Meet our team

Dr. John Cowart Jr. is an expert in sensor development and applied music technology. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is also a lifelong musician with a strong background in music theory, live performance, vocal and instrumental arrangements, and music production. The primary focus of his science research over the past 20 years has been the rational design and development of advanced functional materials and composites for application in high-performance chemical sensors and opto-electronic devices. Dr. Cowart’s research experience has been largely cross-disciplinary, encompassing synthetic organic chemistry, materials science and engineering, organic photovoltaics, directed molecular self-assembly, molecular heterointerfaces, thin-film processing and characterization, and fabrication and analysis of optoelectronic devices and chemical sensors. 

More recently, as a Senior Research Scientist and Program Manager in the chemical sensors industry, Dr. Cowart led research efforts to develop a cannabis breathalyzer, a fentanyl detector, wireless ammonia detection platforms, and antiviral materials for rapid reuse PPE. In addition to his work in materials science and sensors, his journey in music has taken him through a rich arc of experiences as a music and choir director, piano teacher, street performer, band leader, studio musician, producer, and electronic music composer.

Dr. Peter Gray is an expert in statistics, software design, science journalism, and visual arts. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science, a Ph.D. in Mathematics, and an M.A. in Science & Health Journalism. Much of Dr. Gray’s mathematical career in the U.S. has involved the study of stochastic processes, including advanced training on the development of tailored stochastic processes and their stopping times. He is the first researcher to extend stopping time theory to stochastic processes that have two independent time parameters. Most notably, his seminal Cross-Sectional Theory for predictable stochastic processes in two time parameters, as well as portions of its 15-page proof, have been used by many researchers in both theoretical and applied statistics. As a senior level statistical analyst in the private sector, Dr. Gray assembled and led teams tasked with using statistics to solve a variety of real-world problems in e-commerce, computer science, music technology, and engineering. He has also led teams that have developed software systems for several major corporations. As the CTO for Outlier, Dr. Gray is responsible for architecting the mathematical basis for the company’s proprietary music technology algorithms and coordinating and overseeing the various R&D teams.

Dr. Will Pro has a highly unique skillset, spanning many non-related disciplines from computational solid mechanics, algorithm & software development, materials science, and electronics design, to musical performance, carpentry, and graphics design. He holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas and the University of California at Santa Barbara, respectively.  Dr. Pro’s scientific research has focused on the development and implementation of new computer algorithms & model frameworks to capture fracture in complex multi-material systems operating in extreme environments.  Specifically, he has developed several optimized software packages that have enabled large scale, non-homogenized models of crack growth in tough bioinspired composites, providing new insights into the crack resistance and associated failure mechanisms that govern crack propagation. The computational efficiency of these codes have allowed for high-throughput simulation of different microstructure statistics, an inevitable effect in modern manufacturing of lightweight, tough composites.  

In addition to having a strong foundation in the hard sciences, Dr. Pro has also been deeply involved in music for over 20 years, both as a professional performer and a digital instrument developer - having designed and constructed over 20 unique, custom-built electronic musical instruments. As a musician, Dr. Pro studied under Wayne Hawkins, one of Kansas City’s premier jazz keyboardists and film composers. At Kansas University he was the 1st chair pianist of the top jazz ensemble, regularly performing at festivals and concerts across the country, and writing several original compositions which were recorded on two separate albums by the KU jazz band. He is also the recipient of the prestigious James P. Zakoura award, awarded to the top musician at KU. During his graduate studies at UCSB, Dr. Pro combined his expertise in engineering and music to start a small business named “Pro-MIDI”, which aimed at a niche market of professional musicians needing highly customized electronic musical instrumentation not commercially available. Notably, his instruments were featured in concerts by the bands for Jamie Foxx and Katy Perry.

In his capacity as the Director of Cross-disciplinary Technology Integration at Outlier Technology, Dr. Pro pulls together his expertise in software & algorithm design, as well as his practical experience as an engineer, professional musician, and musical instrument designer. 

Dr. Marshall Ligare is the Director of Instrument Development at Outlier Technology, LLC. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from California Polytechnic at Humboldt, a PhD in Physical & Analytical Chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and completed a Post Doc in Mass Spectrometry Instrument and Method Development at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Ligare has nearly 2 decades of expertise in the design, engineering, calibration, and method development of custom-built analytical instrumentation across a broad range of scientific disciplines. His work has created novel methods and/or instrumentation for research in the fields of biochemical ecology, gas-phase photophysics, nanoparticle formation, analysis of food residues in archeological vessels, and untargeted chemometric analysis of flavor/aroma compounds in natural products and fermented beverages. Through these projects Dr. Ligare has developed an extensive knowledge of analytical methods and instrumentation, specifically, with the conception, design and construction of novel devices coupled with mass spectrometry and spectroscopy. 

Most recently, Dr. Ligare’s research has focused on the untargeted analysis of flavor/aroma compounds for the food and agricultural industries using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Through this work he has gained extensive knowledge of solid phase micro extraction (SPME) techniques, solid phase – analyte selectivity, sorption kinetics of volatile compounds, and complex analyte separations of natural products via 1D and 2D GC-MS. 

Dr. Brian Stahl is the Director of Materials Science and Engineering at Outlier Technology, LLC. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science from California Polytechnic State University and a PhD. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His professional and academic career have focused on developing new methods for processing materials, and on developing new instrumentation and equipment to enable these methods where necessary. Much of his research focus has been directed towards materials processing for microelectronic and sensor applications, including fabrication processes for MEMS pressure sensors and TFT gas sensors. Dr. Stahl has also developed custom instrumentation incorporating commercial sensors and detectors to satisfy unmet needs, such as timelapse photography robots, self-contained respiration monitors to quantify the respiration of produce (fruit & vegetables), and a novel controlled co-solvent vapor annealing system. He additionally has extensive experience developing polymeric systems and depositing thin-film materials with a variety of physical (electron beam and thermal evaporation, sputtering) and chemical (spin-coating, chemical vapor deposition, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) processes and characterizing these materials with microscopy, spectroscopy, and scattering techniques. Dr. Stahl has also led successful internally-funded R&D projects to fabricate TFT devices and metamaterial surfaces, and consulted on a broad range of programs spanning the full lifecycle from R&D to commercialization to sustainment.

Nicholas Solem is a software engineer, musician, audio engineer, and sound designer. He holds a Master’s in Music Technology from New York University and is an ABD Ph.D. candidate in Computer Music at the University of California, San Diego. At the core of his work is a commitment to increasing the accessibility of nuanced musical creation in the information age. His research and work focus on leveraging psychoacoustical and music-theoretical data from music recordings/transcriptions to guide musical processes and augment digital instruments using machine learning techniques such as dimensionality reduction, clustering, and artificial neural networks. Nicholas has shared his expertise with the world through teaching several college classes, presenting at conferences such as Sound and Music Computing, and publishing a number of open-source software musical tools.