Computational Molecular Biology. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from Brown University.
Karena X. Cai
Karena helps engineering teams bridge the gap between AI theory and production-grade reality. A Princeton graduate with a PhD in Computing and Mathematical Sciences from Caltech, she previously served as a Senior Applied Scientist II at Cruise, where she engineered safety-critical, production-ready ML systems. Through her platform, CurioCity, Karena empowers developers to move beyond the lab through hands-on, project-based learning. Her work focuses on hardening fragile AI prototypes into the stable, mission-critical systems required for the real world.
Expert Network
Artificial Advantage draws on a deep network of subject matter experts across the AI stack, who were educated at top schools and trained at the best companies. These specialists join our team on-demand.