“Being a great problem solver improves your ability to contribute and opens up opportunity for personal freedom.”

What got you interested in engineering?

While I had considered a career in medicine, my decision to pursue engineering was, in some ways, very practical. An engineering degree could be completed in four or five years, compared to the much longer span required for medicine, and it was a degree I knew was highly valued in the marketplace. I also knew what engineering was all about thanks to having engineers in my family.

Tell us about your career before your started Sens.AI in 2018.

After about five years in microchip design, I did an MBA because I wanted to expand my knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of business and market dynamics. I’d seen the value of a solid foundation in a technical area like electrical engineering, and I wanted to continue building my skills in the other areas that are essential to long-term success.

I learned by doing, first moving into product management, then into sales engineering, and as an account executive within the health-tech space.

Why did you focus on wearable neurotechnology?

The impetus was a very formative personal experience I had with concussion and trauma after a car accident. Neurotechnology became a huge part of my recovery.

Historically, the medical profession has looked at the brain through a chemical lens, which explains the tendency to lean towards pharmaceuticals for solutions to mental health challenges. But the brain is also an electrical system. There has been a lot of clinical work and research over the last five or six decades on neuromodulation technologies, those that can change the brain. In early years, the research was focused on addressing pathologies. More recently, its focused on enhancement for performance and healthspan.

This kind of neuromodulation treatment is available in clinics, but it can be financially out of reach for most people. I began wondering how we could make these life-changing solutions available for more people than just top athletes or highly paid executives.

Any advice for new students?

First of all, I have a teenage son. I know students today are under tremendous pressure with the uncertainty that surrounds the future of work in the age of AI. It can understandably create anxiety and indecision over what is worth investing four years of hard work into. So parents and teachers should be supportive of the mental health of the students in their lives; additional pressure is not helpful.

You might believe that what you study in your undergrad will define you forever. It wasn’t that way for me and is even less so now. Your bachelor’s degree will form the foundation for how you think through problems. Being a great problem solver improves your ability to contribute in the future and opens up more opportunity for personal freedom.

I think engineering – physics and math specifically – provide superior logical reasoning that can be applied across fields. 

But I also suggest complementing with courses in other fields that have vast historic databases such as evolutionary biology or political science so you can understand how we came to be where we are today. This will also help form the basis for your problem solving skills.

As people delegate more of their thinking to AI, there’s the risk that certain skills and capabilities will atrophy. What we need to do is learn how to engage with AI intelligently, to be critical thinkers and to learn how to ask the best questions. Zooming out like this can help you decide on your right university path: which degree is going to make you a better critical thinker? Lean into your strengths.

I believe that engineering and economics offer two of the best foundations for problem-solving and understanding the world. Combining this sort of logical foundation with the deliberate development of interpersonal and communication skills as you venture into the workforce can afford you a differentiated advantage to reach your career ambitions and create a positive impact in the world.