About Us

Smita Bakshi (Ph.D. C.S. UC Irvine, MBA Harvard) A former UC Davis ECE professor, Smita worked for a variety of Silicon Valley high-tech companies as a software developer and product manager, before co-founding zyBooks and becoming its CEO in 2012.

Frank Vahid (Ph.D. C.S. UC Irvine) A UC Riverside CSE professor, Frank is an active researcher, and has also written several popular textbooks with major publishers and received several teaching awards, before co-founding zyBooks in 2012. He produced zyBooks' first materials and currently co-oversees authoring of material. He also serves as zyBooks' CTO.

Kathleen Hayes (MA Writing: University of San Francisco, BA Saint Mary's College) Kathleen Hayes is a thirty year sales veteran in the technology industry. She specializes in developing new markets for startup companies and building sales teams focused on success. She recently joined zyBooks to fuel their growth and provide strategic direction.

Scott Sirowy (Ph.D. C.S. UC Riverside) Scott has worked for a variety of different high-tech companies, including Freescale, Microsoft, and ESRI, and currently serves as the Director of Engineering. He also teaches UCR computer science courses now and then.

Russ Anderson Russ has a background in providing operational and financial support to early stage companies. Most recently he was the VP of Finance at Altas Lift Tech, a healthcare services and software provider. Prior to Atlas, Russ has served a variety of operational roles, most notably as the founder of Nadex, the North American Derivatives Exchange, and as a co-founder at Eden Ventures, a UK based venture capital fund.

Roman Lysecky (Ph.D. C.S. UC Riverside) A Univ. of Arizona ECE professor, Roman is an active researcher, has a popular textbook with a major publisher, and has won various student awards. He produced several of zyBooks' materials and currently co-oversees authoring of material.

Rajeevan Amirtharajah Raj Amirtharajah is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received his B.S. in Electrical Science and Engineering, and the M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, 1994, and 1999, respectively. His research focuses on low-power mixed-signal integrated circuit design, power electronics, energy harvesting, and sensor interfaces. He has published more than 60 research papers and holds 23 U.S. patents.

Tony Givargis Tony Givargis is a Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean in the School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 1997 and 2001, respectively. He conducts research in the area of embedded systems with an emphasis on embedded and system software and has authored over 90 peer reviewed papers. He is a named inventor on 11 U.S. patents and has co-authored two popular textbooks on embedded system design. Professor Givargis has received numerous teaching, service, and research awards, including the Frederick Emmons Terman Award, presented annually to an outstanding young electrical engineering educator by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Sandy Irani Sandy Irani is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. She received her B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University in 1986 and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. Her research area in theoretical computer science has focused on applied algorithms for resource allocation in computer systems. She has also worked in quantum computation. She has been teaching discrete mathematics to students in computer science for over 20 years and has won numerous teaching awards.

André Knoesen André Knoesen is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received a B.S. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1980, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He performs research in biosensors, materials, and their applications in electronic and optoelectronic sensor systems. He has published more than 100 research papers and holds 2 U.S. patents.

Matthew Liberatore Matthew W. Liberatore is as an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo, following 10 years at the Colorado School of Mines. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research involves the rheology of complex fluids and materials. His engineering education interests are related to the use of YouTube videos to create engineering problems, and the development of interactive electronic textbooks. He has published over 60 papers and has won awards for teaching and research.

Roman Lysecky Roman Lysecky is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 1999, 2000, and 2005, respectively. His research focuses on runtime optimization of embedded systems, embedded system security, non-intrusive in-situ observation of hardware and software, and data-adaptable embedded systems. He has published more than 70 research papers, holds one U.S. patent, won numerous best paper awards, and received multiple teaching awards. He is an authoring co-lead at zyBooks.

Susan Lysecky Susan Lysecky is a Senior Content Engineer at zyBooks. She received her Ph.D. and MS degrees in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside in 2006 and 2003 respectively. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. She has taught courses on digital design, computer-aided logic design, microprocessor organization, and usability. Dr. Lysecky also has experience in developing and deploying engineering education technologies and curricula targeted towards resource-constrained middle schools. She has published numerous research papers, including a Spotlight Paper in the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

Amy McGovern Amy McGovern is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma. She received her B.S with Honors in Math and Computer Science with a minor in Spanish from Carnegie Mellon University. She also received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1998 and 2002 respectively. Her research interests center on developing and using machine learning and data mining methods for real-world applications with a special interest in severe weather and in space. She is interested in issues of representation and much of her current research focuses on developing spatiotemporal relational data mining methods and applying these to multiple real-world applications.

Frank Vahid Frank Vahid is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. He received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1988, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine in 1990 and 1994, respectively, where he was an SRC Fellow. He conducts research in embedded systems software and hardware design, and engineering education. In addition to about 170 research papers and 3 U.S. patents, he has co-authored various books with major publishers, received various teaching awards, and is a co-founder and authoring co-lead at zyBooks.