Aaron Rasmussen

Aaron Rasmussen
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBoston University
Websiteaaronrasmussen.com

Aaron Rasmussen is an American CEO and game designer. He is a co-founder of MasterClass,[1] an online education platform, USMechatronics and Harcos Laboratories[2] and the founder of Outlier.org,[3] a college level education platform that offers online college courses. In 2012, he and co-creator Michael T. Astolfi created and crowdfunded BlindSide,[4][5] a survival/horror adventure game, which was a finalist at IndieCade 2012.[6] In 2005, while a student at Boston University, he invented a robotic sentry gun.[7]

Early life

During a chemistry class in high school, Rasmussen was involved in a chemical explosion from a combination of red phosphorus and potassium chlorate, which resulted in his being temporarily blind; this temporary blindness later inspired the creation of BlindSide.[8]

Career

Rasmussen co-founded the online education platform MasterClass with David Rogier in 2012, and was responsible for its style and production processes.[9]

In 2018, Rasmussen founded Outlier.org, a university-level education platform that allows students to take online classes for college credit that are accredited by the University of Pittsburgh.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Q&A With Aaron Rasmussen & David Rogier, Founders of MasterClass". 6 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Wonacott Communications - Public Relations and Integrated Communications". wonacottpr.com.
  3. ^ "MasterClass founder launches Outlier, offering online courses for college credit". TechCrunch. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  4. ^ Schreier, Jason. "Crowdfunding: Kickstarter Brings Risky Game Ideas To Life". Wired.
  5. ^ "Blindside, a new "3D audio-only adventure game" for iOS / Boing Boing". boingboing.net. 24 May 2012.
  6. ^ "IndieCade 2012 Nominees :: IndieCade - International Festival of Independent Games". www.indiecade.com.
  7. ^ "Sentry gun sees, computes and shoots - BU Today - Boston University".
  8. ^ Parker, Laura (3 December 2013). "A Video Game That You Can't Even See". The New Yorker – via www.newyorker.com.
  9. ^ "Arts & Sciences - Boston University". www.bu.edu.
  10. ^ "MasterClass co-founder's new educational startup Outlier raises $11.7M – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. January 9, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.