In 1980 Sassenrath graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.S. in EECS (electrical engineering and computer science). During his studies he became interested in operating systems, parallel processing, programming languages, and neurophysiology. He was a teaching assistant for graduate computer language courses and a research assistant in neuroscience and behavioral biology. His uncle, Dr. Julius Sassenrath, headed the educational psychology department at UC Davis, and his aunt, Dr. Ethel Sassenrath, was one of the original researchers of THC at the California National Primate Research Center.