Salt Lake City, Utah

Krishnam
Goel

Founder · Researcher · Engineer

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I

About

At eighteen, I build infrastructure for the places most people overlook — hospital operating rooms running on fax machines, conflict-zone clinics without reliable power, and cancer datasets too small for anyone else to touch. I believe the hardest problems in technology aren't technical; they're the ones trapped behind bureaucracy, broken incentives, and the assumption that resource-constrained means low-priority.

I founded Airavata Bioengineering to build a battery-independent UV-C sterilizer now under Air Force lab evaluation, and co-founded Calibr Labs to make surgical scalpels that know what tissue they're cutting. At Stanford, I used consumer product reviews to detect water contamination. At Huntsman Cancer Institute, I wrote survival analyses for cancers so rare that most researchers won't touch the data.

I'm an Eccles Scholar, ISEF Finalist, and Hindustani classical vocalist who has performed for audiences of ten thousand. I collect chess sets from countries I visit and have been writing the same fantasy novel since I was seven.

2
Companies Founded
4
Patent Filings
10+
Research Publications
$100K
Capital Raised
35
ACT Score
4.0
GPA
II

Ventures

Calibr Labs

Co-Founder — surgical instrumentation

Active · Funded

Smart surgical scalpels that identify tissue type in real time from impedance, force, and angle — giving surgeons a margin of certainty that today's instruments simply don't provide. Backed by Convoi Ventures, top 15 in the YBV Venture Challenge, and presented to investors at Stanford.

$100K Pre-Seed Raised
$2M Post-Money Val
Convoi Lead Investor
Top 15 YBV Venture Challenge

Airavata Bioengineering

Founder & CEO — biodefense and infection control

Hardware · Defense

FOCUS — a portable UV-C sterilizer for battlefield and crisis-zone instruments, built for the places where reliable power isn't a given and infection control is life or death. A 90-second kill cycle, no water and no consumables, and a shadow-free dose guaranteed by ellipsoidal geometry. Working prototype at TRL 3–4 with 99% kill in early bench testing; USAF lab evaluation is underway following briefings to USAF, SOCOM, and DHA. Incorporated LLC pursuing SBIR and DoD paths.

4 Patent Filings
90s Kill Cycle
99% Bench Kill Rate
TRL 3–4 Working Prototype
$600K Funding Offered
III

Research

Stanford University · CRC & CI 2026

Using LLMs to Detect Household Water Contamination from Consumer Reviews

188,019 Amazon and Walmart product reviews. A language model. And a hypothesis: that ordinary consumers unknowingly describe water contamination symptoms in their reviews of filters and pitchers. 2nd author on the paper, co-inventor on Stanford Office of Technology Licensing IP disclosure.

LLM Public Health NLP

Huntsman Cancer Institute · GU Oncology

Rare Cancer Survival Analysis Under Dr. Neeraj Agarwal

When your dataset is 34 patients, every statistical choice matters. At Huntsman's GU oncology division, I applied Python, R, and AI-assisted methods to survival analyses for cancers so rare that most researchers won't engage with the data. Co-authored 10 conference abstracts for GU/ASCO 2026, with a first-author submission to the Kidney Cancer Research Summit.

Oncology Survival Analysis Python/R

International Blast Research Network

EXTRACCT: Shrapnel Care & Surgical Telecom in Conflict Zones

One of two researchers conducting scoping reviews on shrapnel wound care and post-blast antibiotic prophylaxis, feeding international care guidance for theaters where standard-of-care assumptions don't hold. Conducted with the United Nations; co-authored publication in JAMA Network Open.

Conflict Medicine Telehealth Global Health

Freyya · Biomedical Engineering

Wireless Charging for a Pelvic-Floor Biofeedback Sensor

Lead engineer on the wireless charging subsystem for a patented pelvic-floor biofeedback sensor. The contributed system is slated for clinical trials in 2027 — bridging the gap between continuous patient monitoring and the reality of implantable battery constraints.

Implantable Devices Wireless Power Clinical Trials

University of Utah · Price College of Engineering

Wirelessly Charging a Pacemaker Through Human Skin

Independently built a system to wirelessly charge pacemakers, plus a human-skin phantom to test safety, heating, and transfer efficiency. Inductive coupling through Litz wire coils with OOK modulation for sensor data retrieval, holding the skin temperature rise to 0.3°C. Won the Utah Science & Engineering Fair, advanced to ISEF, and received the Regeneron Biomedical Sciences Award.

