By Zoe Elledge

Udai Mallepoola is a first-year student from Savannah, Georgia. He was born in India and has lived in many places in the United States, including Wichita, Kansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas. He has one brother who just turned 13. His father, a design engineer at TAAL Tech, encouraged Udai early on to explore his passion for video production, and that has evolved into Udai’s own YouTube channel called Something to Think About.

Udai already has a “dream project” lined up for himself – he wants to use his BME degree to work with brain-computer interfaces. “Our brains are the most complex machines in the universe,” he said. “And I want to use technology to further understand them.”

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? My father has been keen about video production for years, and when I was in high school, he kept encouraging me to create my own videos. Growing up, I watched a lot of “edutainment” (education + entertainment) videos, and I realized that there aren’t too many teens creating that type of content, so I decided to try it out myself. I loved the idea of sharing my knowledge and interests in a creative, witty manner to a World Wide Web audience, and that’s how I started Something To Think About. For my videos, I do almost everything myself, from researching and script writing to editing and production. I want to create a community and bring people together with my work. I have contemplated making more videos in collaboration with others and having a small group of classmates to work with me so that I can upload content more frequently and with better quality once I am on campus.

Why did you choose BME at Georgia Tech? Going to a Georgia high school with an engineering program, my peers and I had Georgia Tech as our target school from day one. However, it wasn’t until I visited campus for CEISMC summer camp that I really began to fixate on Tech. I felt a sense of belonging on campus in just a couple days due to the friends I made and the vibrant urban setting. Being an in-state student, I knew that Tech would be the most practical option for me. I chose this major because my current goal is to work with brain-computer interfaces to improve the way we communicate and express ourselves as humans. Our brains are the most complex machines in the Universe, and I want to use technology to further understand them.

What is your experience with remote classes like? Which class is your favorite? I don’t think that online classes are ideal, but given the pandemic, I prefer any remote option over in-person. I do wish that I could interact with peers and professors face-to-face and have an in-person study group, but Georgia Tech’s online learning systems and my online friends have been very helpful to me. As for my favorite class, I actually do not know, although I enjoy my discussion driven ENGL 1101 course.

Do you have any advice for other students? One piece of advice I have is to reduce the number of apps you use as you start college (this is coming from a guy who owned a flip phone for much of high school, but that’s a different story). Personally, I like to do all my planning and notetaking with pen and paper, and while this advice may not suit all, I feel that such an approach can help reduce many distractions. That being said, I still feel that it is important to network and make friends with people in college, especially if you are doing classes remotely. I prefer joining smaller course and club specific GroupMe chats and focusing more on SMS text and phone calls to communicate rather than mobile apps.

What are your hopes for the future of your student experience and career? While I have several hopes for my student experience, the main ones are to begin research on my dream project and build and maintain healthy relationships with the peers and professors I will meet. My current career goal is to work for a neuro-prosthetics company for a few years and eventually start a company of my own. Afterwards, I would ideally want to use my earnings to implement programs and projects to better society.