People

Filip Čučkov, PhD

Director, Auster Center for Applied Innovation and Research
Auster Professor of Applied Innovation

Dr. Filip Čučkov's mission is to advance altruism through innovation and education—a vision that finds its fullest expression in his roles as the inaugural Director of the Auster Center for Applied Innovation and Research and the Auster Professor of Applied Innovation at Tufts University. At the Auster Center, he leads the charge to understand how innovation—particularly technology innovation—can be fostered, translated, and applied to do good in the world, uniting social sciences, natural sciences, and technology in service of the public good.

For more than twenty years, he has architected sustainable innovation practices that connect technical potential to real-world impact—leading research programs, establishing laboratories and shared facilities from the ground up, and directing engineering initiatives where technical rigor meets human consequence. His work spans autonomous systems, cyber-physical platforms, and health technologies conceived with—and built for—those who need them most.

A seasoned academic, engineer, and transdisciplinary leader, Dr. Čučkov accelerates inventions that start with user solidarity, scale through unwavering tenacity, and synthesize complex systems into elegant solutions. He has secured external funding, built and guided engineering teams across organizations of every scale, and published high-impact peer-reviewed scholarship—always in pursuit of work that begins with people and translates into global impact for the benefit of all.

Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD

Director of the Civic Innovation Initiative

Jonathan Garlick is Professor at Tufts University’s School of Dental Medicine, School of Medicine, School of Engineering and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. His NIH-funded research laboratory pioneers the use of stem cells in tissue engineering to develop new treatments for cancer, scleroderma, and diabetes-related complications.

He founded and leads the Civic Science Collective, a national initiative working to support scientists and citizens with the knowledge, skills and practices needed to promote a culture of science that includes all who seek to participate. His Dialogue Center at the Civic Science Collective is a place where people can talk about and better understand the values and world-views of others on controversial and complex science and health-related issues with societal dimensions.

As an educator, Jonathan teaches students, scientists and citizens to explore the impact of science in their lives, so they can earn public trust and strengthen civic life.

Suzannah Gerber, PhD

Director of the Food Innovation Initiative 

Suzannah (“Chef Suzi”) Gerber, PhD, is a food, nutrition, and behavior scientist, chef, and food‑system innovation leader whose work bridges bench‑level research and real‑world commercialization.

She brings more than 15 years of experience in culinary product development, foodservice, brand strategy, export, marketing, and consumer testing, which she translates into academic research and policy impact through appointments at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, George Mason University’s College of Public Health, and the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture. Suzi also serves as Executive Director of the Association for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation (AMPS), the North American trade association for the cultivated meat and novel‑foods sector.

Her research integrates food development, consumer behavior, and clinical nutrition trials to examine how product design, policy, and communication accelerate dietary and protein diversification and shape cultural acceptance of novel foods. A 2025 Leading Women in Food Tech awardee, she has been featured widely across major national and international media and is the author of the critically acclaimed cookbook Plant‑Based Gourmet.

Brian Lin, PhD

Director of the Defense Innovation Initiative

Brian Lin is Research Assistant Professor at Tufts University’s School of Medicine, and CEO and Co-Founder of Cellsor, a deep-tech startup digitizing smell and enabling olfactory intelligence. Cellsor uses specially engineered living olfactory tissue derived from stem cells to detect volatiles, much like a trained canine can detect trace explosives or signs of cancer. Given the many potential applications for this technology, Cellsor is pursuing a dual-use commercial strategy.

He started his journey as a PhD student at Tufts University in Dr. Jim Schwob’s lab studying olfactory stem cell biology, followed by a postdoc in Dr. Jay Rajagopal’s lab at Mass General Hospital studying respiratory biology. Now back at Tufts, his NIH-funded research aims to develop treatments for the loss of smell by deepening our understanding of the stem cell biology that maintains our sense of smell throughout life.

Sergio Abraham

Sergio Abraham's research focuses on cognitive interaction design: how sustained interaction with AI systems affects human autonomy, critical thinking, and decision-making capacity. His current work introduces the concept of the "cognitive exoskeleton," AI systems designed to detect cognitive delegation patterns in real time and return intellectual agency to the user through Socratic reflection. 

Sergio is founder of ExoMinds.ai, a deep tech initiative translating this research into applied technology across education, academia, and cognitive health. Previously, he served as Director of AI Products at Reltio and Director of Innovation at Onapsis. He holds seven technology patents across areas such as cybersecurity and data intelligence.

Peter Om

Peter Om serves as Program Coordinator for NSF I-Corps and supports program operations at the Auster Center, with a focus on community engagement and event coordination. He brings expertise in logistics, administration, and education, and holds a B.E. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, with a minor in Visual Arts & Technology.

Jonathan Tomaso

Jonathan Tomaso serves as the Lead Program Manager for the Defense Innovation Initiative. He earned a B.A. from Norwich University in 2020 and an M.S. from Tufts University in 2025. Following graduation, Jonathan commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer in the U.S. Army before transitioning into the defense innovation ecosystem through work at MITRE and, later, by supporting an early-stage startup during and after graduate school. His professional interests center on bridging gaps among warfighters, researchers, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the development and deployment of impactful national security technologies.