Our Team
Sébastien Payen
Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Sébastien holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a Management of Technology certificate from Haas Business School. His Ph.D. work included the development of sensors, micro-technology and polymer materials. As part of his work, he designed novel micro-biosensors to detect changes in pH using plastics and polymers, resulting in one US and international patent. In addition to his PhD, Mr. Payen is a Mayfield Fellow 2006. Prior to coming at UC Berkeley, Mr. Payen served one year in the French Navy as a deck officer on a mine-hunter. He also worked as a scientist and process engineer in a small biotechnology start-up in the Bay Area between June 2003 and May 2004. Mr. Payen received his Master of Sciences from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in May 2003. In July 2001, prior to coming at UC Berkeley, Mr. Payen graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, one of the top engineering schools in France.
Thibaut Scholasch
Founder and VP of Research and Development
Thibaut holds a Ph.D. in viticulture from the French National Institute of Agronomy at Montpellier, France. His research focused on vine water status variations under dry climates and their consequences on berry ripening. Thibaut also serves as a scientific consultant for various high end vineyards in Napa Valley. Prior to his Ph.D., Thibaut worked as a winemaker for various companies throughout the world (Chile, California, France and Australia). In 2001, he was hired by Robert Mondavi winery as a research viticulturist: his projects focused predominantly on mapping the vineyard variability, analyzing vineyard practices and vine water deficit impact on fruit composition. Thibaut earned a Masters degree in Viticulture and Enology in 1997 and a Masters degree in Winemaking in 1998 from SUPAGRO, one of the top agronomy school in France.
Benjamin Soufflet
Software Engineer
Benjamin earned in 2009 a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences with a major in distributed computer systems from CPE Lyon. Prior to Fruition Sciences, Benjamin worked 6 months in 2009 for his final year project as a Software Engineer in the European IT consulting company Sopra Group on the web upgrade of a real estate software system. He also worked one year as a web developer for SugarCRM, an open-source CRM software company in the Bay Area between July 2007 and September 2008. Benjamin is mainly working on the Fruition web application and on the IT infrastructure.
Advisors
David Aslin
Founder and Director of the Board of Advisors
David is a venture investor, entrepreneur and coach for startups in wireless devices, cleantech and materials; he is a co-founder of companies in each of these spaces. A Venture Partner with Nexit Ventures, he has been a VC since 1998. Previously a General Partner with global VC firm 3i in Menlo Park, he led the early stage practice; investments included Bitfone (acquired by HP), Triage Wireless, Discera and Nanostellar. David's prior operating career included General Manager positions at major corporations (Life Science International plc, Hewlett Packard (now Agilent) and Applied Biosystems) and CEO/COO in emerging private companies. He led business units with global operations in instrumentation, materials and radio technologies with markets in agrochemical, pharmaceutical, biotech research, defense and oil & gas applications. David holds an MS in Chemistry from Imperial College, London and BS qualifications in Chemistry and Electronics; and has business education from top European schools: London, Warwick and INSEAD.
David C. Walther
Founder and Chief Technology Advisor
David is currently the Director of Engineering for Cobalt Technologies, a venture backed company focused on the development and implementation of sensory systems for the biochemical production of transportation fuels. Prior to this, Dr. Walther was a microsystems research specialist with the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (2001-2007). His research during this period covered the areas of Biosensing, Power and Energy, and RF MEMS, co-advising more than 20 graduate students. Dr. Walther has been granted Exceptional PI status for several of these US Government, State of California, and Industry Sponsored Research Grants. Dr. Walther currently also serves (since 2004) as an advisory board member for micro/nanotechnology for MedCap Partners, a life sciences / healthcare related investment fund. In 1998, Dr. Walther earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering (Thermosciences) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Walther has co-authored more than 20 refereed publications and patents in the areas of Microgravity Combustion, PowerMEMS, and Biosensing.
Kamin Whitehouse
Technology Advisor
Kamin Whitehouse has been an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia since 2006, where he leads research in the area of wireless sensor networks. His research is focused on aspects of wireless networking, programming abstractions, and development tools for deeply embedded, networked systems. This work is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and Microsoft Corporation. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded a Siebel Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Fellowship, and a National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowship, among others. Dr. Whitehouse has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and patents in the areas of wireless networking, programming, and embedded systems.
Hernán Ojeda
Scientific Advisor
Hernán Ojeda is A Doctor in Agronomic Sciences for L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie de Montpellier, France. Nowadays he is A Research Engineer in the French INRA and there has been employed for 10 years at the INTA at Mendoza (Argentina). Is author of numerous publications at scientific international magazines and has realized interventions in congresses and in scientific and technical meetings. He has been The Director of the Mastery in Viticulture and Enology in Argentine, and his educational activity is wide and varied since it takes parts in numerous international courses of postdegree. Likewise he is an international consultant in different countries. In 2005 he got the Francisco Oreglia Prize for Innovation to the Viticulture Argentine.