Beginning business operations in 2020 from Dr. LaVonda Brown’s Downtown Atlanta loft, EyeGage recently expanded operations in August 2021 to the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) located on Georgia Tech’s campus. Because of EyeGage’s pre-seed raise that closed in April 2021, growth of the technology team was possible. This team now includes an Acting Chief Technology Officer, Alonzo Patterson, Jr. and two research interns, Madi Gajula and Zihui Qian.

With a larger space and technology team, EyeGage is on schedule to open a seed raise in Q4 2021. “This will allow accredited investors to invest in EyeGage and own a percentage of the company. Money raised from the seed round will allow us to collect 10,000 eye datasets and secure two pilot contracts within the transportation and construction industry,” says Dr. Brown.

Meet Our Newest Team Members

Madi Gajula, a third-year Computer Engineering major at Georgia Tech, with concentrations in Distributed System & Software Design and Systems & Architecture with a certificate in Information Technology Management, is a current Research Intern for EyeGage. Gajula’s responsibilities include coordinating federally approved human-subject research for eye data collection.

Compelled to join EyeGage because of our mission, Gajula was inspired to save lives. “Though I'm lucky to not have experienced the loss of losing a loved one to a drunk driving accident, I know far too many people who have been in that position. Having a tool like EyeGage would be instrumental in preventing such accidents. In addition, I wanted to join EyeGage to work on the technology behind saving countless lives,” says Gajula.

In addition to coordinating the human-subject research, Gajula is learning how to use TensorFlow and React to map human-faces in real-time. This technology works by analyzing landmarks on an individual’s face, including eyes, nose, and mouth, to create a mask of all data points. “This has been super exciting to learn since I have room to experiment with AI tools and work towards a tangible application of what I'm learning in my classes,” says Gajula.

Zihui Qian, a recent graduate of Georgia Tech with a master’s degree in Computer Engineering, is currently working with the team to develop EyeGage’s machine learning algorithms for alcohol consumption. Gajula focuses on creating the dataset of human eyes (training model) that Qian then uses to train the machine learning algorithms.

Alonzo Patterson, Jr., EyeGage’s Acting Chief Technology Officer, is an experienced software engineer with expertise in developing impactful technology for the human good. Patterson has previously served as the Acting CTO for successful early-stage startups, where he was able to increase users/sales and positively impact lives through development of minimum viable products (MVP - a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development). Patterson’s experience leading technology teams has increased EyeGage's productivity by 100%, as he ensures the team focuses on the most critical tasks for upcoming product releases.

Along with our newest members, EyeGage has a mobile app developer, Fred Burns, who developed the initial version of the data collection iOS app. EyeGage also has two technical advisors, Dr. Nashlie Sephus, an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning expert, and Dr. Ayanna Howard, an Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare Technology expert, who ensure the appropriate considerations are made to reduce bias and advance the EyeGage technology development.

What’s Next for EyeGage

In addition to continuous research trials, EyeGage will be setting up a booth for data collection throughout Atlanta during the next few months. Come visit us on Sunday, September 5th, 2021 at House in the Park from 12-8pm in Grant Park.