Laura Boccanfuso

Laura Boccanfuso is founder and CEO of Van Robotics, a social robotics company that develops AI-enabled robots and robot kits to promote high impact learning opportunities. Laura received her PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Carolina and later accepted positions at Yale as a Postdoctoal Associate in the Child Study Center and later as Research Scientist in the Social Robotics Lab.  In 2017, Laura left her position at the university to launch Van and was selected a few months later for the 2018 Techstars Accelerator in Austin, Texas.  Soon after, the company launched the smart classroom tutor which actively adapts to student skill level and attention while delivering standards-aligned, math, reading and SEL instruction.  Two years after launching the first K-5 classroom tutor onto the market, ABii is now in use across 38 states and 7 countries and was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2020.