Zekai Chen

I'm

About

Focused and enthusiastic researcher and developer with a keen interest in artificial intelligence and data science. By comprehensive exposure to the underlying concepts and applying them vividly to various projects, my love for these domains came into being. I received my B.S. in Applied Mathematics in 2016, Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2021 from George Washington University under the supervision of Prof. Susan Cheng. My doctoral dissertation was mainly about multi-task learning for temporal data modeling. Besides, I also received a M.S. in Statistics from GW. I'm now a Senior Manager at BMS working on using AI technologies to accelerate drug development and more effective clinical trial design to transform patients' lives across the world. I am a passionate individual who thrives to build and apply algorithms to solve real-world industry problems.

Birthday: 19 October 1994
Phone: +1 202-290-6840

City: Newyork City, NY
Email: zachstarkk@gmail.com

Interests

Solution Architecture

Deep Learning

Medical Imaging

Natural Language Processing

Software Engineering

Data Mining

Algorithms

Phorography

Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science

December 2017 - August 2021

Research Concentration

Multi-task Learning
Efficient Computation in Deep Learning
Spatial Temporal Modeling
Medical Imaging

M.S. in Statistics

August 2016 - December 2017

Relevant Coursework

Multivariate Statistical Analysis
Numerical Computation & Optimization
Data Mining
Machine Learning I & II

B.S. in Applied Mathematics

September 2021 - August 2016

Relevant Coursework

Methematical Analysis
Adavanced Linear Algebra
Numerical Analysis I & II and III
Operational Theory and Optimization

Online Certification

Machine Learning

Algorithms-Design and Analysis

Algorithmic Toolbox

Deep Learning with Tensorflow

Machine Learning with Python

Neural Networks and Deep Learning

Experience

Arizona State University

January 2021 - Present

Software Engineer

Managed large‑scale deployment of JupyterHub with Nbgrader and webwork software, facilitating approx 5500 students.
Configured, troubleshot, and administered server‑side web applications for the statistics department.
Handled Linux server administration and Apache configuration; automated tasks like user account creation, managing student database, and system maintenance using Shell and automation scripts, reducing manual work by 200%.

Augmenify Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

August 2020 - November 2020

Backend Developer

Documented and coded server‑less web application for the hotel industry and designed REST API using Flask‑based JWT authentication.
Redeveloped an existing system to support customer account management, scheduling, and time tracking; enabled dynamic API calls with the help of Amazon API Gateway, AWS Lambda, and DynamoDB.

Epitome Corporation Pvt. Ltd.

July 2019 - Dec 2019

Software Developer

Tested, designed, and developed backend APIs of WebRTC enabled multi‑party video conferencing web application and delivered the project 15 days ahead of schedule by efficiently designing the flow of the project.

Meditab Software Pvt. Ltd.

May 2018 - June 2018

Programmer Analyst

Optimized image processing algorithm of pill detection by creating customized MASKRCNN algorithm, increasing accuracy by 15%; trained classification algorithm with the help of triplet loss to learn the image embedding of pill, reducing the hassle of collecting data of new pills.
Devised a pipeline of the project to incorporate it into the product of the company. Implemented Restful APIs in Django that enabled our quality Analyst team to increase reporting speed by 46%.
Built a web app to onboard data from the company’s product using Flask, Postgres, and AWS S3, enabling interactive charts in real-time.
Mentored 2 interns to optimize the pill detection algorithm and to include the multiprocessing pipeline, increasing overall speed by 75%.

Space Application Centre, ISRO

Jan 2018 - May 2018

Research Intern

Implemented noise reduction algorithm on the satellite image and prepared architecture for detecting objects in high‑resolution satellite images, achieving 80% accuracy.
Increased accessibility of satellite image data by redesigning database and application for showcasing graphical data.