About
I'm a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a dual degree in Computer Science through the Honors College and Finance through the Robert H. Smith School of Business, with minors in Data Science and Robotics & Autonomous Systems.
My work spans machine learning, quantum computing, robotics, and systems programming. I'm driven by the intersection of computation and real-world impact.
Outside of academics, I enjoy reading and writing. I believe clear communication is just as important as clean code.
Education
University of Maryland, College Park
Expected May 2027
B.S. Computer Science (Honors College)
B.S. Finance (Robert H. Smith School of Business)
Minors: Data Science · Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Honors & Achievements
- Honors College
- Semester Academic Honors (multiple semesters)
- FIRE: First-Year Innovation & Research Experience — Completed
Relevant Coursework
Experience
Software Development Intern
Urban Food Alliance · Remote
- Developed a Financial Literacy Chatbot using Python and NLP, improving accessibility to financial advice for underserved communities and increasing user engagement by 20%.
- Integrated NLP tools to enhance the chatbot's query understanding and response accuracy, refining dialogue quality by 30%.
- Applied Scrum methodology and utilized Git/GitHub for development and testing, leading to a 95% decrease in post-release issues.
- Developed and optimized software features for a mobile application, assisting in debugging to improve performance and reliability.
Budget Reviewer
UMD Finance Committee · College Park, MD
- Review and approve budget requests from 200+ campus organizations, ensuring efficient resource allocation.
- Administer a $2.7 million annual budget, organizing expenditures and ensuring financial stability for student leadership.
- Analyze departmental budgets to ensure financial compliance and collaborate with teams to refine proposals and forecasts.
- Review and vote on crucial financial legislation for university student body government and funds management.
Office Assistant
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences · College Park, MD
- Managed, scanned, and archived over 4,000 documents, improving file organization by 70% and retrieval efficiency.
- Audited and entered financial data, including W4 forms, into Workday and Excel, ensuring compliance with IRS regulations.
- Handled correspondence and communications with clients and vendors, and assisted with report and presentation preparation.
Code Sensei
Code Ninjas · Yardley, PA
- Taught JavaScript to 30+ children through interactive projects and coding tasks, achieving a 25% improvement in student comprehension.
- Mentored students in developing their own projects including coding games, robotic blocks, and beginner coding activities.
- Reviewed and provided feedback on code to ensure quality, and developed learning materials for programming languages.
Marketing Manager & General Assistant
AI Construction LLC · Fairless Hills, PA
- Remodeled multiple residential spaces including kitchens, bathrooms, and additions — handling cabinet installation, electrical work, plumbing, and flooring.
- Designed website layouts and marketing materials using Adobe Photoshop, and managed SEO and marketing strategy.
- Conducted market research to identify trends and analyzed performance metrics to optimize marketing initiatives.
Projects
Robotic Arm Manipulator Control
End-to-end ROS2 robotic manipulation pipeline integrating ArUco vision, perspective calibration, inverse kinematics, and autonomous pick-and-place. Includes homography-based coordinate transformation and vacuum gripper control.
Mini C Compiler
Multi-pass compiler in OCaml featuring constant folding/propagation, algebraic simplification, dead-branch elimination, static type checking, and Hindley-Milner style type inference with constraint generation and unification.
Quantum Computing Projects
Quantum circuit implementations in Qiskit including Grover's search, Shor's factoring algorithm, and parameterized circuits for Quantum ML classification experiments on IBM Quantum hardware.
Education Inequality ML Project
Analyzed a 400-student socioeconomic dataset using statistical tests (chi-square, ANOVA, Spearman) and trained Linear Regression and Random Forest models to predict college GPA. Includes interactive visualizations.
AST-Based Unix Shell
Unix-style shell in C using a lexer and recursive-descent parser to build an AST with correct operator precedence. Supports pipes, sequencing, logical operators, subshells, I/O redirection, and built-ins.
Java Tank Game
Two-player competitive tank game built in pure Java. Players control tanks with keyboard inputs to move, rotate, and shoot across a procedurally generated obstacle field. First to 5 hits wins.
LeetCode Solutions
Collection of LeetCode problem solutions auto-synced from my LeetCode account via glsync. Covers array manipulation, number theory, SQL queries, and algorithmic challenges across multiple difficulty levels.
Algorithm Implementations
Practice implementations of algorithms across multiple languages — dynamic programming, sorting, searching, and more. Built as a learning resource for algorithm design and cross-language proficiency.
Basic Chatbot
Beginner chatbot in Python using a pattern-matching and template-based approach. Features separate prompt and response directories for modular conversation design.
Research
IBD Miniprotein Binder Design Pipeline
University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science
Undergraduate Researcher · March 2026 — Present
Developing a computational pipeline for designing miniprotein binders (5–15 kDa) targeting IL-23 and alpha-4-beta-7 integrin for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) therapeutics.
- Implemented a 9-stage structure-based protein design pipeline integrating RFdiffusion for de novo backbone generation, ProteinMPNN for inverse folding sequence design, and AlphaFold2-Multimer for structural validation.
- Built hotspot identification and pocket extraction modules to map binding epitopes and encode geometric constraints for diffusion-based protein generation.
- Developed backbone filtering and binding evaluation stages scoring interface quality via buried surface area, shape complementarity, and binding free energy (ddG).
- Engineered multi-objective candidate ranking with diversity filtering to select optimal therapeutic binder candidates.
Exoplanet Habitability Classification
University of Maryland, College Park
Independent Research · January 2026 — Present
Developing neural and embedding-based ML models to predict exoplanet habitability using NASA and JPL datasets, projecting catalog entries into a learned habitability space for similarity-based classification.
- Engineering feature encodings of planetary parameters and training custom neural networks for similarity-based habitability classification.
- Identifying candidate habitable exoplanets by projecting NASA catalog entries into a learned habitability embedding space.
- Processing and cleaning multi-source astronomical datasets from NASA Exoplanet Archive and JPL for model training and validation.
Bioinspired Robotics — Flapping Winged Glider (RoboRaptor)
FIRE: First-Year Innovation & Research Experience, University of Maryland
Undergraduate Research Intern · May 2024 — July 2024
Led development of a bio-inspired articulated flapping-wing robotic glider integrating servo actuation, lightweight aeroelastic airframe, onboard sensing, and telemetry for wind–flight interaction research.
- Engineered Arduino Nano firmware unifying flapping control, torque modulation, remote receiver interfacing, sensor acquisition, and ~30 Hz OpenLog SD-card telemetry logging.
- Designed and iterated carbon-fiber wing spars and 3D-printed servo mounts to withstand cyclic flapping loads, vibration, and torque stresses.
- Built wind and inertial sensing pipeline to record environmental and flight dynamics data for analysis of aeroelastic behavior.
- Conducted wind-dependent flight experiments validating stable tethered gliding, servo-driven flapping, and directional control across multiple prototype iterations.
Skills
Languages
ML & Data Science
Web & Frameworks
Robotics & Hardware
Tools & Platforms
Professional
Certifications
Want the full picture?
Download my resume for a quick overview, or my full CV for a detailed look at my experience, education, and skills.
Get in Touch
I'm always open to discussing new opportunities, research collaborations, or interesting projects. Feel free to reach out!
ahtesham.alvi20@gmail.com