Root Applied Sciences
Root Applied Sciences
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    • Monitoring Service
    • How it works
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    • For Our Customers
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  • Home
  • Monitoring Service
  • How it works
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • For Our Customers
  • Contact

OUR TEAM

Sarah Placella, PhD

Sarah Placella, PhD

Sarah Placella, PhD

CEO, Founder


Sarah's vision for Root Applied Sciences is to distill excellent science into easy-to-interpret products that deliver immediate value to customers. Her background as the scientist at two microbe-centric startups informs the company's strategic development of new products.


Sarah has a BA in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD from UC Berkeley in Environmental Science, Policy and Management where she focused on microbial ecology and soil biogeochemistry. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Michigan State's Kellogg Biological Field Station, and later at the Ecology and Soils unit of INRA in Montpellier, France, compliments of an Agreenskills Fellowship through the Marie Curie Foundation.

Tariq Shafaat

Tariq Shafaat

Sarah Placella, PhD

Sarah Placella, PhD

Product Development & Sourcing 


Tariq has been engaged in technology development as a hands-on Program Manager or Principal lead engineer for many start-ups over three decades, developing a wide variety of products in bio-tech, optical communications, LIDAR imaging, fiber optics, virtual augmented display, data storage, and quantum computer beam delivery systems. During his career, he has taken innovative and unique approaches to fold mechanical, electronic and optical aspects of a design to fit into small spaces, then refined the designs turning concepts into products and

manufacturing them. He has worked closely with suppliers, both domestically and internationally, and established supply chains for components and sub-systems. Tariq thrives on working on projects with small teams and accelerated schedules.

Katie Sharp, PhD

Sarah Placella, PhD

Victor Suttabongoch

Head of Operations


Katie is a scientifically trained project manager who brings a diverse skill set and knowledge base to the Root team. She excels at strategic planning and building processes and tools to help teams get more done. Katie earned her PhD in Genetics from Stanford and was an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley. She comes to Root from Activate where she supported and advised 58 founders from 45 companies during their two-year entrepreneurial fellowships.


Katie is also a cook and a baker with a long-standing interest in local, sustainable, high-quality food. She is passionate about Root’s mission of empowering growers with the information they need to make more sustainable pest management decisions.

Victor Suttabongoch

Victor Suttabongoch

Mechatronics Engineer


Victor aims to make impacts on real world problems by using his engineering knowledge and skills. He is particularly excited to work with Root’s multidisciplinary team to design and build automated solutions for detecting and forecasting diseases in agriculture.


Victor has a degree in Mechanical Engineering where his research was focused on building a mechanical stimulating bioreactor for cell regeneration and prior to joining Root, Victor has worked on designing and developing a cloud-based bioreactor that could help scale-up bio-manufacturing.

Maya Wert

Maya Wert

IoT Solutions Architect (PT)


Maya Wert is an accomplished IoT solutions engineer with a proven track record in the information technology and services sector. With a well-established career spanning various industries, including defense, computing, telecommunications, and asset logistics. Her professional journey, encompassing both startup ventures and Fortune 500, has equipped her with the ability to adeptly identify and implement optimal processes tailored to customer requirements, consistently delivering dependable and successful solutions.


Maya is excited to leverage her extensive experience to materialize Root's product vision. Her proficiency extends to a wide array of technologies, including IoT, LwM2M, MQTT, C/C++, UEFI, Embedded Software, Device Drivers, VxWorks, and Linux.  

Lynn Furgurson, CPA

Accountant



Our Advisers

Pam Marrone, PhD

Pam Marrone, PhD

Pam Marrone, PhD

 Growth Adviser


Pam has spent her career building products and businesses that help growers more effectively and more sustainably manage their crops. Pam sees Root’s technology as a knowledge portal that allows growers to access the information they need to be responsive instead of reactionary.

Pam is especially pleased to use her skills and connections to help Root grow strategically with the right product helping as many growers as possible. She has proven she knows how to do it as founder and CEO of both AgraQuest (acquired by Bayer for $475M in 2012) and Marrone Bio Innovations (IPO). 

Tom Christensen

Pam Marrone, PhD

Pam Marrone, PhD

Agribusiness Adviser


Tom is excited about Root's technology and the opportunity it creates in agriculture, building at the intersection of precision agriculture and sustainability. Tom has spent his career in the agribusiness space and is happy to help shepherd Root through it.


Tom's experience runs the gamut, from leading precision farming at Zeneca Ag Products North America to senior leadership roles in marketing and business development at Syngenta and Synthetic Genomics. Tom also has deep startup experience having worked with several nascent companies and having taken Agradis from formation through sale to Monsanto.

Reto Stamm

Pam Marrone, PhD

Ryan Vinyard

Fluidics and Startup Adviser


Reto wants to help to make the invisible visible with technology. Detecting and forecasting the spread of pathogens is essential now as the environment is changing rapidly, and making the technology accessible, fast, and reliable is an important multidisciplinary project.  


Reto has developed or helped to develop analytical instruments, including nanopore devices, NMR, TOF, sample to answer tests, microfluidic systems, ultra-fast PCR, and a network of earthquake detectors. He also designed and made various injection molded parts for microfluidics and other lab applications. He's written software for fortune 500 companies and has more than 10 years of startup experience. He's excited to leapfrog everything. 

Ryan Vinyard

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Ryan Vinyard

Scale Up Engineering Adviser


Ryan is excited to apply his hardware expertise to the challenges at Root with a background in early hardware development all the way to scaled manufacturing.  He has worked with startups in many sectors including energy, transportation, and consumer products.


Ryan was previously a VP at multiple successful hardware startups, ran engineering at the Highway1 hardware accelerator, and is the co-author of The Hardware Startup.  He received his BS in Product Design from Stanford.  He currently works as an independent consultant helping hardware startups through development.

Jon West

Jon West, PhD

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Aerobiology Adviser


Jon is experienced in working with molecular biologists, engineers, farmers, and extension professionals on multidisciplinary crop protection projects. His research has focused on the biology and control of crop diseases and particularly the detection of airborne spores to forecast disease risk. 


Jon sees the work of Root Applied Sciences as a key factor in transforming crop

protection to reduce disease risk for growers and optimize inputs, while ensuring a secure food supply.

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Rodrigo Almeida, PhD

Science Adviser


Rodrigo has devoted his career to understanding pathogens of vineyards and other perennial crops. He has been engaged in the biology, ecology and management of plant pathogens for over 20 years. Rodrigo urged Sarah to found this company to help science reach the people who can benefit from it.


The Hildebrand-Laumeister Chair of Plant Pathology at UC Berkeley, Professor Almeida has been the recipient of Fulbright and Marie Curie Fellowships as well as the early career award from the American Phytopathological Society. Current research in the Almeida group focuses on the ecology and management of grapevine leafroll-associated viruses and Xylella fastidiosa diseases, especially Pierce's disease of grapevines.

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Root Applied Sciences

8000 Edgewater Drive, Suite 200, Oakland CA 94621

info@rootappliedsciences.com

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