Wireless Power Implantables ISEF

University of Utah · Environmental Engineering

Rewriting the Nutrient Thresholds Behind Toxic Algal Blooms

Four years of cyanobacterial genomics and bioinformatics used to challenge the Redfield-ratio nutrient thresholds that govern how we predict toxic blooms. Utah's state representative to the Stockholm Junior Water Prize in 2023 and 2024, and national runner-up in 2024.

Genomics Bioinformatics Water Quality
IV

Recognition

Scholarship

George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Scholar

One of 20 Distinguished Eccles Scholars, selected from 6,700+ students. Full-ride scholarship from The Eccles Foundation — the University of Utah's most competitive academic award.

State Award · $20,000

Utah Sterling Scholar — Science

State winner. Recognized for research spanning biomedical engineering, cancer informatics, and water quality analysis.

International Competition

ISEF Finalist & Regeneron Biomedical Sciences Award

International Science and Engineering Fair — the world's largest pre-college science competition. Awarded the Regeneron Biomedical Sciences special award.

International Competition

Stockholm Water Prize — Inaugural University Cohort

United States representative — one of 10 students selected worldwide for World Water Week, hosted by the Swedish Royal Family.

International Competition · $2,500

Stockholm Junior Water Prize — National Runner-Up

Awarded by the Swedish Royal Family for independent research on water and environmental health.

Startup

Y Combinator W26 Interview

Invited to interview — top ~7% of global applicants — for Ghostmanager, a healthcare AI venture since wound down.

Hackathon

CalHacks Finalist

UC Berkeley's flagship hackathon. Additionally recognized with the Regeneron Tech Honorable Mention.

AI Fellowship

Handshake / Project Spectra — AI Fellow

$50/hr fellowship. Only non-PhD/Masters member on the team. LLM training and refinement under OpenAI.

V

Writing

Utah Foundation

Political & Science Journalism

Policy analysis and science reporting for Utah's oldest nonpartisan research organization. Publications covering education funding, healthcare access, and environmental policy.

Salt Lake Tribune

Investigative & Science Writing

Science and political journalism for Utah's Pulitzer-winning paper of record. Combined readership across both outlets reached 60,000+ views.

Personal · Since Age 7

An Unfinished Fantasy Novel

Still being written. Started at seven years old. A sprawling, recursive world that has grown up alongside its author — part epic, part thought experiment, entirely unfinished.

  1. Leveraging Consumer Product Reviews for Household-Scale Water Quality Surveillance

    Fu, S., Goel, K., & Osman, K. · CI & CRC Joint Conference · 2026

  2. A Genetic-Based Study of Harmful Toxic Cyanobacteria in Freshwater Lakes

    Goel, K. · Digested News, WEAU, p. 52 · Fall 2024

  3. The Great Salt Lake: 2024 Utah Priorities Project

    Goel, K. · Utah Foundation · Oct 2024

  4. Crowded Neighborhoods: 2024 Utah Priorities Project

    Goel, K. · Utah Foundation · Oct 2024

  5. Zion National Park is monitoring water for toxic bacteria and cautioning visitors

    Goel, K. · The Salt Lake Tribune · Oct 2024

  6. Environmentally perilous local legislation isn't just irresponsible, it's fundamentally un-Utahn

    Goel, K. & Goel, D. · Standard-Examiner · Mar 2024

VI

Education & Life

University of Utah

B.S. Biomedical Engineering & Philosophy of Science

Eccles Scholar · 4.0 GPA · Class of 2029

Salt Lake Community College

Mathematics & Computer Science

4.0 GPA

West High School, SLC

IB Diploma Programme

4.0 GPA · ACT 35

Music

12+ years of Hindustani classical vocals and harmonium. Performed for audiences of 10,000+. Currently teaches three students.

Collections

International chess sets from Peru, Hong Kong, Egypt, and Kenya. Each set tells a story about how a culture imagines strategy and power.

Service

EMS volunteer with the Utah Fire Department. Indian-American, Hindi native speaker. Born and raised in Salt Lake City.

Obsessions

Bioethics. Resource-constrained engineering. Infrastructure gaps. The places where systems fail the people who need them most.

Get in Touch

Let's build something
that matters.