Bio
Researcher focused on trustworthy, efficient ML for biomedical and other sensitive data. Experience across healthcare and finance,
combining reproducible ML pipelines with optimization (classical + quantum-inspired) and privacy-preserving methods for real-world deployment.
Download CV
Scholar
GitHub
LinkedIn
- Location: Queens, New York, USA
- Email: ashakin.rahatul@gmail.com
- Interests: Optimization for large models; robustness & privacy; biomedical (multi-omics) and clinical/financial AI; hardware-aware deployment across cloud/GPU, edge/IoT, and near-term quantum backends.
Summary
I work on AI/ML that is reliable, interpretable, and reproducible, especially for biomedical and other sensitive datasets.
My recent work spans multi-omics modeling (e.g., cancer experiments with transformer/GNN-based approaches),
optimization-driven model selection (including hybrid quantum–classical methods such as QAOA and VQE in Qiskit), and privacy-preserving analytics (FHE/HE,
secure aggregation, and post-quantum cryptography). I also build end-to-end healthcare analytics and clinical NLP pipelines, and I have applied modern NLP
tooling to finance (e.g., sentiment/risk-oriented workflows). I’m comfortable with Python, PyTorch, Hugging Face, SQL, and Qiskit, and I prioritize clean,
reproducible repos with pinned environments and clear run instructions.
For a PhD, I’m interested in optimization for large models, robustness and privacy, and hardware-aware ML systems that run on real infrastructure—cloud/GPU,
edge/IoT, and near-term/noisy quantum backends—across NLP, time-series, tabular, and multimodal data.
Experience
-
Sep 2024 – Present
Associate Researcher (Independent Contractor) — Merrimack College, North Andover, MA
- Designed and evaluated 5+ cancer-model experiments (GNNs/transformers) on multi-omics (TCGA-BRCA, MIMIC), delivering +6 pts AUROC (0.94 vs 0.88) and +8% F1-score vs. classical PCA baselines.
- Built 3+ hybrid quantum-classical prototypes in Qiskit (QAOA/VQE) for classification & optimization, improving model precision by +36 pts (78% vs 42%) in target prioritization and accuracy by +11 pts (89% vs 78%) in FinBERT HPO.
- Produced 11+ literature reviews and 45+ figures/tables for publications; co-authored 9+ manuscripts (conference, journal, book chapter) and introduced LaTeX/Zotero templates that cut drafting/review cycles by 30%.
-
May 2025 – Present
Data Analyst (Contract) — Next Tech USA LLC, Jamaica, NY
- Ingested, cleaned, and documented 15+ large healthcare datasets (50M+ rows), building EDA/feature pipelines that reduced data defects by 30% and shortened analysis cycle time by $5~hrs/week$.
- Developed and validated 3 ML models for patient-outcome prediction and workflow optimization, improving AUC by +8 pts and reducing false alerts by 15%; shipped 2 models to staging.
- Built 10+ stakeholder dashboards (Power BI/Tableau) with 25+ KPIs, driving adoption across 4 teams and cutting report prep time from 8 hrs to 30 mins per week via automated refresh and role-based views.
-
May 2024 – April 2025
Data Science Intern (Quantum Computing Research, ML Applications, and Data Analytics) — Tekurai Inc., San Antonio, TX
- Explored protein folding with GNNs and IBM Qiskit; built transformer/CNN pipelines for clinical text and audio.
- Processed large healthcare datasets; delivered Tableau dashboards for operational insights.
- Contributed to blockchain-enhanced, privacy-aware data workflows for drug discovery.
-
Sep 2024 – Present
Teaching Assistant — Merrimack College, MA
- DSE 4900 (Capstone) – Fall 2024; Fall 2025: Mentored teams from proposal to final presentation; coordinated
labs and weekly clinics; supervised projects/theses end-to-end (scoping, curation, modeling, reporting); instituted
reproducible practice (clean repos, env pinning, MLflow) and rigorous evaluation (ablations, error analysis, calibration,
leakage/imbalance).
- DSE 4116/6116 Quantum Machine Learning – Fall 2025: Designed and delivered Qiskit labs (VQE, QAOA,
QSVM/QNN) with classical baselines; mentored hybrid classical–quantum workflows and parameter sweeps; enforced
reproducibility (clean repos, env pinning, MLflow) and fair-comparison protocols).
- DSE 3010 (ML for DS) – Fall 2024: Taught model selection and diagnostics; standardized repos/environments and
MLflow tracking with diagnostic checks (ablations, error analysis, leakage/imbalance).
-
Feb 2022 – Sep 2022
Program Manager (Data Strategy Development, Predictive Analytics & Business Intelligence) — ShopUp, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Built B2C/B2B analytics; reduced return ratio via data-driven operations; developed forecasting and BI dashboards.
-
Jun 2020 – Feb 2022
Project Manager (Data Analytics, SQL Database Management, and Agile Leadership) — Icon Information Systems Ltd., Dhaka
-
Nov 2018 – May 2020
Assistant Project Manager — Millennium Information Solution Ltd., Dhaka
-
Mar 2017 – Jul 2018
Assistant Project Coordinator — ESOL BD Limited, Bangladesh
Education
- Oct 2022 – Mar 2024 M.S., Information Technology — Washington University of Science and Technology (WUST), Alexandria, VA
- 2013 – 2018 B.S., Computer Science and Engineering — North South University, Dhaka
Skills
Programming & Platforms: Python (PyTorch, scikit-learn, NumPy, Pandas) · Git/Linux · Jupyter · Docker (basic) · GPUs · cloud · edge/IoT
Trustworthy ML & Stats: Transformers · GNNs · multimodal fusion · robust training · calibration & uncertainty · ablations & error analysis
Genomics & Functional Genomics: Multi-omics integration · CRISPR/perturbation data · ATAC-seq & regulatory signals · gene & target prioritization
Quantum & Optimization: Qiskit · VQE/QAOA · hybrid classical–quantum workflows · QUBO/Ising mappings · quantum-guided hyperparameter optimization
Privacy & Cryptography: Homomorphic Encryption (CKKS, BGV; OpenFHE/SEAL) · differential privacy · secure aggregation · post-quantum cryptography (KEMs & signatures; liboqs) · threat modeling
Data Engineering & Reproducibility: SQL · ETL pipelines · schema design · MLflow/W&B · environment pinning · unit tests · CI/CD (GitHub Actions) · DVC
Visualization & Writing: Matplotlib · dashboards · LaTeX/Overleaf · figure & table design
Domains: Regulatory genomics · functional genomics (CRISPR & epigenomics) · multi-omics integration · clinical prediction