On this month’s Face to Face With Chancellor May, meet Simran Lallian and Jaya Athuluru, two ambitious undergraduates at UC Davis behind the medtech startup, EpiSense, a seizure prediction system that utilizes a recording of brain activity, an electroencephalogram (EEG), and machine learning.
Their goal: to reduce the risk of injuries caused by unexpected seizures.
“Simran and I met at a club here called Neurotech@Davis, and we found a similar passion for neuroscience and entrepreneurship,” Athuluru said, for whom the project is personal. “I was diagnosed with epilepsy in middle school, so it was a very near and dear disorder to us.”
In conversation with Chancellor Gary S. May, hear the duo discuss how the support of UC Davis resources have helped push their idea forward.
“We’ve been really lucky to have great support from a lot of different places on campus like the Student Startup Center. The director, Aaron Anderson, has been really helpful for us,” Lallian said. "We also did the PLASMA accelerator program, that was a really great experience where we were in a cohort of a couple of other student founders.”
Alongside their startup work, they remain active in campus life. They encourage other undergraduate students with entrepreneurial aspirations to pursue their ideas, emphasizing that the best time to start is now since UC Davis offers many resources to get started.
Tune in to hear what’s next for EpiSense and May’s “Hot Seat” round, where they discuss their most inspirational entrepreneurs, the best advice they’ve ever received and more.
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Anila Lijo is a writer and editor for the Office of Strategic Communications, and can be reached by email.