Ashley Galanti
“During my junior year of high school, I started working on a medical device to detect seizures 10-45 minutes prior to their occurrence. I came to UGA as a journalism major with a Spanish minor, but I decided to carry my device with me into college and added electrical engineering to my other areas of study to do so.” -Ashley Galanti
Ashley Galanti recently graduated with her Bachelor of Science from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is continuing as a first-year Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering. For reasons dear to her, a brother and mother with epilepsy, Ashley was driven to create a medical device to help detect seizures. While at UGA, Ashley devoted time to refining her device while earning her degree in Electrical Engineering. Ashley’s aspiration is to make her device accessible for all with uncontrollable seizures, with the prospect of adapting this technology for other medical needs.
Name: Ashley Galanti
Hometown: Duluth, GA
Year: First year PhD Student
Program of study: Biomedical Engineering (I just finished my undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and journalism with a minor in Spanish in December 2022)
Why did you choose UGA? I loved the diversity of sports, social life, and academics! I actually applied to 13 schools out of state but you cannot beat the instate scholarships (: !
When did you become interested in engineering? During my junior year of high school, I started working on a medical device to detect seizures 10-45 minutes prior to their occurrence. I came to UGA as a journalism major with a Spanish minor, but I decided to carry my device with me into college and added electrical engineering to my other areas of study to do so.
Are you involved in any student clubs or organizations, and what are your experiences with this? During my time at UGA, I have been involved in the following clubs and organizations: UGA Relay for Life Membership Development Team, Food2Kids Greek Liaison, Entrepreneurship Program, Waterski Club, Club Lacrosse Team, Ramsey Student Center (Fitness Monitor), Society of Entrepreneurs, Activa Tu Speaking (President and Co-Founder), Experience UGA (Student Ambassador), UGA College Scoops (Lead Ambassador), Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBE), and UGA I-Corps. I enjoy the diverse and ample opportunities that UGA has to get involved!
Have you learned anything new about yourself during your time at UGA? I learned that balancing life and academics is the priority.
What are your plans after graduation? Following my undergraduate graduation, I have continued my studies at UGA through a PhD in biomedical engineering. Following my PhD graduation, I will focus solely on my startup company, AMG Detection LLC, which I created back in December 2022 as an outlet for the pre-seizure detection medical device that I have been working on during my time with the College of Engineering at UGA.
Have you done an internship? Yes, with Keysight Technologies.
Where was your internship located?
Los Angeles
Briefly describe what you did on your internship: I worked as an radio frequency solutions engineer intern with aerospace and defense companies, specifically NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, Northrop, Raytheon, and Lockheed, shadowing structural engineers and account managers through site visits and virtual meetings in which we recommended testing solutions for their satellites and radar systems. I also published a phase noise document that structural engineers and amplitude modulation engineers use in their customer meetings when recommending solutions with this required feature.
What was the most interesting thing you did during your internship? I got to help lead a meeting with NASA JPL in which my phase noise document was used as a key decider to select the proper testing instrument.
What did you learn during your internship and how do you plan to use that knowledge as you continue with your engineering education? I learned a lot about the field of radio frequency and all of the different options there are for testing, as well as, how the field of marketing and sales works, combining the areas of technology and communication, my 2 main areas of study.
What positive difference in the world do you hope to make through engineering? I hope to make my medical device commercially available for all epileptic individuals with uncontrolledseizures. My mom and brother have epilepsy, so they are part of the driving force behind my motivation. I also hope that once I have the technology available for epilepsy that I can expand the focus to heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and anxiety attacks. I hope to contribute to the world through engineering by introducing a novel way of health monitoring!
What hobbies and activities do you like to do for fun? I love to travel! I have been to about 20 countries so far and hope to visit every continent by the age of 30.
What is your favorite thing to do in Athens? Cheer on the dawgs!! Back2back (:
