Staff
Rufus Robot, Inc.
Effective Education through Entertainment
Rufus Robot, Inc. may sound like a giant corporate robot but that is only a role we assume while doing our daily jobs. Behind the curtain you will find that in reality we are just a small company made up of people who care.
Whether we do the accounting, the artwork, the programming, or steering the great big Rufus Robot starship, we all make a team that is working together to bring you the highest quality applications possible.
A lot of perspiration goes into producing our products, but so does a lot of love. We hope you enjoy our apps as much as we enjoyed making them for you. Now, let's meet some of our team:
Holly Gastgeb, PhD
Dr Holly Gastgeb, President and CEO, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has over ten years of experience diagnosing, assessing, designing and implementing interventions, and conducting research with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from toddlerhood through adulthood. She formerly engaged in clinical research at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Excellence in Autism Research and continues to consult with the Pitt Early Autism Study. Dr. Gastgeb also provided services in private practice at Associates in Behavioral Diagnostics and Treatment in Pittsburgh for seven years before returning to clinical research. She is currently involved in multiple clinical research studies with individuals with ASD and/or Down Syndrome at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Dr Gastgeb graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2010 with a PhD in Clinical and Developmental Psychology and became a Licensed Clinical Psychologist specializing in the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of ASD in 2012.
Over the past ten years, Dr Gastgeb presented her research at fourteen national and international autism and child development conferences and published nine research articles in top peer-reviewed journals in her field. She also gives regular clinical and research presentations about child development and ASD to schools and parent groups in the Pennsylvania area.
Dr Gastgeb's training in both typical and atypical development, hands-on clinical experience with individuals with ASD throughout the lifespan, and research experience are a rare combination that is necessary to design applications that are geared toward using the strengths and motivators of children with ASD to compensate for and overcome their weaknesses. Keeping in mind the sensitivities and behavioral challenges that are common in these children, she is designing applications that are more user-friendly, fun, motivating, attention-grabbing, and more likely to generalize into real life knowledge.
Lawrence Coffey
Mr Lawrence Coffey, the CTO, is a skilled software engineer with thirty years of experience developing systems software, embedded applications, desktop applications and web applications while also running his own software company for over ten years. He has the necessary technical skills and business knowledge to implement Dr Gastgeb's ideas and produce effective Edutainment applications.
Having run his own software company for over ten years, he also brings small business management experience with him. A proponent of disciplined, object-oriented design and implementation, he is the architect of the company’s software products.
