Andrew Myung Stroup (born May 22, 1985) is an engineer and entrepreneur, best known as a participant on the first season of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

's ''

The Big Brain Theory ''The Big Brain Theory'' is an American television show on the Discovery Channel that first aired in 2013, hosted by Kal Penn. Eight episodes were produced. Format Each week the contestants enter the blueprint challenge, where they are given 3 ...

''. He currently is the founder of LVRG.

Early life

Stroup was born in Seoul, South Korea and at the age of four months old, was adopted by an

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

family (David and Jimmye Stroup). He grew up in Sand Springs, a suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended and graduated as valedictorian from Charles Page High School in 2003. He attended Oklahoma State University and graduated in 2009 with two B.S. degrees in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

and mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology with focuses in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and business management."Meet the kings, queens of the OS-Universe"
ocolly.com. Oct 17, 2008. During his Senior year (2008-2009) at Oklahoma State University, he co-led Team Black, an engineering team of 15 students, that placed first in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Design/Build/Fly Design/Build/Fly, or DBF, is a radio-controlled aircraft competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Cessna Aircraft Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems. The Office of Naval Research was also a sponsor ...

competition, hosted in Tucson, Arizona."American Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace Design/Build/Fly 2008/2009 Contest Year"
aiaadbf.org.

Career

Professional career

Starting in 2006, he served as a project engineering manager for BarDyne, Inc., a fluid power engineering and consultant firm based in Stillwater, OK that originated from the Fluid Power Research Center (Oklahoma State University). During this time, he worked with organizations that spanned multiple industries, to include Walt Disney Imagineering, supporting their

California Screamin' Incredicoaster is a steel roller coaster at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California. Manufactured by Intamin, it opened to the public as California Screamin' in 2001. It is the only roller coaster at the Disneyland Resort with an in ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

in Anaheim, California, and

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

Amphibious Systems in Woodbridge, Virginia on the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program, developed for the United States Marine Corps. In 2009, Stroup relocated to Washington, D.C. to serve as a

subject-matter expert A subject-matter expert (SME) is a person who has authority, accumulated great knowledge in a particular field or topic and this level of knowledge is demonstrated by the person's degree, licensure, and/or through years of professional experience ...

(SME) defense contractor for the Department of Defense

CBRN defense Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical warfare, chemical, biological warfare, biological, radiological warfare, radiological or nuclear warfare, nucle ...

portfolio, specifically on aerospace platform integration efforts, to include the

Joint Strike Fighter program Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands ...

. Mid 2011 he joined the Department of Defense civilian workforce through an insourcing initiative, where his roles and responsibilities shifted towards supporting the military medical community and the development of vaccines and

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

as medical countermeasures for the United States Armed Forces. His final position was an

Informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems, especially those for data storage and retrieval. According to ACM ''Europe and'' ''Informatics Europe'', informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which ...

SME and Integration Lead on a White House Presidential Executive Order initiative called

Biosurveillance Biosurveillance is an aspect of biodefense relating to the detection of biological threats, including bioterrorist threats. BioWatch BioWatch is a United States federal government program to detect the release of pathogens into the air as part of a ...

."White House National Biosurveillance Science and Technology Roadmap"
whitehouse.gov. June 2013. From October 2012 to March 2015, he served as the CEO"VentureDeal profile of Andrew Stroup"
venturedeal.com. of an internet security tech startup called CommonKey"CommonKey Brings Password Management To Small Teams"
techcrunch.com. May 24, 2013. that provided a cloud-based identity and access management solution for

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

through a software as a service management dashboard paired with a browser extension that provided single sign-on functionality. In June 2014 and until January 2015, Stroup became a co-founder of MegaBots, Inc."The Next Billion Dollar Sports League Could Be Giant Robots That Fight To The Death"
businessinsider.com. Oct 15, 2014."With Your Help, Giant Fighting Humanoid Robots Could Become a Reality"
vice.com. Nov 5, 2014."MegaBots wants to make your giant battle mech dreams come true"
engadget.com. Oct 10, 2014. where he focused on fluid power design, fabrication, and business development and operations. In March 2015 he became the Director of Product and Technology for the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows,"White House Presidential Innovation Fellows"
whitehouse.gov. which is a competitive fellowship program that pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on solutions that aim to deliver significant results in condensed timelines (four to twelve months). Afterwards, he transitioned into the financial services industry when he served as an Entrepreneur in Residence within the Global Information Security organization at

Bank of America Merrill Lynch BofA Securities, Inc., previously Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), is an American multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America. It is not to be confused with Merrill, the stock brokerage and trading plat ...

, leading a Technology Strategy and Business Enablement team. Stroup currently serves as the founder and CEO of Leverage, an AI-driven supply chain management platform. Additionally, he serves as an Advisory Board Member at Exygy, Entrepreneur in Residence at Oklahoma State University, Mentor at

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (aka ER Accelerator, or ERA) is an American seed accelerator launched in January 2011. ERA runs two four-month startup accelerator programs per year, the first starting in January ("winter program") and the ...

and Technology and Information Security Advisor for Human Rights Watch.

TV career

In 2013, Stroup appeared in the first season of Discovery Channel's reality TV series '' The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius'',

'
"The Big Brain Theory Official Website"
/ref> an engineering competition consisting of 10 contestants from across the country, which aired from May to June 2013. Each week contestants were put to the test, competing against each other in two teams to design, build, and deliver solutions to difficult engineering problems. He survived six out of eight episodes. To promote the show he appeared in a series of interviews prior to and during the airing of the TV series."“The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius”: Former Oklahoman among contestants on Discovery Channel’s new reality competition show"
newsok.com. April 24, 2013."Final Episode Update: Another Big Brain from OSU"
. statemagazine.okstate.edu. June 19, 2013.

Philanthropic interests

Stroup, along with Corey Fleischer, another contestant and winner of ''The Big Brain Theory'', and Jason Hardebeck founded the Baltimore Foundery"Baltimore Foundery: downtown makerspace opens"
technical.ly. May 21, 2013."THE CITY THAT HACKS: A guide to Baltimore’s emerging maker culture"
. citypaper.com. August 14, 2013. in 2013, a nonprofit organization makerspace (ref hackerspace) that focuses on providing access to industrial grade tools and education in the heart of Baltimore. Additionally, Stroup serves as a Trustee for the

Awesome Foundation The Awesome Foundation for the arts and sciences is an international network of autonomous 'chapters' (groups) of philanthropists that provide small grants for projects to "people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe." ...

, which provide small grants for projects to people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with the unprecedented shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and frontline responders, Stroup founded the nonprofit organization Project N95 to help healthcare providers and frontline workers source PPE from vetted suppliers. According to their website, the mission of Project N95 is to “deliver critical equipment to frontline workers as quickly as possible by driving transparency in the market and procurement best practices.” Alongside the team of volunteers around the world, key support was provided by leading figures like

Andy Slavitt Andrew M. Slavitt (born 1966) is an American businessman and healthcare advisor who served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVI ...

and Mark Cuban.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stroup, Andrew 1985 births Living people American aerospace engineers Oklahoma State University alumni Participants in American reality television series People from Seoul