Outstanding Senior Spotlight: Manjari Talasila
Manjari Talasila believes one of the most meaningful challenges to take on as an engineer is to solve real-world problems stemming from one's immediate environment. At the University of California, Davis, this was a noticeable uptick in biking accidents and bike thefts.
In her sophomore year as an electrical engineering major, she designed a front and back bike light set equipped with safety features to directly address these issues. The lights have rear vehicle detection, real-time theft alerts, automatic light activation in low-visibility conditions and a weather-based safety assessment — all features that can be controlled and tracked through a mobile app.
"Designing creative solutions to real-world problems is one of my favorite parts of engineering," Talasila said.
She is grateful to Professor Avesta Sasan and Professor Anh-Vu Pham for making abstract concepts clear and understandable. She especially valued Pham's ability to connect transmission line theory to practical applications in high-speed signal routing during his electromagnetics course — a class that proved instrumental to her success throughout her undergraduate program and internships at notable companies like Medtronic, Apple and Microsoft.
She also gained hands-on engineering experience through an internship at Robotics Cats, a start-up using sensors and computer vision for around-the-clock wildfire detection, and research she conducted as part of the UC Davis Bioinstrumentation and BioMEMS Lab, led by Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cristina Davis.
"I was fortunate to have great mentors who guided me through these experiences and provided me with opportunities to explore my interests," she said. "These experiences deepened my appreciation for the concepts taught in my courses and encouraged me to pursue graduate studies to continue learning and contributing meaningfully to society."
Talasila will intern at Intuitive Surgical, a biotechnology company using robotics to improve clinical outcomes, over the summer before starting a master's program in electrical engineering at Stanford University in the fall.
