Georgia Institute of Technology

Rachel Ford is a 4th-year biomedical engineering major and finance minor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning her higher education career in chemical engineering, Rachel realized through her co-op with E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. in Richmond, Virginia, that she desired a more medical-focused education. Thus, as a sophomore, Rachel enrolled in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and has been having a blast ever since! She has a passion for device design, specializing in pediatric applications.

On campus, she is actively involved in outreach for the President’s Scholarship Program, of which she is a recipient, and continues to develop her professional network through the student-faculty-industry interactions facilitated by the Georgia Tech Executive Roundtable. As a member of her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, Rachel has held positions as both the Social Coordinator and Delta Experience Coordinator, focusing on increasing Alpha Gam’s presence on campus and preparing her senior sisters for life after college.

Rachel has developed and furthered her taste for entrepreneurship and innovation throughout multiple experiences during her time at Georgia Tech. The first of which was her device design class, where she developed an optimized pacifier with fellow teammates, which subsequently qualified their participation in Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize Competition. Next, she joined a class, Startup Lab, with other GT University Innovation Fellows, igniting her desire to continue down the entrepreneurial path by exposure to serial entrepreneurs and lean startup methodologies.

Rachel loves to give back to her community in whatever way possible, and is greatly humbled by the support she receives from the various organizations that she is a part of. She actively speaks to secure fundraising for the Technology Association of Georgia’s Education Collaborative, which focuses on recruiting K-12 students for STEM programs. She often speaks at her high school about the importance of STEM education, specifically for women. Rachel is ecstatic to have been accepted into the University Innovation Fellowship program, and is excited to learn how she and her fellow UIF friends can leave a lasting and significant impact at Georgia Tech.