Adam Tilton, mechanical science and engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois, has five years of experience in the development of algorithms and software tools for signal processing and control applications. Tilton has a strong background in computer science and has been the driving force behind Rithmio. In 2014, Tilton won the. Cozad New Venture Competition and was an Illinois Innovation Prize finalist. Tilton put his Ph.D on hold to run Rithmio full-time as the co-founder and CEO.